Review of the year: October-December

October

MEMBERS of the Barnard Castle community who have given a lifetime's service to the town were honoured this month.

John Watson, who devoted 38 years as a local councillor, Marie Yarker, a devoted volunteer and community champion, John Hinchcliffe, who racked up 47 years as a councillor and Revd John Moore, who came to Barnard Castle School as chaplain in 1973, were made honorary freemen – and woman – of the town.

Revd Moore, who also founded Teesdale’s talking newspaper for the blind, said: “This is a great honour and unexpected.”

Trustees at The Witham said they remained optimistic for the future, despite the arts venue reporting a loss of more than £86,000 in 2016.

The centre’s annual meeting was told a drop in income from grants was mainly to blame.

During 2016, 8,505 tickets were sold for 145 events, excluding weekly workshops and classes.

Proposals for a raft of measures aimed at improving road safety in and around Barnard Castle were unveiled by Durham County Council.

These include 20mph zones on many side streets and new road markings on the A67.

Elsewhere in the dale, MP Helen Goodman launched a petition calling for a bypass around Toft Hill to be build, easing problems in the village.

Football could return to Etherley’s sports ground for the start of the 2018/19 season as work to improve the disused pitch nears completion.

The full cost of the improvements, which include levelling the land, installing drainage and reseeding the pitch is likely to be more than £80,000.

It was announced this month that Barnard Castle’s annual bonfire, which has thrilled thousands of people in the last five years, would not be held.

Organised by the Barnard Castle Meet committee, a financial loss in 2016 led to its cancellation this time round.

A Swaledale tup shearling from Bowes farmer Robert Hutchinson sold for £90,000 at Kirkby Stephen Auction Mart.




November

AN eight-year-old Teesdale youngster with complex needs became the first beneficiary of a charity set up in memory of six-year-old Bradley Lowery, the Sunderland football fan whose fight against cancer captured the nation’s imagination.

Help from the Bradley Lowery Foundation went to Josh Denton, from Middleton-in-Teesdale, who was left with brain damage when he suffered a seizure aged three.

The foundation helped provide Josh with a new bed.

Changes to the way schools are funded prompted Durham County Council to launch a county-wide review of all school provision, warning all options – including closures – will be considered.

Barnard Castle West county councillor Richard Bell said: “The days of villages having their own small schools and head teachers are coming to an end, but by spreading fixed costs there should be no reason for DCC to propose closures.

“I will fight hard to keep all our schools in place.”

Former children’s poet laureate Anne Fine penned a new, locally-inspired, book just in time for Christmas.

Let It Snow is an illustrated tale inspired by the Barnard Castle writer's experiences up at the Tan Hill Inn and tells the story of two families caught in a snowstorm on Christmas Eve. It was also the basis for the Waitrose Christmas advertising campaign.

Popular postie Paul Littlefair delivered his last letters and parcels after 23 years’ service in Evenwood.

Mr Littlefair, who lives in nearby Toronto, said he would miss the villagers, adding: “I have seen people grow up, go to school and now they have their own children going to school. I have enjoyed it because I have got to know the people of the village.”

The Teesdale branch of Cancer Research UK held their annual Christmas fair at Cotherstone Village Hall – handing over a cheque for the £72,000 they had raised during the previous 12 months.

Dr Claire Elstob, one of the researchers at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research, at Newcastle University, said she was “humbled” by the efforts of all those who had helped raise the money.

“The achievements of this group are phenomenal,” she said.




December

THE Royal Bank of Scotland’s announcement that the NatWest's Barnard Castle branch would close was branded bad news for Teesdale and a costly inconvenience for customers – especially the elderly. A petition calling on the bank to change its mind was launched after NatWest blamed the rise of online banking and a “dramatic” change in the way people bank for the decision.

The RBS claimed only 69 customers visit the Teesdale branch each week – a figure hotly disputed by those who use it.

Public spirited volunteers in Barnard Castle and Middleton-in-Teesdale ensured those on their own did not need to spend Christmas Day by themselves.

Ex-chef Charles Kirkbride was among volunteers cooking up Christmas Day lunch at the Pathway, in Middleton, with the centre remaining open throughout the afternoon for those who just wished to drop by for soup, mince pies and refreshments.

In Barney, volunteers from the Meet committee arranged Christmas Day lunch at The Hub, Shaw Bank. It was the fourth year they had served a festive lunch, which was accompanied by entertainment.

Meanwhile, members of the Meet committee say they are planning a number of changes for next year’s event, including a showground on The Demesnes.

It was the end of the road for another of Teesdale’s Methodist chapels.

Eggleston Methodist Chapel held its final Christmas carol service ahead of its planned closure next year.

The first Barnard Castle Christmas Festival, based mainly at The Bowes Museum, attracted an estimated 5,000 visitors.

The five-day event included fairground rides and incorporated the annual Christmas market in the grounds of the museum, with other pre-planned events in the town brought under the festival umbrella.

Two volunteers who have given years of service to the dale’s Scouts and Guides have stepped down.

Jacqui Nicholson stepped down as Group Scout Leader at Staindrop, while Karen Thompson decided to pass over the baton after five years as district commissioner for the Barnard Castle division of the Guides.

Staff and pupils at Barnard Castle’s Green Lane Primary School received an early Christmas present – a good rating from Ofsted despite “significant staffing turbulence” during the past year.