The Saltburn Profile

by Rosemary Nicholls

Katie Sapphire-Star

“I love seeing the girls grow and develop into confident young women,” says Katie Sapphire-Star, who is currently volunteering as Leader of the 1st Saltburn Guides. She draws on years of experience as a Rainbow, Brownie, Guide, Ranger, Young Leader and Adult Leader, which has included activities such as abseiling and travel to Switzerland and Australia.

Katie was born and brought up in Essex. At eighteen, she left to take a degree in primary education at Canterbury. But as her family originally came from this area, she visited Saltburn every summer to see her great grandparents, great uncles, great aunties and cousins. Now some of her family are still down in Essex, but her mum lives in the next street in Saltburn.

Katie first taught in primary schools in Middlesbrough and then moved to be a support worker for children with disabilities at St Margaret’s in Brotton, where she lived. However, her health faltered and she decided that volunteer roles would suit her better. She has recently been involved in the Saltburn Community Response’s Community Builders initiative. After taking the online ‘Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD)’ training course, Katie worked as a panel member, selecting projects for funding.

Using an idea from the course, she has created a paper Community Directory, which is available in Saltburn Library and in each of the town’s community cupboards. “Not everyone has access to the Internet, so this can be consulted by people who want to connect with others, but don’t know what opportunities are available,” she says. “Funding and resources are in place for me to update it twice a year.”

To help people exercise outdoors during the pandemic, Katie sought funding for an outdoor gym in Saltburn. She has since been asked to join the Board of Trustees of Saltburn Valleys CIO and they are working together to investigate creating an outdoor fitness trail in the Valley Gardens.

Katie enjoys reading and is volunteering in a local primary school with the Coram Beanstalk organisation to help children develop a love of reading. “This really resonates with me,” she says. “I’m working with three Year 3 children twice a week for the year.” Her own preferred genre is sci-fi and horror and Terry Pratchett is a favourite author.

Katie volunteers as a Peer Mentor and as a Peer Supporter with Middlesbrough and Stockton Mind. “A Peer Mentor works 1

1 with a person who’s part way through their recovery journey. It may involve a general weekly chat or more specific small step goal setting,” she explains. “A Peer Supporter works with groups. Meetings take place mainly online, but some are held at Redcar.” Katie is enthusiastic about the Recovery College, which focuses on varied topics such as confidence building and mindfulness and she encourages anyone who’d like to self refer to do so through the local Mind website.

Occasionally, she walks dogs for the Cinnamon Trust. This national charity matches volunteers with animals that need looking after, because their owners may temporarily be unable to do so. In her late teens, Katie’s family got a Bichon Frise, a fluffy poodle-like dog, but before that she had a hamster and fish. Sadly, her cat died last autumn; she’s planning to get another one after some upcoming travel.

“I’m also on the committee of Cleveland Bat Group,” she says, “I’m the Safeguarding Officer and the Secretary.” At various venues, she helps organise bat walks, bat talks and fundraising for bat carers in the area. “We organise the collection of bats and a bat ambulance to transfer injured bats to a carer or a vet. Strict health rules have to be followed; rabies is a very rare problem, but coronavirus can be transferred from humans to bats.”

Katie says she used to play drums as a teenager and the love of her life is seeing live bands. “My travels revolve around them,” she explains. “We go to Germany with Goths on a Bus every year and in 2022, we went to the Festival M’era Luna in Hildesheim. In 2023, we’re going to Berlin to see VNV Nation.”

Dressed appropriately in black, Katie goes to the annual Whitby Goth Weekend, where she enjoys Tomorrow’s Ghosts, the music part of the festival with all the bands.

“I wear Steampunk outfits too, as I’m a member of Teesside Steampunks,” she says. “We imagine we’re living in Victorian times, where everything is run by steam. We have Steampunk bands and fashions and we’re planning bigger events to celebrate the subculture.”

Katie has been a vegan for twenty years and finds it’s got much easier to buy suitable food. “Sainsbury’s now stock vegan chocolate and vegan burgers,” she says. “The choice is not just lentils or chick peas.” She used to be a vegetarian but her love of animals made it a logical jump to veganism.

She has always loved dancing, starting with ballet lessons. More recently she’s focused on belly dancing, teaching it at the Earthbeat Centre and running her own troupe for a while. She gives occasional performances and runs workshops, eg for interested Brownies – which is where we came in.

Thank you, Katie, for sharing your fascinatingly varied range of activities with us!