A PAIR of dale toy shop colleagues were joined by friends and family as they braved Europe’s largest swim to raise more than £1,000 for a charity close to their hearts.
Pauline Connelly and Mel Wade, from Connelly’s Toy Shop, in Barnard Castle, tackled the Great North Swim, at Windermere, in memory of Ms Connelly’s mum Eileen, who died of cancer in 2007.
Ms Connelly completed the mile-long course while Ms Wade finished the half-mile route on Sunday, June 10. Ms Connelly said: “It was perfect conditions and there weren’t too many waves on the water. We are very pleased with our times.
“It was crazy busy. They reckon there were 10,000 swimmers. It is the biggest swim in Europe, I believe.”
She added that all cash raised through sponsorships would go to Macmillan Cancer Support, which had supported her mum Eileen and her family in the past.
Ms Connelly raised another £1,000 for the charity in April when she took part in Macmillan’s Brave The Shave challenge, which saw all her hair being cut off. Anyone who wishes to contribute to the fundraising drive can call in at the shop on The Bank.
![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)
