Polar Express!

Visitors to Saltburn looked on in amusement as 36 year old Gareth Ellis, from Great Broughton, dressed himself in a red suit and strode up and down the shoreline pulling two heavy tyres and a rucksack.
Gareth is in training for The Polar Challenge - a 350-nautical mile sled race on foot to the Magnetic North Pole. Determined to help boost his expedition fees, Gareth decided to complete his training dressed as Santa Claus.
“Well it’s Christmas isn’t it?” he said as he headed towards Saltburn Pier.
Gareth has pledged to donate 30% of funds raised to the NSPCC, the Juvenile Diabetes Fund and research into polar bear habitats.
To support Gareth call 07740 078012

Road to the Isles!

A special train will head for the Hebrides as the age of Pullman luxury returns to Saltburn.
For several years, Loftus GP Rob Dallara and friends have hired a plush train to take trippers from Saltburn on a yearly jaunt.
They’ve been to Fort William, Chester, Cornwall, Inverness and, earlier this year, Canterbury.
Now bookings are being taken for a four day trip on June 20-23 next year to Oban and the Western Isles.
The Saltburn Hebridean will feature Pullman coaches hauled by heritage diesel locomotives, posh nosh on the train and the choice of three or four star accommodation.
Only about 60 of the 270 seats remain for a trip which also includes optional excursions.
It’s planned the train will head for Oban in Scotland via Newcastle and Carlisle.
Tickets are £340 per person, excluding excursions.

Visit Saltburn Rail Tours for more information.

Late Summer ends.

Tens of thousands of visitors flocked to Saltburn beach this mixed-weather summer, which officially ended in November with the cliff-lift shutting for the winter.
The lift, which had carried over 101,000 people up to last weekend, was kept open an extra month following a late burst of Indian summer weather. It was open all week to cater for school half-term holidays.
Last year it carried 102,000 visitors and its use is a barometer of Saltburn’s summer season business. The record number of passengers was 112,000 in 2001. “We’ve had more rain than sun this year and the Indian summer came a little late to help trade,” said veteran beach shop and café owner Edna Vernon. “On hot days we do quite well, but when it rains no one comes.”
Mrs Vernon has invested thousands of pounds in a new shop and takeaway at her rebuilt café near Cat Nab. It is due to open next March.
Nick Noble, who runs the surfing school and equipment hire side of Saltburn’s surf shop, said: “We've done well this year.” Colleague Gary Rogers said: “We’ve had a pretty good autumn and the surf has been tremendous. On a good day we’ve averaged 40 surfers, some from Leeds,
Cumbria and Durham.”
A Redcar and Cleveland Council spokesman said the cliff lift had taken over £49,000 for the year so far and the total expenditure was £67,750. “This is a fantastic and well-loved attraction and we welcome its continuing success.”
The spokesman said there was no planned opening date for the restaurant at the controversial foreshore building opposite the pier. Saltburn Foreshore Committee, made up of businesses and beach users, said it is looking forward to the opening of a community room at the newly-painted building.
Ten new dog and litter bins are to be placed on the lower promenade next spring.

Speciality Market and Christmas Lights Switch On

For the start of the Christmas season Saltburn will be holding a two day speciality market on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th November from 10 am to 4pm.
The markets sell locally produced, high quality foods and gifts and were initially started to draw local residents’ attention to the excellent wares available from independent retailers on Saltburn’s traditional high street and the surrounding areas. The main market day will be on Saturday when the town switches on the Christmas lights at 5pm.
The speciality markets will include the ever popular organic meats, organic vegetables and locally produced chocolate delights. There will also be locally made gifts, cards, jewellery and candles as well as fairly traded gifts and a wide selection of traditional Christmas items. The long list of products includes delicious honey, herb vinegars, game, gourmet hampers, wine, jams and chutneys. So come along with all the family as this is the place to start your Christmas shopping.
To celebrate the biggest market ever in Saltburn the BBC bus will be visiting the town centre. There will be many family activities including Specky the clown, Punch and Judy and several brass bands generously provided by Saltburn 500 Club.
During the day children can make Christmas decorations at the market with the help of the Friends of Saltburn Library, the decorations will be used to dress Santa’s Grotto for when he visits the town in spectacular style at 5.15pm.
The Saltburn Christmas light switch on has always been a popular, annual, family event. This year to encourage the older children to join in the family festivities the Saltburn Agora Partnership has secured funding from Tees Valley Community Foundation’s Local Network Fund for a free ice rink in the town centre on Saturday 10am to 8pm and Sunday 10 am to 6pm. The artificial ice rink will feature music, decorations, artificial snow and even a skate coach. Up to thirty people can be on the 8m by 9m ice-rink at any one time.

Saltburn hit by tidal surge.

Teesside’s coastline braced itself for the effects of a North Sea tidal surge caused by gale force winds and a high tide.
Saltburn was hit overnight on Thursday, with the coastline affected between 3am and 5am, but the flooding has now receded.
A clean-up operation began yesterday morning after the seafront was battered by storm waves. Rocks, sand, seaweed and other debris was tossed across the coast road by rough high tides.
The flooding subsided as the tide ebbed but the sea remained choppy. Catherine Scott, licensee at The Ship Inn in Saltburn, said: “We were really lucky as the tide came up the slipway but just to the edge of the entrance to the car park. The police and Coastguard were out all night, keeping an eye on the tide, to see how it was going. It has receded now, it has just left a lot of stones. Part of the road was closed during the night too, but that has reopened now.”
Saltburn Pier was also closed yesterday as a precaution.
The Humber Coastguard commented that they were aware of the floodwatch warnings in place and had taken the necessary precautions but stated that the worst of the surge had now passed.
The Environment Agency issued eight severe flood warnings, mainly in areas of southern England which were most at risk from the surge.

Pageant of Light

Saltburn woods were lit by flickering lanterns when 2,500 people walked in the annual 'Pageant of Light' at dusk on Sunday, October 29th to the Woodlands Centre.
“It was a great event and everyone was well behaved,” said countryside ranger Neil Thirkell.
Numbers were well up on last year’s 1,000 walkers with everyone celebrating the end of British Summer Time and clocks going back an hour.
The theme of the event, which was organised by Redcar and Cleveland Council and the Friends of the Valley, was the 'Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.' “Three ‘fire-sculptures’ by artist Derek Mosey were a prominent feature, the Orion scouts from Guisborough entertained people in the tea gardens and the Saltburn-based Earthbeat Theatre Company was well received,” said Mr Thirkell.
Saltburn WI provided refreshments at the woodlands centre.
The Butterwick Children’s Hospice, of Stockton, raised about £300 through selling glow-sticks.

Bankside contoversy

Concerns that a nightclub was on its way to a prominent Saltburn spot have been dismissed. The former Bankside pub is in the middle of a £450,000 refit prior to becoming Vista Mar, which is Spanish for sea view. But an application for a 3am licence provoked suspicion from some locals, who fear a noisy nightclub scenario.
That application has now been revised to 2am by Dave Stokes who will own and run the 'restaurant and concept bar', in conjunction with Enterprise Inns Ltd.

Some residents have voiced opposition to the bid for a licence to allow music, singing and dancing in the premises until 2am. These concerned residents are not opposed to developing the seafront and think the idea of a restaurant is a great idea but they are concerned that the late night concept, with a licence for music, singing and dancing until 2.am will lead to problems with noise and nuisance.

Mr Stokes, former tenant at Windsor’s bar in the town, said the site had been crying out for a good quality bar-restaurant. The development is not intended to be a nightclub - it’s a bar-restaurant where people can chill and enjoy good service in comfort. He added that there would be no dance floor, no DJs - just a background music system. He emphasised that the site had been an eyesore for some time and that everyone wanted something doing with it. Mr Stokes said he was happy to talk to anyone concerned about the plans. He stated that he was aware that the Bankside site had had its problems and a certain reputation over the years but his idea is to create an environment where people can have a good meal, a drink and enjoy the view in comfort. On the food side, Mr Stokes is employing three full-time chefs and providing an expanded kitchen. And so customers can drink in the sea view, a large balcony area, complete with floor to ceiling glass and an outside area, is being built.
The planned opening date is December 6.