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Community Speedwatch
Autumnal advice Autumn arriving means that the days start to grow shorter, and soon the
clocks will be changing. This means longer nights which are attractive to
criminals operating under cover of darkness. As the nights close in, here are a few
actions you can take to prevent criminals spoiling your winter:
• Adjust the settings on your light
timers so that lights come on as
soon as it is dark outside.
• Ensure external lights keep your
property well illuminated.
• Ensure light timers keep your
property interior well-lit so that if
you are still at work when night
falls it looks as though the property
is occupied.
• Keep blinds tilted however, so that
the interior of your house does not
become a showcase to prospective
burglars.
• Make sure equipment, toys, bikes
and other items used during the
day are safely and securely stored
indoors before it is dark.
• Make sure your car is secure and if
possible parked off the street,
preferably nose first on a drive, or
better still in a garage.
• Always keep entrance doors,
garden gates, garages and
outhouses securely locked.
• Take garden furniture, barbeques,
hose pipes and other summer
garden items indoors for the
winter.
New police facilities
Plans have been approved for a new
custody and investigations suite in
Spennymoor providing a safe and
modern building to replace the four
ageing custody suites currently in
use at Bishop Auckland, Darlington,
Peterlee and Durham City.
Because several detainees can be
booked in at once, the new centre
will reduce the average time that
arresting officers spend while
prisoners are processed and allow
officers to get back out on the
streets more quickly.
Crime Prevention Officer: Rona Stocks. rona.stocks@durham.pnn.police.uk
Police Community Cohesion Officer: Faye Callan. 101 Extension 742317. faye.callan@durham.pnn.police.uk
Confidential email address: John.lamb@durham.pnn.police.uk.
Any information we receive will be developed and acted upon.
A round up on the Trust projects
Keep up to date with the latest news about the Development Trust projects.
John Henry Fitzpatrick 1942 – 2021
John has been a highly effective Trustee and
Company Secretary of Sedgefield Development
Trust since the earliest days. Taking the trouble to
qualify as a paralegal in order to do the job, he
learned exactly how to keep us on the right track
and we have much to thank him for.
When we first met John, he was travelling the world
as a trouble-shooter for a chemical company He
enjoyed working with people of other cultures and
was no stranger to Russia, India, South America, the
Middle East and more. His busy travel schedule once saw him arrive in
Australia 4 weeks too early and, jet-lagged already, having to get the next flight
home, only to return 4 weeks later!
His family moved from Dewsbury via Durham to Hartlepool and John attended
Brinkburn Grammar School before being taken on as an apprentice Chemical
Engineer at Billingham ICI. After gaining a science degree at night school, he
rose through the ranks to join the Catalyst Group, where he helped develop
new catalysts and chemical plants for use in fertilizer production. It was at ICI
that John met Lesley and they married in April 1972, moving to Sedgefield that
year. 
He has been a devoted father to their daughter Anne, born in 1976.
John was busier in retirement than at
work! After over 40 years at ICI, he
became a Trustee of their Pension
Fund.
He also joined the Friends of
Hardwick, volunteering regularly in the
shop and as one of the editorial team
here at Sedgefield News, he helped
produce a memorable edition of
Sedgefield News in May 2005, with a
glossy, full colour 4-page supplement
showing the redevelopment of
Hardwick Park.
Finding time to play, as well as act as Treasurer, then Club Secretary for a
snooker team at the Atheneum in Hartlepool, he and Lesley played at
Middlesbrough Croquet Club. He won team and individual trophies in both
sports, but his biggest love was his 500cc Velocette Venom, which he rode as
often as he could.
John’s illness was long, but only recently did it slow him down and gradually
he had to give up his hobbies and interests. He always relished supporting this
community and will be sadly missed by family, friends and colleagues.
Farmers Market
Sunday 7 November 8.30am - 12.30pm
We’re looking forward to the usual
busy market in the run up to
Christmas.
Hand sanitiser will still to be
provided at the entry points to the
market and are grateful to traders,
volunteers and customers for
helping us to keep it safe.
Woodland & Wildlife
Sunny Autumn Woodland Days
Unfortunately, we have had some
damage to trees and posts which were
funded by Discover Brightwater and
County Durham Community Foundation,
and installed by our volunteers.
A large vehicle, roughly 3m wide, has
driven through the site, snapping 3 posts
(pictured right) and flattening around 10
trees.
Despite discovering the damage at our
last volunteering session, we had a lovely,
sunny morning working on site. It’s
fascinating to see the site change during
each season.
We found many
varieties of fungi,
like the hare’s foot
inkcap shown
here and we laid a
new woodchip
path.
Volunteers have
also been looking
at how well some of our newly planted
trees are growing. The goat willow in the
photo was one of our first trees, planted
in February 2018. Many of the trees
which we planted on the same weekend
are doing fantastically well. Maybe you
were one of the many locals who braved
the snow and the bitter wind that
weekend!
If you would like to know more or would like to volunteer with us please
contact Melissa at woodland@sedgefielddevelopmenttrust.co.uk or join our
Facebook page - Woodland & Wildlife - Sedgefield.
Homework Help
Homework Help is well underway, with
some new students and some returning. We
are pleased to welcome them all.
Maths and English are particularly in demand. If anyone could help with either
of those, please e-mail homework@sedgefielddevelopmenttrust.co.uk.
We are particularly looking for English up to GCSE level and secondary school
maths. Thanks. We aim to help everyone who asks and will do our best to find
help in whatever topic.
Energy Switch
To anyone who registered for our Energy Switching Scheme at the October
Auction, you should have received an email or letter regarding the results of
the auction, with a recommendation that you should follow.
As you will probably be aware, the energy market is very volatile at the moment
and costs are increasing almost daily. Right across whole industry, all
suppliers are increasing their prices to such an extent that fixed price contacts
do not, financially, represent the best option at this point in time.
In a complete change from the previous 7 years, the general recommendation
now is to remain with your existing supplier and move to their Standard
Tariff, rather than opt for a fixed tariff.
If you have any concerns or require any assistance, we are here to help.
Please email admin@sedgefielddevelopmenttrust.co.uk or call the SDT number,
07572 502904 . Leave a message with your phone number and we will arrange
for our energy switch organiser to call you back.
DIDO returns!
Days In and Days Out (DIDO) will be
back for a long overdue get together
and to celebrate Christmas on
Monday 6th December at the Parish
Hall. All the details about the party
are on page 7 in the Diary.
DIDO is a club for us golden-agers,
and we’ll meet on the second
Monday of every month throughout
2022, with lots of fun, dancing,
games and singing, not to mention
our much-loved day trips out.
I know lots of members are looking
forward to meeting up with old
friends and acquaintances once
again, but we’re a lovely bunch and
we warmly welcome new members
to join us at any time.
Brenda, Ina, Avril and Ruth will be
taking the reins and we hope to be
as successful as our predecessors.
Please come along on 6 December
for our Christmas Party.
We ask that everyone wears a mask
on entry and that you wear
something warm and cosy, as the
Hall will be ventilated for COVID.
For more information, phone Brenda
on 01740 629574 - or just come
along!
Steve's Nature Diary
As reported in the Sustain Sedgefield column last month, COP 26 is where
world leaders come together to talk about climate change and how to tackle it.
This year marks the 26th COP summit – hence why it is called COP 26 and it
takes place 1-12 November 2021 in Glasgow.
It’s held here this year because
the UK were successful in their bid to host it – this means they have taken on
the Presidency. So the spotlight is on the UK to provide global leadership that
raises ambition and turn promises into desperately needed action to tackle the
inseparable nature and climate crises. We are in the middle of a climate and
nature emergency, and the two are inextricably linked. Climate change is
driving nature’s decline and the loss of wild spaces is leaving us ill-equipped to
reduce carbon emissions and adapt to change.
On this subject, I read an interesting article this week about one of the
commoner garden birds that most of you will probably see in your garden if
you feed the birds or when walking in our local woodlands such as Hardwick
Park – the Great Tit.
A trio of researchers at the University of
Oxford have been studying the
interrelationships between Great Tits,
oak trees and caterpillars in Wytham
Woods, near Oxford. They have revealed
some of the complexities involved in
changes wrought by global warming.
They obtained data from multiple
studies of the birds and discovered that
temperatures in the area have increased
by 2.6 degrees Celsius over the past 60
years and that has led to the Great Tits
moving their mating and egg laying to earlier in the spring each year. The data
showed that on average, the birds are currently laying their eggs approximately
16.2 days earlier than they did 60 years ago. But they also found that there
was much more to the story.
They found that oak leaves in the area have been
appearing earlier as spring has come earlier each year, and that caterpillars
have begun appearing on the leaves earlier each year as well. They also found
that the caterpillars and leaves were arriving slightly earlier than the tit
nestlings, which suggested that they could soon be out of sync with them and
the Great Tit chicks could end up starving.
This is just one species that is
being affected by climate change and we don’t really know exactly what will
happen. The Wildlife Trusts are having a very special episode of #WildLIVE,
from COP26 when Craig Bennett, the Chief Executive, will be joined by a great
panel of climate and nature experts and activists on Sunday 7 November at
7pm. Sign up to watch at www.wildlifetrusts.org/events/2021-11-07-wild-livelet-
nature-help.
Ceddesfeld Hall: Home of Sedgefield Community Association
Most groups and sections are
getting back to business here, with
some new additions too.
Long
standing sections like Bowls, Pop In,
Local History Society, Art, Youth
Choir, Ladies Group, North Eastern
Concertina Players, The Last
Wednesday (acoustic group),
Durham Deafened Support, Bridge,
Handbell Ringers, Ceddesfolk and
Northumbrian Pipers are moving
forward with their programmes.
Sedgefield Lyric Singers are using St
Edmund’s for the time being but
hope to be back at Ceddesfeld soon.
Sedgefield Squash Club is up and
running, with home & away matches
as well as the usual coaching and
training sessions.
It is good to see people socialising
again, whilst also being respectful of
others, keeping a safe distance and
keeping the place as well ventilated
as possible.
New groups to Ceddesfeld include
‘Pimms and Needles’, who meet on
the third Tuesday of every month.
They are open to ladies aged 18 and
above, who are invited to take part in
a range of activities. Come with
friends, family or on your own - you
are very welcome and the group is a
great way to make new friends in the
local community.
P&N offer a
different activity each month; arts &
crafts, dancing, beauty & wellbeing,
an artisan food session or getting
one’s hands dirty with some
gardening! It’s all about having fun
and getting involved – enjoying the
journey rather than worrying about
the outcome! Visit their website at
www.pimmsandneedles.co.uk for
contact details, programme & costs.
There’s also a new Home Education
Group, where kids and parents meet
every Wednesday from 1.00-4.00pm.
The bar is busier week by week, with
many patrons happy to frequent the
lounge as well as the smaller ‘snug’
bar. New volunteer bar staff are a
great help as things move forward.
SCA is currently updating their
website and a pamphlet, giving
information about the different
activities, events and room hire
which will be delivered to residents
with next month’s newsletter.
There is understandably still much
caution around larger events, but
plans for a Mediaeval Fayre on
Saturday 21st May 2022 are going
ahead. Plans to celebrate the
Queens Jubilee on June 4th in a
special community day (combined
organisations) are also coming
together.
Other events such as the annual
Beer Festival and Easter Picnic are
pencilled on to the calendar. We
keep our fingers crossed that all will
be well and that events like this will
be allowed.
On Friday 17th December the
Churches Together ‘Carols on the
Green’ will take place at 6.30 pm,
followed by mulled wine and mince
pies at Ceddesfeld Hall A Christmas
Ukulele Kanikapila, performed by
Sedgefield Ukulele Smile Time will
follow. More details on this will be
posted around the village and
through social media.
For more information on Ceddesfeld Hall events, regular activities, room hire and bar opening times, contact Wendy on 01740 620206, Pat on 01740 620607, Sarah on 01740 622185. Visit us on Facebook or see the SCA website, www.sedgefieldsca.org.uk
Sustain Sedgefield
Waste – is it sustainable?
Waste is a part of every
natural system. Things
die, are broken down and
then provide material for
new growth.
However, in
the UK we are producing so much
waste it is putting pressure on the
environment. The average person in
the UK produced 409kg of waste
each year, which is mostly made up
of food scraps, cardboard, glass
bottles and plastics.
A study
suggests that the average UK family
throws away 20% of all the food they
buy. Recycling rates for UK
household waste are slowly
increasing, but much is still sent to
landfill or for incineration.
So what can we do about it? We can
start by RETHINKING our attitudes
and behaviour using the 5R’s
hierarchy below. The higher up the
list the option is, the greater the
environmental benefit!
Refuse: The best way to manage
our waste is not to produce it in the
first place. Rather than buying new
products, can we borrow or lend
them instead? Simple things like a
tool library, or a toy loan scheme
could work well for items which are
needed occasionally or on a time
limited basis.
Reduce: We can reduce the number
of possessions we have and look at
ways of passing them on when we
no longer need them. The Sedgefield,
Fishburn and Trimdon Larder group
on Facebook is a fantastic way of
finding new homes for items which
still have life in them, ‘clothes
swishing’ parties are a great way of
recirculating clothes rather than
buying new.
Repair: If we look after our
possessions they will last longer.
Some items can be repaired rather
than thrown away. Repair Cafes are
places where people bring broken
items and learn how to fix them. If
you know how to darn a sock, or fix
electrical items, would you be willing
to help to set up a repair café in the
area?
Re-use: Making new products uses
energy and raw materials, so reusing
or repairing things keeps
valuable materials out of landfill and
incinerators. Old clothes can be
made into patchwork, or bunting or
you could do a ‘Sewing Bee style
transformation’; washing machine
drums make great fire pits; yoghurt
pots make good containers for
seedlings. Before you throw
something away, are there any
components which could be used in
a different way?
Recycle: We have a fortnightly
doorstep recycling system which
makes it very easy to recycle in
County Durham. Most supermarkets
have places to recycle specific items
such as batteries and lightbulbs, and
look out for local initiatives such as
the one Sue Walker is involved in
asking for old spectacles.
Greener Sedgefield Facebook page
is a rich source of information and
inspiration.
If you would like to help set up a
Repair Cafe, run a tool library, hold a
clothes swishing party or if you have
any other ideas, please get in touch
with us at
news@sedgefielddevelopmenttrust.co.uk.
Art Group
Following the enforced shut down of
the Art Group over the past 18
months, it is with considerable
regret that the group has now
agreed to bring the class to an end.
The Art Group has been in existence
for almost 20 years. It initially ran
from Sedgefield Community College
prior to moving to Ceddesfeld Hall
before establishing its base in the
Methodist Hall.
The class was led by Derek Slater, a
well known ‘Pitman Painter’ who
provided an insight to a variety of
artistic skills to a cohort of between
10 and 15 members. These skills
were displayed to the community
during Mediaeval Fayre Day with an
annual exhibition of the work of the
Art Group.
The retirement of Derek as group
tutor, combined with the retirement
of a number of members, notably
Derek English who worked tirelessly
as Treasurer/Secretary, prompted
the decision to bring the class to an
end.
One of the founder members of the
Art Group was Barry Armstrong a
well known local resident whose
images of Sedgefield past and
present were very much admired.
Sadly, Barry passed away during
2020.In memory of Barry it was felt
appropriate that remaining Art Group
funds be donated to the Alzheimer's
society.
Many thanks to all members who
supported the group over the years
with a special vote of thanks to the
two Derek's for all of their unstinting
efforts.
C. McGowan
Mayor’s Christmas Appeal
I am organising an appeal for a
Christmas present for a homeless
person or a child in need.
Some ideas for a homeless person
are: biscuits; socks; gloves; scarf;
soap; toothpaste; sweets; a puzzle;
towel; or t-shirt.
Alternatively, a small gift for a child
whose parent is in prison. All gifts
will be delivered discreetly. Just put
the gender and age of the child on
the front of the parcel and wrap in
Christmas paper.
You can deliver gifts to my home at
3 The Square, Sedgefield or leave it
at the Town Council Office on Front
Street. Thank you very much, I do
appreciate your support.
Councillor Ann Carr, Mayor
A sad loss
What a real shame it is that
Sedgefield Harriers have seen fit to
get rid of their fundraising arm,
known to us as ‘Friends of
Sedgefield Harriers’ (FoSH), and
replace it with EDCAT, ‘East Durham
Community Athletics Track’ (EDCAT)
(Registered CIO, Charity No
1154064).
This did not happen,
however, until all funds held for
Sedgefield Harriers, and retained for
their benefit by the Town Council,
had been transferred to them under
their previous registered name of
Friends of Sedgefield Harriers.
Sedgefield Harriers is now an
unincorporated, voluntary/
community group and I sincerely
hope they all know that they have no
legal charitable status.
It saddens me greatly to see no
reference whatsoever in this new
track name of EDCAT to Sedgefield,
especially as we have such a
wonderful array of community and
voluntary sector charities and
organisations within our community
who are proud to display their
association with Sedgefield by
adding it to their title, e.g. Sedgefield
Development Trust, Sedgefield
Players, Sedgefield in Bloom,
Sedgefield Community Association,
etc.
People may disagree with me and
say it is ‘only a name’ however to
many people the name EDCAT
implies that the beneficial area will
be, East Durham. Sedgefield is not in
East Durham, according to the
County Durham Local Plan adopted
in October 2020, and I am sure the
County Council will not have got this
designation wrong??
It is more concerning that some of
the Harriers themselves don’t even
know that they are giving their hard
earned donations to EDCAT whose
area of benefit covers Durham,
Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Stockton
-on-Tees and Sunderland.
Perhaps there is a perfectly good
reason for this but, for me, EDCAT
has no attachment to the Sedgefield
family and it is an insult to the many
people of Sedgefield who have
supported Sedgefield Harriers over
the years, including me and my
family members, in its fundraising
efforts.
We may be asked to support them
again very soon, and we will be very
happy to do so.
Let’s hope we get some snow, and
Ray can get the tractor out again!
Gloria Wills
Save Money
Sedgefield Energy Switch is a new initiative from Sedgefield Development Trust.
Working together with iChoosr, we're trying to help Sedgefield residents save money on their domestic gas and electricity bills.
Sedgefield still continue to have the highest switching rate in the country.
Key dates:
Read more
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Buy Local
Sedgefield Farmers Market is held every first Sunday of the Month, on the village green, from 8.30am to 12.30pm.
The market has about 20 stall holders each month, varying throughout the seasons, providing meats, vegatables, Handmade pies, pastries and cakes, Fish, Spices, Cheeses and more.
To book a stall call Roger Clubley: 01740 620609, email Farmers Market: farmers@sedgefielddevelopmenttrust.co.uk
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