£788 Boost for Theatre Building Fund

A gig by Father Ted legend and stand-up comic Michael Redmond has raised almost £800 for the Saltburn Theatre Building Fund. A total of £788.10 was raised by the near sell-out show, held at the Theatre on Wednesday 25 April. Gig promoter Rob O’Connor of media & PR service ten past eight, donated his profits of £332, with the theatre’s own bar profits, hire fee, and a bucket collection on the night of the show making up the rest.
Rob O’Connor said: “Michael was fantastic on the night. People were stopping me in the street after the gig and saying he was the funniest comic they’d ever seen. In the days leading up to the gig I’d had visits to my website from as far afield as Paris, New York, Valencia and Billingham. That Father Ted effect gets everywhere.”
“Big thanks should go to all the local shops and businesses who happily displayed posters, to Garry.Biz and Thurston Printers who rustled up a new poster between them for free when I decided to turn the night into a benefit gig, and especially to Saltburn Health Foods in Station Buildings. Saltburn Health Foods sell tickets for every production at Saltburn Theatre without accepting any commission whatsoever. They don’t seek publicity. They just do it because they love the town, and they are fantastic people.”
The £788.10 will hopefully go a small way to help replace the dent in the Theatre’s Building Fund, after the theft of a significant amount of lead from the community hall roof was discovered back in March.

The £788.10 raised on the night comprised:

£322.87 - profits donated by gig promoter ten past eight
£150.00 - theatre hire fee paid by ten past eight
£230.00 - theatre bar’s profit on the night
£75.23 - bucket collection/donation organised by the theatre on the night

Doorways kept open.

Last September, things looked bleak for Saltburn’s Doorways project. Based at Saltburn’s Station Buildings the project was set up in 1998 by Saltburn Christian Projects to offer support, advice and a drop-in centre for teenagers and young adults. Needing £50,000 a month to survive, three staff members had to be laid off and project co-ordinator John Pearson admits the door was about to shut permanently. An initial £7,000 donation from Tees Valley Community Foundation’s local network fund help prevent the closure and additional funding has since been found so that the immediate future at least has been secured. Grants include £25,000 for each of the next two years from Northern Rock, £4,000 from Redcar and Cleveland Partnership’s community fund and, from the Youth Opportunities Fund, £2,000 to help young people with drug, alcohol and risk-taking behaviour issues. And thanks to £4,000 from Saltburn, Marske and New Marske Parish Council, the young people using the scheme will be able to write and read all about it in their own youth newspaper. However, the project still needs at least £35,000 a year to meet its running costs and the search for funding continues.

Visit www.doorways-project.org or call 01287 625305.

Walk on Wheels

A "walk on wheels" event is to kick off Christian Aid week efforts in Saltburn with a walk for toddlers in buggies and older folk in wheelchairs along the top promenande. In addition, a treasure hunt will be held for families in the valley gardens and a five-mile walk for keen walkers in the area - all on Bank Holiday Monday May 7. "The wheelchair walk will be a chance for older people to `get their own back' on children and grandchildren who often ask them to sponsor them," said organiser Mrs Annette Adams. "We hope several hundred pounds will be raised in sponsorship from all the `walks on wheels' plus treasure hunt and main walk. And everyone will have fun." Mrs Adams said the walks would start in the early afternoon and end with tea and refreshments at Emmanuel church hall, off Windsor Road, Saltburn, between 4-5pm. In addition Christian Aid week would start with a buffet meal - those taking part are asked to contribute the price of a lunch out - at the church hall on Sunday May 13 followed by an informal service. After that dozens of house-to-house collectors will deliver envelopes round the town. "Saltburn people have always been generous both in helping to collect money and giving it," said Mrs Adams. Christian Aid week ends on Saturday May 19. Sponsorship froms will be available from Emmanuel's church shop, Milton Street, the church office in the church hall and from the Doorways youth project, Station Square.Further information can be had from Mrs Adams 01287-624674 or John Pearson 01287-625305. MEDIA QUERIES TO MIKE MORRISSEY 01287-622493.

Organiser Annette Adams, who has a disability, tries out a "walk on wheels" on Saltburn's top promenade in readiness for Christian Aid's event there on Bank Holiday Monday.

See Climate film for free...

Members of two local campaign groups have joined forces to stage a free public screening of the Oscar winning film An Inconvenient Truth in Saltburn.

Friends of the Earth and the World Development Movement decided to act together to give more people a chance to see the hard-hitting documentary. The movie features former US presidential candidate Al Gore, explaining why we need to act now to lessen the dangers of climate change.

At the screening, on Friday, April 27 at 7.45pm in the Emmanuel Church Hall, the Energy Saving Trust will have an information stall and a supply of low energy light bulbs to give away.

Smugglers Centre & Cliff Lift open

The story of smuggler John Andrews is coming alive again with the seasonal reopening of the town's popular Saltburn Smugglers visitor attraction.The three-room Heritage Centre invites visitors to relive the sights, sounds and smells of the smuggling trade over 200 years ago.
John Andrew, landlord of the Ship Inn, was known locally as the Smuggler King. Outwardly, he was a pillar of the local community, but underneath, he was an artful and successful smuggler.
Opening times, until May 31, are Wednesdays-Sundays, 10am-6pm, then from June 1, it will be Tuesdays-Sundays, 10am-6pm before the attraction opens every day from July 1, from 10am-6pm.
Admission prices are: adult/oaps £1.95, children £1.45 with a £5.80 family rate for two adults and two children.There are reduced rates for pre-booked groups and schools. Call 01287 625252 for more details.

One of Saltburn's most popular attractions opens on Good Friday, April 6 - the Victorian Cliff Lift. Over 100,000 people made the journeys up and down the cliff last year in the two cabins, built in 1884, thanks to its original water-powered system.
The lift will be open from 10am-5pm, seven days a week, apart from a 30-minute lunch break, until the end of September, and until 7pm from the late Spring Bank Holiday Monday, May 28.
Fares are 65p for adults and 35p for oaps.

Dangerous Tides

The RNLI has issued a warning about the danger of rising tides after a man was rescued from the foot of Saltburn's Huntcliff.

Lifeboat crews found the 48yr old Loftus man, confused and suffering from mild hypothermia, at the base of Huntcliff - trapped with his back to the vertical cliff face by a rapidly rising tide - after he alerted the coastguard. Redcar Lifeboat Station's inshore lifeboat was used to retrieve the man on Saturday afternoon. RNLI spokesman Dave Cammish said: "The Huntcliff coastline can be extremely treacherous. People try to walk round on a fairly decent day from the foot of Huntcliff to Saltburn, but it's very deceptive - it can look as if there's a way around. It's quite easy to get halfway round and find that the path ahead is blocked by the tide and then by turning around and starting to go back, you find it's sneaked up on you again." Anyone walking south along the beach from Saltburn is advised to check tide times before venturing onto rocks or around the cliffs and bays where incoming tides may cut off a return to safety. It is also important to tell others where you intend to go and give an approximate time for return.