North East thread 6: Everyone's welcome!

[Someaddedsugar]

Just starting a new thread for anyone who wants to join!

What's been going on in Stanley? So tired of googling and looking on FB...

My dc are at StL. All of the. It is a mess. Poor, poor staff working so bloody hard but no real solutions as no funding signed off for anything. Majority online for 2 of my dc, the one in GCSE years doing core subjects only so none of the options being taught. The teachers have the patience of saints. Online stuff for most is streaming to entire year groups. Lessons in school have been to huge groups too just crammed in to whatever safe buildings they have and working on clipboards on knees. The school can't access textbooks etc.

We'll see what this week brings. They say more buildings have been approved as safe so that should be able to have slightly smaller groups. And I think this week should be getting some temp loos so will be able to have more pupils on site again.

Ferryhill have got portacabins funded i think which is great for them for the medium term as should be able to be relatively "normal" with those.

Note it is absolutely not the school at fault. The DfE has not confirmed funding or agreed any of the suggested plans for rehoming the school.

Various groups organising now for protest and media attention.

@TheSummerySilveryPussycat check out Stanley Police facebook page.
Armed gangs of youths from Consett traveled to Stanley to fight. Knifes and masks, balaclava. allegedly
Rumor mill in overdrive. Lots of stuff on Stanley chatter box Facebook with photos but all been removed.
Scary stuff.

I think St Bennet in Ouston is affected too. Only know about that because our MP put a status up.
I can remember freezing cold/boiling hot portacabins in the 80’s.
I also heard St Leonard’s was bad. I’m sure I read that a rebuild was knocked back awhile ago. But that is worse than I thought.

We're visiting Newcastle in a couple of weeks. Can anyone recommend places to visit. Coastal roads & countryside. We've been to Tynemouth, Whitley Bay, Alnwick. previously & seen parts of Hadrians Wall. We love Northumberland & it's stunning scenery. Thank you.

Hmm, a bit like the old days. I'm afraid Stanley and Consett have been deprived areas since the mid70s onwards, and didn't have a great rep in Co Durham. Then things improved a bit, after a few recessions.

Young people feel poor and helpless (Not an excuse, but perhaps a reason?)

In the 1970s the Brandon Bootboys and the Sherburn Rd Bootboys used to go into Durham on a Saturday night, get hammered, then fight each other.

For light relief they would beat up the occasional student

Yeah my Dad said the same thing.@TheSummerySilveryPussycat .
He said loads of gang fights in the late 50’s and 60’s. And there was National service then too!!
I blame too much testosterone. And boredom and no respect.

@moonriverandme , I would maybe make a new thread.
I love all the National Trust and English Heritage properties. Northumberland is beautiful.

It’s a shame about the fighting. Some of it right outside the MP’s office. Consett needs more organised stuff for teens to do. Before Thatcher there was money for youth clubs and spaces for youth to go. Now it’s the bus station. Sad because Consett at its heart is full of lovely people.

Pleased that they announced St Leonard’s will be rebuilt.
Feel very sad about the Sycamore tree.
It’s going to be awful with the bus strikes from tomorrow for a full week. Go north east buses.

Bus strikes and rail strikes - Fram will be cut off unless you have a car, then Durham is cut off from the rest of the country unless you have a car. I support the strikers, btw.

I looked up how long sycamores live, and found a figure of 400 years. Something would have happened to the tree sooner or later, so I am philosophical about it. Like I was when Marsden Rock lost its arch in 1996 (I'm more upset about Marsden Rock, though.)
Marsden Rock - Wikipedia

(I suppose you could get a coach or buses instead of the train...)

Never knew that about Marsden rock, very interesting.
I think a natural event is easier to accept than wanton vandalism.
Where I am you can still get to Chester le Street, Because Go north east gave up route. Went today and was pretty empty. Still people waiting at bus stops (weird).
I’m sure the Trains are on strike today too!
Arriva still running, but my side of Durham no buses.

i'm afraid I'm old enough to have concluded that human vandalism is just another part of the natural world. That doesn't mean I approve of it.

Also, it's an odd case. Maybe it wasn't wanton vandalism, and one of the perpetrators was acting under a psychotic delusion that this act would somehow save the world. Richard Dadd, the painter, did kill his father - but at the time he thought his father was a demon who had disguised himself as Dadd's father

We have the 64 but the now only hourly x12 will be unusable, here.

It was running over an hour late, today. Match day plus rail strike.

I once caught the X12 back to Fram from Durham. That's when I was reminded of what I half-knew already - that it doesn't stop at the Fram Front St stop near the fish and chip shop, but just drives past it on its way to Pity Me! The nice driver let me off a bit further down the road, after I asked why he hadn't stopped Nor does it stop at the bus stop near the GP Surgery on its way into Durham, going the other way. But I can walk a little way south if I want, to other nearby bus stops, and catch the X12, 64, and other buses coming from other directions.

I have just discovered this page on DCC website. Enjoy!
Durham City traffic cameras - Durham County Council

That's amazing @TheSummerySilveryPussycat!

I look at these often when waiting for Ds2 to get home @TheSummerySilveryPussycat ! There's one right by our house, in fact. There are also council weather stations with cameras which are just as much fun.

All braced for another week of bus strikes and unite have announced an indefinite all out strike starting on the 28th. I've made a hair appointment in Newcastle for the week after next as it might be my only chance to get up there before Christmas.

I can't PM you, @PickAChew Have you got something set that stops people sending you PMs? (I have only just got to grips with the new PMs - I had previously thought they didn't work for me since the Great Reset, but the problem turned out to be me, not MN )

I have it set so people can't start a PM convo with me @TheSummerySilveryPussycat (too many weirdos) but I can initiate one myself.and people can reply to existing ones.

I am really SequentialAnalyst these days. This name is what I have to use on this thread until it's full, I think. Do get in touch, if you'd like to

Indefinite from 28th? Bloody hell!!!
People will be losing their jobs. People can’t afford taxi’s etc. Shops will be losing money etc.
I must admit even if I could drive a bus, I can’t. I wouldn’t be a bus driver for double money. Not when I could be an HGV driver on better money. And No general public to boot.

Yeah, I can live without taking the bus to Newcastle or the Metrocentre but plenty of people don't have that choice and dont have alternatives. GNE have a monopoly in Gateshead, Washington and North Durham so a a lot of people will be stuffed and it will be mostly people in minimum wage public facing jobs.

Yes, especially as Go North East aggressively in my opinion. Bought up etc other smaller companies. Then when they had the monopoly, the service went rubbish.
They gave up a route here, but it has been a godsend because the bus now runs pretty much on time (5 minutes delay) and always turns up. Even if is hourly.
Something must be wrong is no one wants to be a bus driver.