A TEESDALE woman who helped a little boy “find his voice” has received the first free takeaway afternoon tea for two from Clarendon’s.
The cafe and tearoom, in Barnard Castle, teamed up with the Teesdale Mercury to offer a takeaway afternoon tea for two to a deserving person each week. Readers were asked to nominate people and the Mercury chose Cloedie Yeadon, from Startforth, as the first winner.
Mrs Yeadon has been employed by Durham County Council’s portage service for 17 years – she helps pre-school children with special needs. She works closely with specialists to help each child and was nominated by Ashleigh Des-Forges who wrote: “Cloedie was like the glue that held Finley’s support plans together – she could talk on a professional level to the speech and language therapist discussing potential interventions that we could use as a family. She would then move into a supportive role with the teaching assistants and nursery workers. And most importantly she could communicate with the most important person – my little boy
“Explaining a pandemic to a little person who has communication difficulties and misses the routine of nursery and spending time with grandparents was difficult but I referred back to the notes I had made from the sessions with Cloedie and from her sessions with Finley’s nana and I found them to be really helpful. Finley’s language has improved during lockdown, so at least there has been a positive.
“I would love for Cloedie to have a lovely afternoon tea as she has helped so many little people find their voices, so I think the Finleys of the world would like to nominate her.”
Mrs Yeadon said she was honoured and thrilled.
Because of the lockdown, the free afternoon tea offer has now been put on hold for the remainder of the month.
![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)
