A walking group which donated two gates at Gainford as part of a ‘Donate a Gate’ scheme used its annual Christmas walk to visit them. Members of the Darlington Countrywide Holidays Association & Holiday Fellowship Rambling Group decided to see the work for themselves, festively dressed and singing carols along the way!
Chairman of the Darlington club, Ian Bagshaw, said: “It makes everything much more accessible; if you don’t walk so well you don’t want to be going over wobbly styles so it just makes things safer and easier for everybody.”
The Heart of Teesdale Landscape Partnership and the Friends of the North Pennines have been working together to roll out the ‘Donate a Gate’ scheme across Teesdale and the wider North Pennines area. The idea behind the scheme is to make the area’s popular footpaths more accessible by replacing awkward stiles with gates, and members of the public are being encouraged to sponsor a gate to make this possible. Thanks to the scheme, 45 new gates have now been installed by Jay Marrison of 4Nature.
The ‘Donate a Gate’ scheme invites members of the public to pay for a stile to be replaced and the new gate fitted with an engraved plaque. This could be in remembrance of a loved one, to commemorate a special occasion or as a gift to someone who loves walking in Teesdale and the North Pennines. Everyone who ‘Donates a Gate’ will be given a choice of the location of the gate (subject to conditions), choose their engraving and receive a personalised map of the area around their gate.
This scheme forms part of the Heart of Teesdale’s Paths for All People project that aims to improve the footpaths and bridleways around the project area to make them more suitable and accessible. This includes work on the Teesdale Way and the Greta Walk.
For more information on the scheme please contact Emma Ashton-Wickett on 03000 260645 or emma.ashton@durham.gov.uk , or Friends of the North Pennines on fotnp@hotmail.co.uk.