Table tennis
BARNARD Castle has become the home of a thriving table tennis club that now hosts two teams in the Darlington League.
With a membership of about 30, a club night is held at Teesdale Leisure Centre every Wednesday which is well attended, with the strongest players representing Barney competitively.
The club was formed just a year before Covid, when founder John Heaviside and the now club captain Anthony Carter decided to go for a game after not playing for 30 years.
Mr Heaviside said: “We had a game and we loved it.
“We decided to form a club and it just gained momentum from there.
“We then joined the Darlington league where we now have two sides that play every week.”
“It’s very good for a club our size to have such a good representation.”
After just half an hour at Wednesday evening’s club night, it’s clear there’s a relaxed feel but as with any sport, the competitive edge was obviously there.
Mr Heaviside said “When we started out, we made a conscious decision about what type of club we’d like to be.
“We wanted to be somewhere in the middle of the road. We come out to win and really want to do well, but at the same time there’s a relaxed feel.
“We always have the music on during our matches for example.”
He added: “Everyone plays competitively though, then obviously the league matches are where the level is upped.”
The club is always looking for new players with club nights being played on a Wednesday night between 6pm and 7.30pm.
![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)
