A TOWN centre alley has been given a spring makeover thanks to a volunteer group that ensures Barnard Castle is illuminated at Christmas.
Hall Street, where Horsemarket and Market Place meet, is looking brighter and more inviting following a spruce up organised by the town’s Christmas Lights Group’s volunteer workers.
Roger Peat, from the group, said: “We thought it was looking rather unappealing with the paint peeling off and it needed a bit of a tidy up. It took three months to get permission from the owner of the building to do the work.”
As well as repainting a rendered wall, historic signage has also been sanded and repainted with the help of Paul Crossling.
He repainted many of the town’s pressed iron signs prior to the pandemic after becoming fed up with the neglect shown by authorities.
Mr Peat added: “We thought we’d better get the expertise of Paul to help.”
Mr Crossling said: “It tidies the place up a bit, especially given it’s jubilee year as well.”
The Christmas Lights Group’s next project is to create camouflage box covers for electrical points that were installed last year to power some of the illuminations.
Mr Peat said: “The environment officer didn’t like the look of the power points so we are going to have boxes wrapped that will cover them so they look like stone or render.”
Funding for this work has been provided by Teesdale Action Partnership, but the group will be looking to raise more funds after it was discovered many of the icicle lights used in the town centre are damaged.
He added: “We are thinking of replacing all of them and still having a white light background, but with colour as well.”
Anyone who wishes to donate funds to the Christmas Lights Group should visit www.barneylights.com
