Big Dippers

Despite the freezing conditions, people dressed up in costume and braved the ice cold waters at Saltburn for the annual festive charity fundraiser. The event, which has been running for 10 years, raises funds in the name of the late Saltburn man Jim Maidens, who was lost at sea in September 1998. The dip is organised each year by Bob George and Phil Anniss to raise money for the Redcar lifeboat and Great North Air Ambulance under the Jim Maidens Memorial Fund. Organiser Bob, who also takes part in the dip each year, said: "It's wonderful that everyone puts in the effort. I have to mention Ron and Kate Scott from the Ship Inn who have been great over the years. We meet there before the dip and they put on hot food for everyone afterwards. Nine of this year's 25 dippers are members of staff or their families from the Ship Inn."

Christmas Lights 2009

Seven-year-old Olivia Hume got Christmas festivities off to a good start in the town when she switched on the tree lights. Olivia, who attends Saltburn Primary School, was awarded the honours after winning a fire safety poster competition.

Parents and children sang carols round the tree before Santa arrived on his long wooden sleigh pulled by Saltburn firefighters. He was accompanied by two fire tenders which were lit up and decorated. Santa usually arrives on one of the fire tenders but this year the firefighters decided to make him a sleigh. It was designed by Les Turner and all 14 fire crew, plus their six new volunteers from Huntcliff School, helped make and decorate it.

Rigwood House enjoys its first ever Winter Wonderland

Nearly 200 people attended an event at Rigwood House as it hosted its first ever Winter Wonderland - complete with a polar bear, the Snow Queen's bicycle, trolls and spooky music.

The impressive outdoor show took place in the dimly lit woods surrounding the house, and consisted of various story-telling and performance-based pieces by trolls and tree sprites.
For many, the highlight of the evening was a life-sized polar bear, which is part of a performance by Bjorn and Ursula from Los Kaos. The realistic polar bear is on its way to the Sage Gateshead and will also appear on the Paul O'Grady show in the run up to Christmas.

View plans for Saltburn Valley Gardens Playground

Plans for a new playground in the Saltburn Valley Gardens will be on view at the town's library on Monday, November 30, from 2pm-5pm, with work due to start within weeks. The Council has received £1.1m from the Government's Playbuilder programme, with the funding from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) via PlayEngland, to complete 11 new play sites by March next year and 12 more by March, 2011. Now the Council has invited The Children's Playground Company Ltd to organise an awareness session for everyone interested in the Saltburn scheme, including the Friends of Saltburn Valley and local schools. Visitors will see the plans for the facility, which will spread from the Cat Nab car park to the Donkey Field, including a zip wire, slides, climbing nets and water-based play. The Council's Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Tourism Councillor Sheelagh Clarke said: "These play areas won't be the conventional type - they are being deliberately designed to offer opportunities for challenging play. So we're looking for some really different concepts."We also want to emphasise we are determined to ensure the play spaces will be designed to enhance the natural settings and environment."

Improvement work at leisure centre

Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council is continuing its refurbishment programme for the Borough's leisure centres, lining up major improvement works for Saltburn Leisure Centre. The work is a mix of essential maintenance and improvements to the Centre's two pools, Energy Club and indoor bowling facility. It will mean the temporary closure of the Centre from Monday, November 30 - the last swimming session will be on Sunday, November 29 - reopening on Saturday, January 2. Managing director Paddy Corcoran explained: "We have opted for a December closure because statistics show it is the quietest time of the year. It's also been necessary close the whole building simply because of the volume of work that needs to undertaken and principally because we have to replace the centre's boilers. The work at the Saltburn centre, which opened in November, 1973, will upgrade the swimming pool chemical management system, re-grout both the adult 25m and baby pools and carry out extensive electrical work. It will also replace the bowls carpet in the dedicated bowls hall and improve the temperature controls of the Energy Club, converted from the Centre's squash courts.

Learning Campus officially opened.

Popular author and ex-school inspector Gervase Phinn spent a day at the new Saltburn Learning Campus leading writing workshops before officially opening the £15m building.
His visit marked the completion of the super campus, now home to almost 1,000 pupils, from primary children at Saltburn Primary to secondary students at Huntcliff School. Mr Phinn said: "I am very impressed with what I have seen. The school is cheerful, welcoming and all this has a massive effect on learning. It's an outstanding environment and thoughtfully designed, very modern and will serve the area well for generations to come."

The 500 Huntcliff students saw their new facilities develop on the same site over 15 months before moving in September last year, with all their major requests met - wide corridors, light, airy classrooms, all equipped with interactive white boards and computers.

Headteacher of Huntcliff School Ruth Mayes said: "We moved out of a 50-year-old school in July 2008. We've entered an exciting new era with school buildings fit for the 21st Century and are already feeling the benefit of the superb open spaces and access to ICT."

The 420 primary school pupils crossed the road this September to start lessons in the new building which links the primary school and its 39-place nursery with Huntcliff School and a children's centre with 40 daycare places.

The official opening ceremony saw Gervase Phinn unveil a foundation stone before completing a book-signing session. Mr Phinn then entertained an audience with anecdotes about his work at an evening performance.

A glass is raised...!

The first pint of the inaugural Saltburn Beer Festival has been pulled, with the vicar giving the event his blessing.
The Rev Guy Donegan-Cross had the task of drawing the first ale from the cask as the finishing touches were put to the festival in the hall at Emmanuel Church.
With 22 brands available, beer lovers were in for a treat with special glasses, a speciallycommissioned bottled beer and a display about the pier and other local history.
Many of the beers had an ecclesiastical theme, including Bishop’s Farewell, Monks’ Gold and Matins.
The festival also included live music from Fat Medicine on the first evening and a trio of musicians the following night. The event was held in the church hall in McNay Street.