Volunteer appeal for children’s reading helpers
IMMENSE BLOCKS of Norwegian stone, delivered in the dead of night, are being hoisted into place to protect an idyllic coastal settlement under threat from encroaching seas.
The fishing village of Runswick Bay, near Whitby, has long faced warnings it may have to be abandoned amidst a constant threat of landslips and erosion.
Now, having secured £1.5m funding, backed by £100,000 from tenacious villagers, midnight work is under way to place new ‘rock armour’ defences.
And, after all best-laid plans were waylaid by the ‘Beast from the East’ weather system, a mad scramble is under way to place the stone in time to the turning tides, and ahead of the start of the tourist season.
“The village relies on being protected by a very old sea wall built in 1901, which was in a dangerous state of repair, undermined by the sea,” said Dennis Whiteley, chairman of the Runswick Bay Coastal Protection Trust. “This is a big investment to protect Runswick Bay for the next 100 years.
“It’s an idyllic little village, referred to as the jewel in the crown of the (North York Moors) National Park,” he added. “It’s certainly worth preserving. They’ve been working through the night, to keep in with the tides. But I don’t know anyone who has objected to that – everybody is just happy to see it progressing.”
The project, funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), aims to protect Runswick Bay’s 96 properties by preventing waves coming over the sea walls.
The project involves new concrete protection in front of the sea wall. There will be new access steps, repairs to the sandstone walls and the creation of 150 small rock pools which will become a habitat for sea life.
It’s faced weeks of uncertainty and delays as the barge bringing in rock armour blocks of stone imported from Norway faced a battering in the March storms and was forced to take shelter off the coast in Holland. And because of the tides, it can only be placed in the middle of the night.
“Mother Nature has played havoc with our original plans,” adds Coun Mike Cockerill, Scarborough Council’s cabinet member for major projects. “And the entire project has very much been dictated by tides. It’s a case of trying to get the stone as near to the working area as possible.
“The main thing is the stone is there. Work is progressing, more or less on plan. Everybody is working towards ensuring it is complete so that it doesn’t interfere with the tourist season.” VOLUNTEERS ARE needed to train as reading helpers for children.
Helpers from the community visit primary schools twice a week in an initiative run by Beanstalk in Stocksbridge, Sheffield. The national charity recruits, trains and supports volunteers to work one-to-one with children aged three to 13 in a variety of ways, turning them into confident, passionate and able readers.
Once trained, each volunteer helps three children one-to-one at a local school two times a week for 30 minutes each at a time. The sessions are fun, interactive and hugely beneficial to the children receiving extra support. The one-to-one time with each child enables reading helpers to tailor each session to the child’s specific needs and to pass on the magic of stories and books.
A Beanstalk reading helper for almost a decade called Lesley said: “One little boy in year three told me that he had started school in Pakistan. He was decoding every letter and reading with no fluency.
“A few months later he was reading a Michael Morpurgo book and asking me questions about the story which showed me that he understood it all.”
Area manager for Beanstalk Amy Mortimer said: “The reading programmes we deliver at Beanstalk are so important because there is an opportunity here to make a big difference to so many children. Not only does Lesley help children with the ability to read, she gives the children their time and undivided attention and the key to a whole world of stories and characters, which helps them make sense of the world and discover new possibilities and potential.”
Visit the website at www.beanstalkcharity.org.uk or call Beanstalk on 0845 450 0307 for further details.