THERE was blue sky and sunshine when about 60 tractors of all shapes, sizes and ages, set off from Hamsterley on Good Friday as part of a fundraising 50-mile run.
The first Hamsterley Vintage Tractor run of the season, organised by Joe Dobson and Tony Elstob, set off from the Cross Keys pub, in Hamsterley, on a route through Teesdale with the oldest agricultural workhorses leading the way.
The club regularly organises fundraising runs having raised money for a variety of organisations in recent years including organisations which support mental health and suicide awareness.
This latest event saw cash being raised for the Children’s Heart Unit Fund (CHUF), which supports children and families who receive treatment by the children’s heart unit based at the Freeman Hospital, in Newcastle.
The charity has special significance for organiser Mr Dobson.
His goddaughter and niece Olivia Wall, 5, from Cockfield, was born with a heart defect, pulmonary atresia, that causes problems with blood flow.
She underwent open heart surgery at the Freeman Hospital when she was only 18 months old and will have further operations when she is a teenager.
During her stay in hospital the family were supported by CHUF.
Mr Dobson said: “We have run these for years and we get support from all over the region and we like to choose charities that benefit people in the north east so they can see where the money is being spent.
“It is our first run of the season and we will be supporting CHUF throughout the year.”
The tractor run raised £600 for the charity.
The cavalcade of tractors headed out from Hamsterley to Woodland, Eggleston, Romaldkirk and on to Baldersdale, then Grassholme, Selset and Middleton-in-Teesdale before heading up to Coldberry and back to Hamsterley.
The tractor club plans another run, scheduled to set off from Broomhill Farm at West Auckland on July 2.
![A COUNTY councillor is backing a campaign to get a pedestrian crossing in Staindrop. Frustrated parish councillors in the village summoned their county council representative Cllr George Richardson to their latest meeting to discuss several issues, including the call for a safe way to cross the A688. Earlier this year their request for a crossing was turned down by the county council’s highways officers. Parish council chairman Jonothan Raper described the reasons for the refusal as “spurious” and called on Cllr Richardson to support their campaign. He added: “One of the arguments they made was there is no clear line of desire when they studied the village – well this isn’t a clear line of desire because there isn’t a crossing, people cross whenever they can. “When the lollipop person was there, one of the things I noticed was people would walk all the way down to the lollipop person to cross the road to go to the shop or to go to the school.” He added a problem of parking at the primary school is exacerbated because people are too afraid to walk their children across the road. Cllr Richardson said he had supported previous attempts for a crossing point with the first being made about 15 years ago. He added: “We went fairly well down the road with that and they looked into it. The only recommended place was where the bus stop is and to get the visibility splays, people on the other side of the road would lose their parking. “That didn’t go down well so it just died a death.” Cllr Raper said he suspected the real reason for the officers’ refusal was the cost of installing a crossing. He added that much of the cost could be recovered from savings made on not having to employ a lollipop patrol. Cllr Raper said: “A lollipop person only provides a benefit of crossing for three hours of the day. You are getting 21 extra hours of crossing time [with a pedestrian crossing].” Cllr Richardson said he would raise the issue with the county council’s cabinet member for highways, Cllr John Shuttleworth.](https://teesdalemercury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/georgeR-120x86.jpg)
