AN annual golf day has raised more than £1,600 for the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Society (RABI).
The event, at Headlam Hall, saw ten teams of four competing over nine holes in a best two stableford format.
Organised by the County Durham RABI committee, the days was won by the Birdie Boys team, comprising of John Fenwick, Tim Probert, Tim Ellis and Paul Barkes. Runners-up were the Paxton’s team of Ricky Grey, Harry Fenwick, Joe Hodgson and Max Weighell. Ralph Hull claimed the prizes for nearest the white line, while Derek Fenwick claimed the nearest the pin award.
Regional organiser for RABI Sally Conner thanked Headlam Hall for being supportive of the event over its nine-year history.
She said: “It is such an enjoyable day because it’s literally nine holes and then a nice lunch. They love it because it is so sociable.”
Chairman for the County Durham RABI committee David Maughan added: “It is a lovely location for it and we are very lucky to have Headlam Hall in our patch.”
Explaining the history of the committee Mr Maughan said: “Sally helped organise the committee about 20 years ago. It is a strong county now and we do quite a lot in the course of a year.”
He added that along with hosting annual breakfasts in Piercebridge, the committee recently initiated a Sunday lunch at Darlington Farmers’ Mart which attracted 160 people.
![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)
