Pier scoops national award!

Saltburn's Victorian pier was today hailed the best in Britain. The pier - the last remaining pleasure pier on the North-East coast - beat resorts including Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight and Bangor in North Wales to scoop the Pier of the Year title.

It was runner-up in 2006 in the National Piers Society awards, and it has regularly featured in the top four from votes cast by the organisation's 600 members. This award comes hot on the heels of other successes including an award for the illuminations which light up the pier and cliff lift from dusk to midnight.
Friends of Saltburn Pier chairman Tony Lynn said: "A lot of work has been done towards saving the pier. It is something very dear to the heart of Saltburn people. It is so much part of Saltburn and we are so pleased to be recognised by the National Pier Society. They held their AGM here just after Saltburn Pier had been restored and the members were very impressed with what they saw."
The pier won the award due to its impressive design and unique features - simpilcity and quality restoration. An important feature is the lighting on the underside of the pier which reflects on to the waves and sand offering a unique experience for many people.
The pier itself has been plagued by misfortune since its opening in 1869 - incidents include the pier-end collapsing into the sea, a ship crashing through it in a storm and a section being removed to prevent German landings during World War Two, all of which gradually caused the length of the pier to diminish.

Norman Bainbridge - Saltburn's 'Mr Pier'

Norman Bainbridge, who died at the age of 83 in December 2005, was born and brought up in Saltburn and was the driving force behind the 'Friends of Saltburn Pier'. Ten years ago the future of the pier was under threat after it became apparent that it was in urgent need of reconstruction. When a bid for funding to restore it failed Norman, as founder member and chairman of the society, led a group of fellow enthusiasts to press for Government help as well as raising funds themselves.. He also worked closely with Redcar and Cleveland Council to lead the fight for survival and did much to help it win a £995,000 lottery grant to carry out the work that was needed to restore the pier.
Norman was very proud when the pier finally reopened to the public in July 2001 and was upgraded to a Grade 2* listed building. He was also proud when the pier lighting scheme was installed as the Friends had long pressed for this facility.
Five years later it won the annual Lighting Design Award for Transport Lighting following work under Redcar and Cleveland Council's Lighting Our Culture initiative. Norman was given the honour of switching on the lighting feature that illuminates the Pier, the Cliff Lift and the lower promenade.

Cliff Lift ready to go.

Saltburn's Victorian Cliff Lift is hoping to carry over 100,000 passengers on its up and down journeys when it starts operating again on Good Friday, April 10 th.
The lift's winter maintenance schedule has been successfully completed by the Council's Fleet Management workshop fitters assisted by the Cliff Lift Engineer Paul Wakeford in good time for the beginning of the new season.
Last year just under 100,000 visitors made the journey on the lift which links the town with Saltburn Pier and the lower promenade and sands.

The lift, which first opened in 1884, is now the oldest remaining water-powered system using the original technology in Britain.

From April 10th, the lift's operating hours will be 10am-1pm and 1.30pm-5pm, then from Saturday, May 23, the hours will be extended until 7pm with a one hour lunch break, from 1pm-2pm. Admission prices are 70p adults, 40p children, oaps 40p - free for Redcar & Cleveland pensioners, pushchairs/prams 40p.

War of the Roses?

A small grassed area in Laurel Close has proved to be contentious after Council workers moved in to dig it up in readiness to plant rose bushes.
Some residents, who want it kept as grass for the Close's small children to safely play on, were infuriated by the council's actions.
Louise Sutherland was among those who objected. Her children are among those who happily play there and, as Louise is blind, she says it's even more important that she can hear them playing safely close to home.
The council said the diggers had been sent in following complaints about children playing. The grass had been temporarily reinstated after Mrs Sutherland raised her objections.
Mrs Sutherland said the saga dates from 2006, when a poisonous bush was removed from the area and residents were allowed to grass the patch over. Her husband regularly mowed it and it became a popular place for toddlers to play safely. That prompted Louise to refuse requests to plant bushes there as part of the town's Saltburn in Bloom effort and she was told that nothing would be done to the grassed area without proper consultation.
" If people didn't want it, I'd have to accept that, but we should at least be properly asked our opinion. I don't think it's been handled very democratically".
Mrs Sutherland added: "If it's a choice between rose bushes and flowers or a safe environment for our children to play, I know what I'd choose."
A Redcar and Cleveland Council spokesperson said: "We have received complaints from some residents regarding the use of the area by children for playing. In direct response to this we began to prepare the area for planting. We have now made the decision to stop the preparation of the area and return it to its previous state so that further consultation with all residents can take place."

Capsized!

Redcar's lifeboats were called out to the rescue after a small boat capsized while ferrying its passengers to and from the shore at Saltburn.
The alarm was raised just before 5.30pm when a 7ft inflatable tender capsized while trying to reach shore to pick up the crew of a 34ft motor cruiser, which was anchored off the beach near Saltburn pier.
The Bay Dream III had sailed from Hartlepool earlier in the day. Its crew had left the craft to run ashore in the tender for a meal at the Ship Inn.
The motor cruiser's skipper, a Sheffield man, had successfully taken his wife back to the cruiser after the meal, and was returning to shore to pick up two more crew when the craft capsized.
Although unhurt, the skipper was unable to re-launch the tender because of heavy seas breaking on the shoreline, and called for help.
Redcar RNLI dispatched both lifeboats and transferred one crew member to the motor cruiser to be with the lone woman left on board. Another crew member managed to lift the craft's anchor and steered it into safer waters. Meanwhile the lifeboat picked up two more of the cruiser's crew to take them back to the vessel.
Finally the skipper was picked up and the tender towed back offshore.
Redcar RNLI spokesman Dave Cocks said: "The skipper was very lucky to be unhurt when his inflatable capsized. We had a major rescue at exactly the same spot last year when a large number of fishing boats capsized and a woman suffered a nasty head injury."

Body found

Following an alarm raised by a dog walker at about 9.30am this morning the body of a man, believed to be in his early thirties, was reclaimed from a spot about 60ft from the foot of cliffs between Saltburn and Skinningrove. The dead man's identity was expected to be confirmed by police later today.
In an operation involving Redcar's two lifeboats, the Staithes lifeboat as well as members of the Coastguard and police, the body was brought down to the base of the cliffs and transferred to the Redcar lifeboat. The location of the body made the operation particularly difficult but the teamwork of the volunteer crews successfully brought the body to the bottom of the cliff where it was transferred to a rescue craft.
The body was then landed at Redcar lifeboat station and handed into the care of the police.

Time capsule.

An intentional time capsule, purposely placed and intended to be opened one hundred years from now, has been buried on the site of Saltburn's new learning campus.
With the modern replacement for the old Huntcliff School now open pupils decided to mark the occasion by burying the capsule to commemorate the now demolished school's past.
They collected a host of items suitable for placing into a sealed metal box which they hope people might find interesting when the box is dug up.
Whoever opens it in 2109 should discover a brief snapshot of school life in Saltburn from 2009.
In addition to hundreds of photos, stamps, pencils, CDs, key rings, a Y11 group photo and money, scores of pupils filled in small index cards with their thoughts and feelings of life at the birth of the new school.
History teacher and project coordinator, Hannah Mohon, commented: "It's social history reflecting our students thoughts and how they feel about society and the world. A historian is like a detective and part of the fun of this has been compiling something that will be fun to unpack."
Local historians Cath and Tony Lynn helped to advise on what to include in the box.
Tony said: "When the old British School was built in the 1860s they buried some sort of time capsule, but when the school was bombed in World War Two they took the rubble away and the capsule has never been found. I think this story helped fire the schools imagination to create their own time capsule."

According to time capsule historian William Jarvis, most intentional time capsules usually do not provide much useful historical information: they are typically filled with "useless junk", new and pristine in condition, that tells little about the people of the time. Many buried time capsules are lost, as interest in them fades and the exact location is forgotten, or are destroyed within a few years by groundwater. Let's hope that this capsule endures the test of time and is more successful than it's earlier counterpart.

Crawl, slither and slide... up close and personal!

Saltburn children have recently experienced the chance to get close to some special rodents and reptiles during their science lessons. The Zoolab Tour is visiting schools as part of the University of Teesside's Meteor Scheme, bringing along a snake, giant snail, cockroach, rat and a frog. As well as being able to handle the animals the pupils learned about the vital role that sunlight plays in our lives and how the animals fit into the food chain.

During its two week run the university's Meteor programme aims to inspire pupils to think about the benefits of higher education.