On the road with a special service at Utass

IF it wasn’t for the bus, I wouldn't come to Utass,” says 15-year-old Ryan Johnson. Utass – Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services – is based in Middleton-in-Teesdale and puts on a youth club for the upper dale’s youngsters aged eight to 18.
Which is all well and good – but how do you get children from farms situated far and wide to come along on a dark winter’s night with no public transport available?
This was the conundrum facing Utass officers when they first introduced the bus in 2009.
Project manager Diane Spark explains: “If a parent had to bring the children down to Utass, it was hardly worth them going back home because by the time they reached, they would have to turn round more or less straight away to come back and pick them up.
“The idea for the bus actually came a few years before we managed to achieve it and it was the parents and young people who highlighted the need.
“It made us think people were being excluded for no good reason.”
The first bus was loaned from Teesdale Community Resources in 2009 before Utass took delivery of a brand new vehicle of their own in 2011, a 15-seater courtesy of the Asda Foundation.
A second bus – a ten seater – has recently been delivered thanks to the government’s Department for Transport community transport scheme.
Each week, a driver, accompanied by a chaperone – both volunteers – plot their way around the upper dale ferrying kids from home to the youth club, returning them a couple of hours later.
Last Thursday, it was Ryan’s dad Paul behind the wheel, with Anne Scott riding shotgun.
After leaving Utass at 5pm, first call was to collect Mrs Scott and son Luke from their home at Newbiggin.
Then it was out to Mr Johnson’s farm Herdship, at Harwood, to see if 16-year-old daughter Emma had arrived home from college at Newton Rigg.
Both Emma and Ryan had attended Forest of Teesdale primary when they were younger before going on to secondary school at Samuel King’s, Alston.
The Thursday night youth club is ideal for them to catch up with their mates this side of the border.
As Ryan explains: “Sometimes in the summer, we can get on our bikes and meet up, but that’s impossible in the winter, so I’m a big fan of the bus.”
On this occasion, Emma – who is studying level three agriculture at the Penrith college – hasn’t made it back and so it’s off to the other pick-ups.
First stop is near Langdon Beck where Nathan Bell jumps off a tractor and into the back of the bus and then it’s along to Forest to collect Jack and Hetty Hutchinson.
Final stop is up at Hardberry Hill, where Tom and Emma Eccles are waiting and whose dad David is one of the small team of volunteer drivers.
With just eight on board, it’s a fairly quiet night. Numbers fluctuate week to week as youngster ring in to Utass between 3pm and 5pm on a Thursday to book their seat.
Finally, it’s back down the bank and into Middleton to Utass in time for the 6pm youth club start.
Winter arrangements for the bus differ slightly to those in the summer.
Mrs Scott explains that during the light nights, there are usually two home runs – one at about 7.30pm for the younger children, which allows the older ones some time on their own before they are transported back about 9pm.
In winter, there is just one return journey, round about 8pm to 8.30pm.
The youth club bus services relies on a team of volunteer drivers and chaperones to ensure safeguarding rules and regulations are met.
The job of the chaperone is to ensure safety on board.
“It keeps parents’ minds at rest,” says Mrs Scott.
She says more volunteers would be welcome – the rules state that if the driver is male, then the chaperone must be female and vice-versa, so a larger pool of volunteers would make pairing up easier.
For more information about the Thursday night youth club bus service or to find out more about volunteering, call Utass on 01833 641010.

Bus hire
SINCE Utass took delivery of its first minibus, other community groups have benefited.
Middleton-in-Teesdale Primary School, Teesdale Day Cubs and the North Pennines AONB partnership are among the organisations which have hired the vehicle.
There is now also a brand new smaller ten seater available. Project manager Diane Spark said: “The buses are not available for private hire, but they are there for community, not for profit and educational groups to use.”
However, if a group wishes to hire a bus, they must have their own driver.