This week’s Teesdale Mercury is dominated by a week of weather most of us will not forget in a hurry. The paper is packed with your pictures (and ours!) and plenty of stories about the challenges the severe weather posed. Plus we have a 16-page rural life supplement.
Here are some of the headlines:
Fears about impact of snowstorm on hill farms.
Lorry drivers risk lives on A66.
Teddy, 5, picked for high street shop campaign.
Charity ride in memory of a man who brought warmth to dale.
YMCA highlights plight of young sofa surfers.
Charity heroes brave the freeze for arctic challenge.
Cash promise to community centre if it increases its profits.
Robust progress being made at Staindrop School, says inspectors.
Jean’s cards raise tasty £200 for special lunch.
Rock’s greatest failure is coming to The Witham.
Meet the enthusiasts who are paying tribute to our railway heritage.
Four pages of what’s on plus sport.
![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)
