HGV surveys after latest Market Cross roundabout smash

MORE traffic surveys are planned to assess the number of HGVs going through Barnard Castle. 

The move comes after damage was caused at the Market Cross roundabout early on Friday morning. Three large overseas wagons came through the town en-route to Scotland after being diverted off the A1. Chris Minikin, headteacher at Montalbo Primary School, was walking his dog at about 5.30am and saw what happened.

“There were three of those big lorries. The second one became stuck between the Market Cross and the wall,” he said. “It was stuck there for quite a while. As it became free, it knocked the coping stones off the wall.”

Mr Minikin reported the incident immediately. The drivers pulled over into the layby on the road down to the Abbey Bridge and were spoken to by Durham Police.

Insp Kevin Tuck said details were given to Durham County Council highways officials and confirmed four coping stones had been dislodged from the wall outside Barclay’s Bank. Durham’s police and crime commissioner Ron Hogg, who is supporting efforts in the dale to tackle the issue of HGVs travelling through Barnard Castle, promised to follow up the incident, adding: “It is imperative that action is taken.”

Adrian White, Durham County Council’s head of transport and contract services, said: “We are planning to carry out further traffic surveys to assess the levels of HGVs going through the town.

“This will include gathering information on the origin and destination of HGV traffic to determine what proportion have business in the town centre or with farms and other firms in the local area and what proportion are using the route as a potential shortcut.

“This will allow us to make further assessments about what can be done to manage traffic through the town and reduce the damage it causes to the Market Cross.

“In order to get fully representative traffic data, the surveys need to be carried out at a time which avoids major holiday periods or seasonal variations in traffic.

“The next such period is September / October and we will look to carry out the surveys then.”

Meanwhile, the results of a structural survey carried out earlier this year are due to be unveiled next month.

Mr White said: “A separate structural survey of the Market Cross building was completed in May 2017 in a project funded by us, the Teesdale Action Partnership and the town council.

“The findings of this survey will be presented at the Teesdale Action Partnership board meeting in July.”

Anger over school staff pay deal in County Durham

SCORN has been poured on a new deal for teaching assistants after months of negotiations.

County councillors voted to pass a new deal for teaching staff by 52 to 36 last week after union members and county officials came to an agreement. But some teaching assistants have been shocked and appalled by the fresh contract – claiming 22 per cent of their number would suffer a pay cut and any pay rise would be two years away.

Former dale teaching assistant Catherine Bonnett was disgusted when the initial deal was announced.

Her view on the new negotiated settlement was little different. She added: “They had barely 36 hours to consider the implications or investigate the facts of this long running and divisive dispute. This surely cannot be considered good governance.”

Ms Bonnett did not think claims of a “pay rise” painted a complete picture.

She added: “In fact 472 teaching assistants, almost a quarter of the workforce, will still lose pay under the new proposal.”

The disagreement was spawned when teaching assistants were “fired and rehired” on new contracts in 2015 to prevent equal pay claims against the county council.

Teaching assistants took industrial action after voting against the proposals which they claimed would result in pay cuts of up to 23 per cent in real terms.

The council put plans to impose the contract on ice in December and a breakthrough consultation between the parties involved was revealed at Barnard Castle Town Council earlier this year.

A report by the county council revealed that “revised roles and responsibilities” would replace existing job descriptions and staff would be “aligned to new grading structures” agreed by headteachers of individual schools.

It added: “The main driver behind these proposals continues to be one of equity and fairness. The review of roles and responsibilities and grading has ensured that all jobs have been evaluated and graded in a consistent and objective way.”

In a newsletter to members, Durham’s branch of Unison said the offer was “not perfect” but added that it was a “significant improvement” on the council’s previous offer. Unions will hold their own vote on whether to accept the deal by the end of the summer term. Ms Bonnett thought it was “entirely possible” for teaching assistants could reject it. She added: “For 472 teaching assistants there is now potentially another two years of anxiety and stress as they wait to see what the outcome of further reviews will mean for them.”

The new contract will take effect on September 1.

Hidden gem gardens open up for charity

PEOPLE are in for a treat when 16 gardens in Barnard Castle are made open to the public on July 2. 

Homes along Thorngate, The Bank, The Demesnes and Newgate will be open from 2pm to 5pm when people will be able to see a diverse range of garden designs.

Cash raised from the independent garden open day will go to the North East Air Ambulance Service (GNASS) and the Hidradenitis Suppurativa Trust.

The trust is the only UK charity to raise awareness and support for a chronic skin disorder, which appears as a boil-like abscess in the apocrine gland bearing areas, such as the armpits, breasts and groin.

The open day is organised by a committee of Barnard Castle residents Annie Clouston, Bobbie Allen and Mike Way. Mrs Clouston and her husband Jim moved to their home at 27 Thorngate about three years ago.

She said: “We have just such lovely neighbours – they have been so helpful and willing to do stuff. It is just fantastic and captures the spirit of the open gardens.

“People have volunteered their gardens because they love them and want to greet people into them to exchange ideas and have a sociable time. The gardens are varied, from small walled gardens to grander spaces. Some have overcome challenges to conventional gardening.”

Along with viewing gardens, people will be greeted with a glass of Pimms in Newgate.

They will also have the opportunity to visit a plant stall and book stall, a table top sale, and take part in a tombola.

Entertainment on the afternoon is by musical ensemble Grace Notes.

A programme of the day will be available at Amen Corner.

Homes taking part are

34 The Bank: A beautiful terraced garden, full of interest, sun traps and with water features. Book stall here

44 The Bank: A courtyard garden with different levels with light and shade

46 The Bank: A garden undergoing renewal work by new owners who describe it as very much work in progress

8 Thorngate: A typical English walled garden, plus plant stall

Rear of 8 Thorngate: An inspiring productive and lush vegetable garden

The Blue Bell: A pub courtyard bursting with colour mainly from containers

11 Thorngate: “A weaver’s cottage garden” full of colour and a haven of tranquillity. Tombola here.

19 Thorngate: A peaceful place to sit with the challenges of sun and shade. Thorngate has a number of weavers’ cottages of which this is one. The owner is a 21st century weaver and will have her looms in the garden to show how she works.

23 Thorngate: Walk through the passage of this 17th Century cottage to discover not the “communal dung-heap” as of old but a walled courtyard garden in the French style.

27 Thorngate: A riot of a garden, full and uncontained. The emphasis here is to attract birds, bees and butterflies to a small walled garden

31-33 Thorngate: A large garden, redesigned in 2009 for easy maintenance and provision of all year round colour, with scents to attract bees and butterflies

Ground floor stairwell Thorngate Mill: This area shows what can be done with perseverance in an unpromising environment – complete shade.

32 Thorngate Place: A small and very varied modern plot, built for low maintenance, with raised beds.

Ivy Cottage, the Demesnes: A cottage garden with an emphasis on roses – “the blowsier the better”. Expect some lovely scents.

39 and 39A Newgate: Two adjoining gardens alive with colour. These are the largest of the gardens that are open, and represent years of dedicated gardening.

‘Bash in the barn’ in Caldwell for causes close to farm family’s heart

A FAMILY living with two serious illnesses are preparing to host a big charity event to raise cash to help others. 

Farmer Phil Metcalfe, from Foxberry Chasers, in Caldwell, suffers from progressive multiple sclerosis but is still determined to do as much as he can, supported by wife Sara and son Jasper.

Sara’s teenage nephews, Arthur and Charlie, also suffers from ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) – a life-limiting genetic condition. Because their immune systems are so low, they are also fighting cancer.

Mrs Metcalfe has set herself 50 challenges to complete before she marks her 50th birthday in September. The wild and wacky activities, which are helping to fund research at the A-T Society, range from completing a 5km run dressed as Mrs Elastica from The Incredibles, to getting into her wedding dress after 17 years.

More than £5,000 has been raised so far. The coffers will be swelled further by the family’s bi-annual Bash in the Barn at Foxberry on Saturday, July 8. The event, which will also collect money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society and Butterwick Hospice, brought in £7,000 in 2015 and the Metcalfes hope to beat that figure.

Mrs Metcalfe said: “It would be great to see if we can match or beat that total, but there are more and more charity events so it will be difficult. We normally get a really good turnout – it’s very well supported and everybody gets behind it. It’s one of those dos that’s still a community event.”

Bash in the Barn starts at 7pm and includes a pork roast, disco, bouncy castle and raffles and other games. Among the prizes is a magnum of red wine donated by GSC Grays and a barrel of beer given by the Oat Tree at Hutton Magna. Boldron catering firm Prestige Espresso is providing the food without charging the organisers.

The family have also raised thousands for the A-T Society over the years.

Mrs Metcalfe said: “The average life expectancy for sufferers is 26, but that has moved up from the late teens since my nephews were first diagnosed. That’s a real improvement and the money we have raised will have helped.”

Publicity generated by the BBC’s The One Show during its Rickshaw Challenge has also helped the cause after a woman living with the condition took part.

Mrs Metcalfe has completed 34 of the 50 challenges and it will culminate with her hair, which she has been growing long all year, getting the snip on her 50th birthday.

She said: “I decided I would spend my year fundraising by completing challenges as a mark of respect for my gorgeous nephews, Charlie and Arthur, who face challenges every day with their A-T life.

“My husband has MS and some people did wonder why the donations were not to be shared with the MS Society but I can help make his life easier on a daily basis whereas we live miles away from the boys.

“One of the highlights was catching up with the Rickshaw from Children in Need when it was in the North and meeting Ebony who was doing a massive challenge herself.

“When I caught up with them I was already halfway through a four-day “Dress as a Teletubby” challenge so the look on Matt Baker’s face when LaLa jumped out of the car in front of him was a picture. I got quite emotional again talking to Ebony and her Mum in the support bus and it spurred me on to make sure I raised as much money as I could.”

The 50:50 challenge was also inspired by the loss of Mrs Metcalfe brother, David Seal, who died aged 25 from Hodgkins Disease. He would have been 50 last September.

People have also been donating items to raffle off. Farrier Neil Jackson, of Esperley Lane, near Cockfield, has created a horse head garden ornament from old horse shoes. People can bid for this via the fundraising appeal’s Facebook page, https://www.face

book.com/sara.metcalfe.9