Darlington firm Steel River Drinks has joined forces with a Tees Valley mayoral candidate to deliver care packages and much needed hand sanitiser to care workers as part of a new Act for Key Workers campaign. Over the past few weeks Jessie Joe Jacobs – Labour’s candidate in the postponed Tees Valley mayoral election – has been working with the local community after setting up Teesside Community Action Group, a support network focused on the response to coronavirus. The group has already helped neighbours to care for each other during the crisis, supplied isolated residents with a food delivery ..read more

More than 50 designated key workers in Tees Valley and North Yorkshire have been able to go to work, safe in the knowledge that their children are being cared for by leading childcare professionals, thanks to a local nursery provider. Rosedene has been praised by many essential staff for providing funded and non-funded places for children up to 11 years old throughout the coronavirus crisis. Rosedene, which operates across the Tees Valley & North Yorkshire, created four specialist hubs in each Local Authority area in which they operate and located close to key medical sites for those still ..read more

Middlesbrough’s Newham Grange Farm has been honoured at an awards ceremony celebrating the quality and diversity of North East tourism. The recently revamped attraction in Coulby Newham received the silver award for Small Visitor Attraction of the Year at the North East Tourism Awards. Due to the Coronavirus outbreak the 2020 awards have been held virtually and during the online event, judges for each category outlined the strengths of the winning applications. Newham Grange Farm has seen a huge increase in visitor numbers since re-development works began in 2018. Cllr Mieka Smiles, executive ..read more

A district nursing team which ensures student nurses are equipped with vital experience of working in the community has been shortlisted for a national award. County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust’s district nursing team in Teesdale has been jointly shortlisted with Teesside University for the Student Placement of the Year: Community category of The Student Nursing Times Awards 2020. Sandra Smyth, who leads the district team in Teesdale which has been shortlisted for the award, is currently completing the MSc Apprenticeship in Global Leadership and Management in Healthcare at Teess ..read more

By day Penny Heseltine is continuing to work as a school nurse during the lockdown – but her service to the community does not end there. For she has also used her spare time to help establish two community support groups and recruit 50 volunteers who have made more than 600 shopping or support calls so far. “We have had people crying with relief and have even had people getting in touch to help people from as far away as Newark, down near Lincoln,” said Penny, who explained she helped set up the Marske and New Marske Coronavirus Support Group. “We found that especially early on, people could ..read more

A Teesside University health psychologist has responded to the ongoing implications of lockdown by launching a series of free online sessions to help people with long-term conditions cope with social distancing, and manage related stress and anxiety, through creative activities. Dr Stephanie Kilinç, who is based in the University’s School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Law, is running three initial live MyCreativeLife sessions in May for individuals with any type of long-term health condition, including anxiety, asthma, chronic pain, diabetes, dystonia, epilepsy, motor neurone disease, mul ..read more

A Second World War veteran is joining Redcar’s Royal British Legion (RBL) to urge people to take part in a mass online sing-a-long to honour the heroes who ensured our freedom in 1945. It’s hoped residents of Redcar and Cleveland will sing Vera Lynn’s war anthem We’ll Meet Again which has taken a new meaning during the lockdown and members of the public are invited to video their singing and post their efforts online. A major parade and party in Redcar had previously been planned for Friday 8 May to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE) Day but had to be cancelled due to t ..read more

Communities are being encouraged to join in and create the biggest outdoor street art gallery ever. Redcar and Cleveland and Middlesbrough Councils have joined forces to deliver positive cultural activity to local communities throughout the covid lockdown. One of the first projects the partnership is launching is a huge community art project building on the nationwide popularity of the window rainbows. Every two weeks people across the south of the Tees region will be given a new theme and encouraged to decorate their windows using materials already in the home and a little imagination. The fi ..read more

A Teesside University academic has organised a virtual 5k to raise money for a local charity which helped her in the most difficult circumstances and is now providing additional support to victims of Covid-19. Dr Samantha Harrison, Reader in Respiratory Rehabilitation in the University’s School of Health & Life Sciences, is aiming to raise money for 4Louis, a charity which supports families through miscarriage, stillbirth and child loss and provides memory boxes for bereaved parents. During the Covid-19 outbreak, 4Louis is now providing hospitals with memory boxes for families of Covid-19 ..read more

Darlington Hippodrome is running regular online dance and drama classes available to young people and adults in a move to keep people active in body, mind and spirit during this period of social distancing. Hippodrome Youth Theatre sessions are tailored to specific age groups and explore a range of theatre techniques and styles. Sessions start with warm up games and exercises to engage the creativity of the group and encourage teamwork and focus and then move on to explore specific theatre skills and performance work. Sessions are broken down to three age groups – 7 to 10 years on Mondays from ..read more