It was interesting to read parkrun make two appearances in the D&S letters last week. I’m personally a great fan of parkrun.
My own running journey is something along the lines of running casually and intermittently over a number of years, then generally running more regularly when I started to do a parkrun on a Saturday morning to then joining an actual affiliated running club (Swaledale Runners).
I can think of friends who have had similar incremental passages.
I also now both run for my club and continue to participate in parkruns, as do many of my club mates, and don’t feel the two particularly conflict.
It was therefore thought-provoking to read that the president of Darlington Harriers felt parkrun is one of the biggest detractors to attendance at his club. This hasn’t been my experience, but it’s interesting to have my eyes opened to a potential differing viewpoint.
There are many great things about parkrun. For starters, it’s fully inclusive being free for anyone to attend.
It’s also seen as a “run” rather than a “race”, which means the fastest runners are not prioritised. I could go on further about the generic merits of all parkruns, but the actual point I wish to make ties in with the second letter from last week that mentioned Millfield (Easingwold) Parkrun.
My local parkrun is Darlington South Park, and since parkrunning there regularly, I now fully appreciate the Victorian splendour of this park and its features.
Many parkrunners though take the opportunity to spread their wings and visit events held elsewhere.
I’d never really stopped in Easingwold prior to visiting Millfield parkrun, despite it being a reasonably local town to me. I now know the town has a lovely little park, which is only a stone’s throw away from the town centre which in turn has an excellent selection of coffee shops and cafés.
There are also other places in our region that I hadn’t previously set foot in. I’ve seen Brian Clough’s statue plus a fabulous fountain in Albert Park, Middlesbrough and also learnt that parkland (with a café in a Stable Block) is possible in the Boro (Stewart Park).
I’ve discovered Hackworth Park in Shildon and hung around to learn that the Stockton and Darlington railway actually stretched a little bit further than the name suggests.
I’ve run around the stately grounds of Thorp Perrow that would have at one point been reserved for his Lordship.
I’ve run freely at Fountains Abbey pre the doors opening for the normal visitors. The best gem of all though in my opinion is Hardwick Park (Sedgefield). Again, somewhere I’d never visited pre parkrun.
Whether parkrun is for you or not personally, I’d still suggest to any reader to look at the list of local parkrun venues and give them a visit anyway.
Whilst I like a walk up to the summit of Roseberry Topping and fully appreciate the odd picture of it, our wonderful region does also have many, many more locations to offer.
Parkrun has highlighted a number to me and caused me to open my eyes to them.
I’D like to share my recent experience volunteering at Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT) as part of my Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award, and to acknowledge the support I received from the Ben Hyde Trust.
My name is Joseph Parkes-Hatley (age 22), and I spent a week at WFFT working with 22 rescued elephants that had been saved from trekking camps and the logging industry.
WFFT cares for over 900 rescued animals.
Many people don’t realise the cruelty behind elephant rides – I first learned about this in 2016 after reading a newspaper article from Save the Asian Elephant (STAE), which really opened my eyes.
The trip was supported by a grant from the Ben Hyde Trust. Lance Corporal Ben Hyde, from Northallerton, tragically lost his life in Iraq alongside five comrades in 2003.
The trust was set up in his memory by his parents Sandra and John Hyde, and over the years they have donated over £100,000 to worthy causes.
As part of this year’s memorial dinner at the Golden Lion Hotel in Northallerton, I was honoured to be guest speaker.
Other entertainment included the Crash Bang Wallop Youth Theatre Company, harpist Sarah Paterson, and piper Keith Thomas.
Guests included Alan Hinkes OBE, Mayor of Northallerton Andrew Hugill, Chairman of North Yorkshire Council George Jabbour, as well as local military personnel and veterans including Lieutenant Colonel Boyd, commanding officer of 1st Regiment Royal Military Police at Catterick.
The trip itself was an amazing experience – working up close with elephants was incredible despite the intense heat.
It was so hot one day that I even jumped into the elephants’ lake to cool off!
LAST week’s D&S letters had two references to the somewhat fractious Parliamentary Assisted Dying Bill.
I am personally neutral on this subject, but as expected, that Bill, has polarised public opinion to a high degree.
Emotions were running high during the debates in the Chamber and the result was extremely close.
When the result was finally announced, there were those who had hoped for a rejection of the Bill who showed their sadness and disappointment when hearing it.
However, those who had hoped for the Bill to pass, waved banners and vociferously cheered the result.
This seems to be a degrading and strange way in which to greet a law that allows for legalised euthanasia.
I TOTALLY understand the disgust and revulsion levelled at performances at Glastonbury by “Bob Vylan” and “Kneecap”.
They obviously didn’t get the irony of the heinous murders perpetrated by Hamas on that fateful October 7 starting at … a music festival.
But, I’d cut them some slack. They’re obviously stupid, ill-informed, and worse than that, untalented.
“Death death to the IDF”, I wonder how many months it took Bob Vylan to come up with that catchy lyric?
No, they’ve had their 15 minutes of infamy (how very punk-rap, whatever that is?) and I don’t suppose for a minute they’ll be headlining, or on the legends stage, at any time in their music careers.
MEDIA attention has switched from the continuing massacre of the innocents in Gaza in food queues and on what remains of infrastructure and the wherewithal for everyday life, to the Israeli onslaught on Iran, which may or may not be developing nuclear bomb-grade material, and now the American bombing of Iranian nuclear sites.
These onslaughts interrupted talks which the American President was describing as very hopeful.
This of course is redolent of June 1967 when diplomatic efforts to separate the warring parties were sabotaged by a pre-emptive Israeli strike on Arab neighbours, there being no intention by Israel to miss an opportunity to impose its will – dominion over the land of Palestine with as few Palestinians as possible – on the Middle East. Netanyahu’s manipulation of US policy is now clear.
So while our gaze is directed elsewhere and the world watches Iran, Gaza (and to a lesser extent for the moment the West Bank) continues to suffer.
I think we all want to see Israel as a flourishing independent model of democracy in the Middle East.
IT was one of the hottest days of the year and I called in at my local supermarket for a few things.
Parked next to me was a large American-style pickup truck with a distressed dog locked in a crate inside.
No windows were open.
In the store I spoke to the young woman at the desk who had no idea why this would be an issue.
A member of management came to speak to me and his first reaction was that they can’t stop customers leaving their dogs in cars.
I had to explain why it was a problem on hot days and that dogs can die very quickly if left in a car.
I described the vehicle and he went out to look, came back and said it had gone, the customer must have “just popped in”.
I finished my shopping and returned to my car. The large vehicle was still there, with the dog still inside.
As I was packing my shopping the male owner came back. I said his dog seemed distressed and he laughed at me, saying: “He’s only been there 20 minutes” (not true). I told him that dogs can die in 20 minutes but didn’t feel safe to confront him any further.
Don’t supermarkets know about the dangers of leaving dogs in hot cars? I hadn’t seen any notices, but I may have missed them.
I wonder if the supermarkets train their staff about this?
ON behalf of Northallerton and Area Christian Aid Group I should like to thank everyone who worked so hard throughout May to raise funds for us.
We are very grateful to those who walked, ran, cycled, swam, played the piano, quizzed, collected house to house and exercised. But of course particular thanks go to everyone who supported all the activity through sponsoring people or by direct donations. Together we raised £8,302, which, given the difficult circumstances many people find themselves in, showed true generosity.
The focus this year was on the indigenous people of Guatemala.
Their livelihoods have been devastated by the climate crisis and the loss of vital water supplies to industrial agriculture.
With help from one of Christian Aid’s local partners, communities are finding ways to adapt and survive. This only possible because of the generosity of our communities. Thank you again
Michael Webster (on behalf of Northallerton and Area Christian Aid Group).
Neglected roundabout
IT’S great that in Darlington millions are being spent on the new station, a few million pounds on the old Northern Echo/D&S Times offices, a few hundred grand on Grange Road, and so on.
How about Darlington Borough Council spending a few pounds on the Neasham Road roundabout? It’s disgraceful and has been neglected for years – it looks terrible.
