New Blood in Saltburn

Five recent BA and MA graduates are showing their work as part of the New Blood exhibition at Saltburn Art Gallery.
Lauren Healey from the Saltburn Artists Project says, "Although they work across a range of media, their sensitive use of materials ties their work together.
"Ginny Reed explores residues and remnants of events or performances using photography and video.
"Lesley Rayner and Maggie Hunter work with delicate and fragile materials such as wax, fabric and latex, and whilst Rayner responds to ancient decaying woodlands, Hunter considers traces of the human body and the passage of time.
"Keri Townsend has been exploring the sphere through reduction, segmentation and division, and Steven Walker creates drawings and objects which explore his fascination with how we construct our identity through consumption and appropriation."
Both Walker and Townsend will be making work specifically for the Saltburn Gallery.
The exhibit is open until Sunday 28th May."

National Piers Award runner up

The National Piers Society has named Saltburn's Victorian pier as runner up in their 'Pier of the Year' Awards.
The 'Pier of the Year' Award was instituted after the success of Year Of The Pier in 1996 and has been won by Eastbourne (1997), Brighton Palace (1998), Clevedon (1999), Cromer (2000), Weston-super-Mare Grand (2001), Southwold (2002), Southport (2003), Blackpool North (2004) and Llandudno (2005). Worthing pier was voted this years winner. Twenty-four other piers, including two in South America, were nominated in the annual poll of the Society’s 600 members. The award will be presented during the Society’s Annual General Meeting in Weston-super-Mare on 13 May.

Illuminating

Whatever your point of view - and the lighting of the pier and cliff lift has caused a great deal of controversy amongst local residents, many of whom feel the project to be expensive and surreal when other issues need to be addressed - the new lighting scheme that is illuminating Saltburn's Victorian Pier and Cliff Lift from dusk to midnight has won a national award.

The scheme, part of the Council's 'Lighting Our Culture' initiative, won the annual Lighting Design Awards category for Transport Lighting. The scheme uses blue light to illuminate the cliff as a visual reference to the water that drives the cliff lift power mechanism. The pier buildings and beach huts are also lit.

The Council's Mayor, Councillor Peter Spencer, collected the award - a metal certificate - along with lighting design consultant Michael Phillips at London's Royal Lancaster Hotel in a ceremony organised by Lighting Equipment News and the Institution of Lighting Engineers.

The scheme's £380,000 funding package included contributions from the Government's regional development agency, One North East, Tees Valley Coastal Arc, the Tees Valley Partnership, the Council, Saltburn Pier Entertainments and Friends of Saltburn Pier. More lighting has also been installed on the lower promenade and Cat Nab car parks. Design work on a potential Phase 2 including the town's community theatre and railway station portico, is also complete, with funding and planning applications to come.

Bloomin' marvellous

Saltburn in Bloom - The National judges will make an unannounced visit to the town anytime between Monday 17th April and Saturday the 13th May. The visit could be at any time on any day and will last for approximately 3hrs. Any help with the weeding of gardens and the cleanliness of the town would be really appreciated - please contact 01287 624046 if you'd like any information or to volunteer help. Thank you.

Ill-Litter-ate

Spring has arrived and the town is beginning to prepare for the increasing number of vistors recent tourist initiatives have brought into the area. As part of the Authority's foreshore management the debris from the Spring high tides has been removed from the lower promenade and the beaches have been raked, but the untidy mess strewn across the cliff face between the top and lower promenade still remains despite numerous complaints from both locals and visitors to the town.
Plastic debris - bottles and bags - and aluminium cans are scattered and tangled amongst the vegetation adding to the general deterioration of the cliffside. Whilst it would be tempting to blame this on visitors or uncaring youths the reality of the matter is that the majority of this litter is a direct result of the Authority's recycling programme.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm fully supportive of recycling and do my best to play my part but the methods of collection leave a great deal to be desired. Green boxes for this, blue, white and now orange bags for that, abound. On collection day these inadequate containers appear - brim full and overloaded - on our doorsteps, contents waiting for transportation. And the winds sweep down the Jewel streets blowing the contents along with them onto the banks. Surely there must be a better way to recycle than this!

Clifftop access blocked!

Access to the lower promenade and the beach from Marine Parade has hit the headlines once again this week. Visitors will now find it even more difficult to reach the beach with the installation of additional galvanised fencing to block the pathways down to the lower promenade.
After many years of closure, this weeks activity is the first sign of any action by the council since the installation of the red signs stating the closure of the cliff top paths.
The only routes down to the beach which remain open are the path at Hazelgrove (not accessible for buggies and wheelchairs), the steps near the cliff lift, and the cliff lift itself.

The pathways have been closed to the public since storms caused landslides in 2000. Despite public concern the deterioration continues as a result of the lack of action taken. The Borough Council insists that they are trying to secure funding for topographical surveys that are needed before the pathways can be re-opened. Meanwhile residents and visitors continue to suffer restricted access to the beach.

(Over two months ago Mrs Mavis Moss presented local MP Ashok Kumar with a 1,600-signature petition as part of her campaign for improved walkways from the top to the lower promenade.)