TEN year old Ethan Fletcher had hoped his charity coffee morning would raise £100.
In the event, people turned out in force to support the fundraiser and when all the cash had been counted, the final figure was almost six times as much.
Ethan was inspired to organise the coffee morning for the Channel 4 Stand Up Two Cancer appeal at Mickleton Village Hall after following the fortunes of celebrities such as Johnny Vegas and Greg Wise battle it out on the celebrity charity version of The Great British Bake Off.
Ethan’s hopes of a good turn out were far exceeded.
His mum Debbie said: “There were more cakes and more people than we ever expected.
“In the end he raised much more than he had hoped.”
The youngster had put a lot of hard work into making his coffee morning a success.
He had produced leaflets and posters to publicise the event around the village, posted on social media and even put the details in his school newsletter.
His dad, Nigel said: “The day before the coffee morning, Ethan completed more than 7,000 steps around the village delivering flyers.”
Ethan added: “Mickleton has got a lot more houses than I thought.
“I would like to thank everyone who donated cakes and helped with the coffee morning, and also everyone who donated raffle prizes.”
Local businesses in Mickleton and the surrounding area provided raffle prizes including a cream tea from Tees’pot Cafe, in Middleton-in-Teesdale, wine from The Crown, an MOT from Mickleton Service Station and cake from the Co-Op.
Despite his efforts, there is no time for Ethan to put his feet up and rest on his laurels.
In the coming weeks, he will feature on Bishop FM radio with a programme he recorded himself about the Euphoria Choir.
Then he will be the other side of the microphone being interviewed about his fundraising activities by Cal Halbert for London’s Love Sport Radio.
And if that isn’t enough, later in the year Ethan will be taking part in the Junior Great North Run to raise money for the Heel and Toe Charity, which supports people with cerebral palsy.
![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)
