Great British Railway Journeys - a visit to Saltburn

Michael Portillo's great train journey into Britain's nooks and crannies - with a timetable from 1839 as his companion - comes to Saltburn this summer.

Victorian cartographer George Bradshaw created the world’s first book of railway timetables in 1839, making sense of the services offered by Britain’s 150 competing rail companies. His yellow bound guides were so common that to Victorians and Edwardians any timetable was known as ‘a Bradshaw’.

Micheal admitted:"I'd only heard of him from Sherlock Holmes. When Sherlock Holmes gets a new case which involves him travelling across the country, he says to Watson 'get the Bradshaw' - it was obviously absolutely essential to Victorians, for the timetables.
There were many different local railway companies and originally they would just put up their timetable at the local station. Bradshaw was the first person to compile the timetables. Before that, he'd mapped the railways, and before that, he'd mapped the canals.
What we're using is a subsequent development from all that, his handbook, a guidebook that's laid out in terms of routes. Bradshaw tells you where to go and where to stay but, unlike a modern guidebook, it's full of opinion. He celebrates engineering, he celebrates science, London, the greatest city that has EVER existed... And also opinions on some things that he thinks are fantastic: there will suddenly be two paragraphs on a hotel he stayed at and how wonderful the proprietress is!"

Following in Bradshaw's footsteps Michael Portillo is venturing on a journey from Tynemouth arriving in Saltburn this June. A preliminary visit has already been made and the BBC2 programme is due to be aired sometime next year.

Car Parking mix up at Saltburn Valley gardens

A mix up with signage at Saltburn’s Valley Gardens car park led some motorists to be confused as to whether Bank Holiday parking was free or not on May 3.
After a number of queries a Redcar and Cleveland Council spokesman admitted that one sign said people had to pay on Bank Holidays, whereas another said in error that parking was free on Bank Holidays and Sundays.
He said: “There was new signage put in place prior to the last Bank Holiday and, unfortunately, some people parking in Saltburn did get conflicting messages. Anyone who contacts us about parking tickets they received in error on this occasion will, of course, have them cancelled.
We apologise for the mistake and have quickly arranged for the sign to be corrected.”
However, to clarify matters, the council points out that on the forthcoming Bank Holiday Monday, May 31st, all motorists using local car parks must pay to park as normal.

Super fundraising at Saltburn's Sainsbury's Local.

Over the past year, staff and customers at Sainsbury’s Local in Station Street, Saltburn, have held tombolas, raffles and even swam a mile each to raise funds for Redcar RNLI raising £2,650 for its adopted lifeboat station.
Star fundraiser was Sainsbury’s worker Judith Clements who, with her home-made cakes going down a treat, spent more than 100 hours volunteering and managed to raise an incredible £1,800. Thanks to Sainsbury’s matched giving scheme ‘Local Heroes’, Judith increased the amount raised by an extra £200.
Sainsbury’s duty manager Mark Patton said: “We are very proud to have colleagues like Judith who are so dedicated to helping out in the local community. She is an inspiration.”
RNLI Redcar lifeboat treasurer Peter Haslett said: “We really appreciate the effort put in by everyone, and especially by Judith.”