A DALE woman’s dedication to helping people be more active in nature has been recognised.
Lucy Brenkley, from Barnard Castle, has been awarded a BEM (Medallist of the Order of the British Empire) for her services to forestry in the New Year’s honours.
In her role as active forests co-ordinator for Forestry England, Lucy, who is also chairwoman of Barnard Castle Lawn Tennis Club, has been assisting people with mild-to-moderate health conditions to meet new people and become more active through a programme she helped to create called Feel Good in the Forest.
The 33-year-old said: “It’s been a long six weeks since I got the letter. I swore mum and dad to secrecy because we were told not to tell anyone. My mum cried when she found out and I’m really humbled about it. I think I’m just doing my job, but I’m really proud.”
Working mainly out of Chopwell Forest, near Gateshead, the programme encourages people with physical or mental health challenges to become more active, giving them a reason to connect with nature.
Lucy, a former pupil at Teesdale School, said: “Feel Good in the Forest started as a pilot with the idea of getting more people into the forest and creating more opportunities for people to get to access it.
“I was part of the team that designed Feel Good in the Forest. We were looking to launch it in 2020 but because of covid it didn’t come online until 2021.
“The active forest programme started in 2014 and Chopwell Forest came on board in 2019. We started talking about Feel Good in the Forest in the September and I was part of the team that designed it.
“We started with a walking group and built it up with different activities including archery and volunteering – the crazier the better seems to work.
“We are probably touching thousands of people in terms of visitors to the forest and repeat visits and it is making a difference.
“One guy who came with severe anxiety was hardly able to talk to anyone. Two years down the line we’ve helped build his skills and he has just begun working for Forestry England.”
![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)
