THE Witham is preparing to start a new chapter as it bids farewell to its boss who has been hailed for making a “significant” contribution to arts in the town.
Katy Taylor has been with the Barnard Castle art centre since before its revamp, supporting the venue through the £3m renovation project and then taking the helm as director in 2014.
She is leaving next month to become artistic director of Queen’s Hall Art Centre, in Hexham.
Although she will be sad to leave, Ms Taylor says the fresh challenge is “really exciting” .
She said: “Opportunities do not come up like this very often in the North East. This is the next stage for me – the Witham has showed me how to get there
” It’s been my nursery, primary school, secondary school and university. It’s been fantastic and I will really miss it and I will miss everyone. This place isn’t about one person – it’s a team effort.”
During her time at The Witham, the venue has suffered a few setbacks, such as missing out on a £200,000 funding bid to the Arts Council last year. But Ms Taylor is credited with helping increase The Witham’s reputation across the region for a wide range of genres.
“It has been a rollercoaster ride taking this small, vibrant venue from a building site to the popular arts centre it is today,” Ms Taylor added.
“Funding is a constant challenge – not just here but at any art centre. Our income has gone up, but so have our costs. That’s the nature of the beast.”
Ms Taylor, who lives in the dale, started working for The Witham in 2013, recruiting volunteers when it was temporarily based at Woodleigh during the renovation works.
She became assistant manager before being offered the top job. The arts centre is now seeking a new director.
Ms Taylor said: “I’m excited to see who comes to take The Witham to the next stage of its development. Everywhere needs fresh ideas and a fresh approach from time to time.
“But I won’t be far – I will just be a customer instead of director.”
Visit www.thewitham.org.uk/index.php/opportunities/
join-us to find out details about the job.
![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)
