RESIDENTS in Cotherstone came together to create a magical living advent calendar to brighten up the festive period, building on last year’s display.
Twenty-four households have decorated their windows, one for each day leading up to Christmas. Each evening at 6.30pm a ceremonial switch-on reveals the new window.
It is the second year the village have organised the community advent. Last year, with regional lockdown restrictions in place, it was organised in place of the usual Christmas tree switch on event.
It proved so popular organisers decided to do it again this year. The first window was unveiled during a festive switch on event on December 1 when there were carols around the Christmas tree, mulled wine, hot chocolate and mince pies.
A map indicating where and when the next window will be unveiled has been created and posted in the village’s noticeboards as well as on a special Facebook group, www.facebook.com/ groups/138802094366212.
Each evening residents can gather to watch the switch-on in person and it makes for a magical scene as more displays are revealed. The final window, on the east green, will be unveiled on Christmas Eve at 6.30pm when there will be a visit from Santa.
![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)
