A BARNARD Castle businesswoman is to sleep rough ahead of her annual Christmas appeal to help homeless people in the area.
Building on her warm jacket appeal last winter, Donna Dobson, of Fox & Field countrywear shop, has this year put out a “cold weather packs” appeal. She aims to help people in need to keep warm this winter.
She is asking for a variety of items such as scarves, gloves, jumpers, thermals, flasks, woolly socks, blankets and hot water bottles.
Last year her appeal brought in more than 200 warm jackets, which were distributed to people in need in Darlington and the surrounding areas through King’s Church, Richmond.
Mrs Dobson said: “People were fantastic. There were so many we were going back and forth to Richmond [dropping them off].”
This year the cold weather packs are to be distributed through the Influence Church’s foodbanks at Barnard Castle and Richmond.
Many people who used the foodbanks said they had to choose between food and warmth last winter, Mrs Dobson said. She is also taking part in homeless charity Centrepoint’s Sleep Out event at the Stadium of Light, in Sunderland, next month.
The charity aims to break the cycle of youth homelessness.
The charity says 86,000 young people applied to their local authority for help last year because they were homeless.
Mrs Dobson said: “I don’t think we realise how many people there are who just don’t know where they are going to sleep the next night. I was really surprised when I heard how many there were.
“I do think we are sheltered up here from what is going on.
“It will creep into our area too.”
The charity helps homeless young people find their way back into accommodation, education and work.
The Sleep Out takes place on November 15 and people can support Mrs Dobson’s fundraising effort by visiting sleepoutsunderland-2018.
everydayhero.com/uk/donna.
The “warm package” appeal gets underway on November 11 and people can help by dropping off items at Fox & Field, on Market Place.
For more information contact Mrs Dobson at Fox & Field on 01833 630922.
![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)
