KIND-HEARTED staff at a dale pharmaceutical company spent three weeks raising money to help fund computer equipment at a nearby primary school.
Staff at Technimark, in Middleton-in-Teesdale, jumped into action, organising a raft of money raising events after the village primary school informed them of a need for IT equipment for home learning.
In three weeks, cake sales, raffles and pie and
pea dinners were organised and last week they presented the school with a £750 cheque.
Technimark’s managing director, Stephen Shaw, said: “When we received the letter about the ICT equipment, we shared it with the staff and set about fundraising.
“It was really the ladies – Michelle Mitchell, Kayleigh Brown and Sue Gowling – who organised everything. It was a good boost for the company as it was really good for morale.” Ms Mitchell said: “We couldn’t believe how much money we’d raised in such a short period of time.
“We had to count it twice, just to be sure.
“With everything that has gone on this year, everybody has been really generous.”
Headteacher Jill Hodgson said she was delighted with the donation.
It is not the first-time staff at Technimark have organised fundraising events for local causes.
Last year they handed over £500 to help refurbish the village’s play park.
![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)
