A GROUP of retired allotment holders have once again come to the rescue of West Auckland’s in-bloom gardeners.
The volunteer group that keeps the village looking its best all year round was left in the lurch last year when their regular suppliers of seedlings and bulbs closed, but fortunately allotment holders at St Helen Auckland came to the rescue by providing free flowers.
Ahead of their autumn planting, members of West Auckland-in-Bloom turned to them again to buy their petunias and spring bulbs of tulips and daffodils.
Jean Pattison, from the group, said: “All of our flowers are from the village and the allotment holders in St Helens. They are basically retired gentlemen and they helped us out last year.”
Sadly, the group are no longer able to enter the Northumbria-in-Bloom competition, where they have earned a silver-gilt award in the past.
Ms Pattison said: “It is too much to do. There are only 12 of us and we have just lost one of our friends who died. It was hard work for us to do the edges and sweep the roads at our age. We will see if we can get the schools to help in the summer.”
Fellow organiser Audrey Beck said: “Oakley Cross School has been excellent – their headteacher is really nice and community-minded. Like us they got silver-gilt last year.”
The latest planting received a £150 boost from local firm Tomlinson Longstaff electrical contractors. People can support the group’s other fundraising activities by attending a pie and peas night at the village’s parish hall on November 10, and an afternoon tea, also at the parish hall, on December 1.
![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)
