Village Christmas trees vandalised and wooden statue stolen

Residents from an East Cleveland village have been left disgusted after vandals damaged two Christmas trees and took off with a wooden sculpture.

The incident took place on Wednesday 7 December) when at least four quad bikers caused havoc in Lingdale.

Two sets of lights have been damaged, one from a tree at Lingdale crossroads, which was provided by Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council, and the other at Little Moorsholm roundabout, which was from the local community. Only one set of lights, at the crossroads site, now works.

The sculpture, which was of a hare named Harry, was located on Stanghow Road at the southern entrance to Lingdale and was carved by Staithes sculptor Steve Iredale. The artwork was only installed in October and was dubbed the unofficial mascot for the village.

Lockwood ward councillor, Steve Kay, said: “It’s absolutely terrible. Witnesses saw the quad bikers use the roundabout like a racetrack. They tried to rip the lights from both trees and have left the top half of one tree damaged. It almost seemed like an organised plan.

“I’m deeply saddened about the sculpture, which was ripped from its

Leisure centre aims to reduce running shoes sent to landfill with JogOn

plinth and stolen. It was an impressive piece of artwork and has only been in place for two months. The local community had plans to create flower beds around the base to welcome residents and visitors to the village, and all of that is gone now.”

The Council have offered to help financially towards the repairing of the lights and Cllr Kay said there would be an attempt to reshape the top of the tree at the crossroads.

“The police have been informed about the whole thing,” Cllr Kay explained.

“But we are just so disappointed about it. It’s inexcusable what they have done.”

Speaking again, a couple of weeks after that terrible night of destruction, Councillor Kay said: “The Spirit of Christmas is certainly still alive and well in Lingdale. It’s often the case that adversity and setbacks bring out the best in people. The community has rallied round and both vandalised Christmas trees, complete with fairy lights, have been restored. Now you’d hardly guess they were the subject of mindless vandalism. And, to demonstrate their resolve, on Sunday 18th December, Little Moorsholm residents organised a wonderful Carol Concert around their resurrected Christmas tree. Despite it being World Cup Final afternoon, the event was exceptionally well attended. The village has clearly demonstrated that it won’t let its Christmas be spoilt by those who wish us ill.

“Unfortunately, at time of writing, Harry the Hare hasn’t been recovered but there’s no way we’re giving up hope.”

Aleisurecentre in Redcar has joined forces with the JogOn campaign – which is aiming to keep 1million pairs of running shoes out of landfill.

Redcar and Cleveland Leisure and Community Heart, run by Everyone Active in partnership with Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, is hosting a collection bin where members of the local community can drop off their unwanted running shoes.

These are then sent to JogOn, who liaise with logistics and distributions partners to ensure that reusable pairs are sent around the world to people who most need them, with the help of charities and non-governmental organisations.

JogOn estimates that every year in the UK alone, more than 30million pairs of shoes end up in landfill, while elsewhere in the world around three million people suffer from sole diseases.

But it is hoped this nationwide partnership with Everyone Active will make a valuable contribution to drastically improving those statistics.

The public can access a full list of the 100-plus Everyone Active sites taking part, using JogOn’s interactive map. These sites include Saltburn Leisure Centre and Eston Leisure Centre, who joined the scheme in October last year.

Peter Smith, Everyone Active’s contract manager, said: “We are delighted to partner with JogOn for this hugely positive initiative, which means the local community can make a real difference.

“We would encourage people of all ages to donate their unwanted running shoes so that they can experience a second life, rather than simply going to landfill.

“It’s just a matter of dropping the shoes into collection bins at our centres and Everyone Active and JogOn will do the rest.”

Tony Piedade, JogOn’s CEO, said: “This partnership with Everyone Active will prove a huge boost in our efforts to keep 1million pairs of running shoes from going to landfill.

“We know from trials that leisure centre users are very engaged in this type of initiative and we fully expect to see 60-70 pairs collected per centre, each month.

“With a push, this partnership alone could keep 100,000 pairs a year out of landfill.”