CHILDREN in Evenwood are enjoying free weekly multi-sport and healthy lunch sessions this summer.
Organised by Randolph Community Centre manager John Bogle, the activities take place each Tuesday from 10am at the village’s welfare grounds.
Jamie Eddy, from Craig’s Sports, which is presenting the activities, said the children can enjoy a range of games such as hoop-tagging, cricket, and football, before being served up a meal at the community centre.
Mr Bogle said 32 children took part in the first session last week and they enjoyed hotdogs, vegetables and fresh fruit for lunch.
Last year a grant of £500 from Evenwood Parish Council enabled the centre to put on six sessions of two hours each, and this year with a larger grant of £1,000 from County Durham Action, Mr Bogle was able to extend sessions to four hours.
Anyone who would like their children to attend the free activities can speak to Mr Bogle at the centre.
![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)
