A CHARITY bookshop that has given hundreds of pounds to local causes this year is looking for new volunteers.
The Village Bookshop, in Middleton-in-Teesdale, has in recent months dished out cash to 19 local causes ranging from the village’s football and cricket clubs to Eggleston Christmas lights fund. Carnival committees in both villages also received grants.
A significant contribution was given to the Friends of St Mary’s Church, to help towards saving it for future generations. The church has been closed for several years following the discovery of dry rot beneath its floorboards.
Now the bookshop is in need of help from volunteers to ensure it can keep to its daily opening times and continue to raise cash for good causes.
Pauline Black from the bookshop said: “We are finding in the aftermath of Covid we have lost a lot of our volunteers.
“We are getting back but we still need more to come forward and volunteer.”
The charity currently has 19 volunteers but not all can commit to a regular weekly schedule for a shift that runs either from 10am to 1pm, or from 1pm to 4pm.
Ms Black said: “Then you have sickness and holidays.”
The shop, at Market Place, not only sells new and used books, but also sells greetings cards, postcards, and classical music CDs
In addition it sells maps and guides, particularly for visitors.
Ms Black said: “The TIC (Tourist Information Centre) has been closed for the past two years. If you are local, as I am, you can try and help visitors who want information about the area.”
The bookshop also serves as an outlet for local authors, guide producers and photographers.
Ms Black said: “Anything local to this area flies out as fast as it comes in.”
People who wish to help out at the bookshop can pop in during opening hours and leave their name and contact details.
Groups in the Forest and Frith, Middleton-in-Teesdale and Eggleston which would like to apply for a grant can also leave their details at the bookshop.
Ms Black said the Christmas range had just arrived and would be put out in the coming days.
She said: “Because we don’t have a Post Office, just the one at Utass, the only places you can get greetings cads is here and the newsagents.”
![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)
