In this week’s Mercury…
Dale holiday venues are offering a free weekend getaway for exhausted NHS workers
Farmers come up with a remarkable solution to ensure social distancing at a rural hotel
Rotters plan a new eco-centre to showcase the best in green design
Teesdale School rated the best state-fund school in the North East
Artisan brewer is gobsmacked at the response to his crowdfunding plea to extend his tap room
69-year-old is running 100 miles in 30 days in honour of his dad who died with mixed dementia
Dale role model Susan Bainbridge is honoured by England cricketers
Enterprising Mickleton youngster starts his own radio station to escape the lockdown blues
Wetheriggs Animal Centre reopens after a successful trial run
In sport we meet 10-year-old Amber Holt who scored 23 goals in just 17 games in her debut for Durham Women FC and Barney cricketers start their season with an interclub match.
And we have a stack of readers’ letters, community news and our ever-popular Remember When feature.
![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)
