MEET Barnard Castle’s unlikely golf pairing who are just one victory away from the final stages of a national competition.
Vicky Oliver and Maureen Raw will travel to Dumfries this weekend to take on a pair in the last 32 of the Daily Mail Foursomes.
If they win, they qualify for a finals weekend at Chepstow in early October.
The duo only started playing together when Vicky asked Maureen if she would be her partner for the Barnard Castle club competition.
“I said if she couldn’t get anyone else, I would, but I did not mind,” said Maureen.
They won the Barney event which meant they went forward to play against pairs from other clubs.
“We had a bye in the first one and were due to play Appleby at home,” added Maureen. “There was snow here, so we had just about an hour to get to Appleby to play. We just thought we would do our best, but we won.”
After that came wins against Bedale at home, Sharpley, near Seaham, and Blackwell away and then Penrith at home.
Scoring takes into account Maureen’s handicap of 29.5 and Vicky’s 18.2 and they have won their previous rounds without being taken to the 18th hole – the closest was their most recent tie against Penrith which was decided on the 17th.
“We only ever play together when we play in this event,” said Maureen.
Vicky added: “We just seem to have clicked as a pair.
“I did not even think we would get through the first round. To get this far is just ‘wow’.”
They will take on their Dumfries opponents on Sunday, September 11.
“We are playing a course neither of us has played and it’s away, which is always more difficult,” said Vicky.
“We look at it as a day out – nice to meet new people and play different courses.”
Maureen said: “The other people we have met up to now have been lovely.
“We just go out to enjoy it and play as best as we can.”
The pair said fellow Barnard Castle Golf Club members had been “over the moon” at their success to far.
![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)
