Letter to Terrace Hill

A number of residents have expressed some distress at the pile driving across the road at the Feethams North development. Yes, in a building of this type and scale on the banks of the Skerne, driving piles was inevitable, so it appears that we will have to bear it with sanguinity.

Today, I have emailed the developers to make them aware of the issue. Here is a copy of my letter.


"South Terrace residents (residents off Feethams South) have been, and still are supportive of the Terrace Hill development at Feethams. Indeed we submitted a joint representation in support of it at the planning stage. 

Pile driving has however been a big concern to quite a number of them - a task that we know is essential for the development. The problem has been one of both noise, and vibration throughout our homes here.

I wondered whether you would consider offering our 25 homes here a pair of complimentary cinema tickets by way of recognition of the inconvenience? I sense it would be appreciated as a neighbourly gesture.

Stephen Twist, President of the South Terrace Residents Association."

Ken Harbin 1933- 2015

Ken Harbin, our neighbour, was born in 1933 in Betws-y-coed to William Brewis Harbin and Helena May Harbin and spent must of his early years while his father was serving in the Royal Engineers with his brother Colin living on a farm near Roadhead, Cumbria .

In 1949 Ken joined the army serving in Egypt and Africa. His role was to analyse the high resolution stereo photographs taken by reconnaissance aircraft tracking the movement of insurgent forces and hidden vehicles.

As a young man he played a lot of tennis and cricket. 

It was whilst serving in Kenya that he met Dulcie, they married on 4th June 1955. They honeymooned at the Shelley Beach Hotel Nairobi, and while in Kenya they had their first son 'Antony' - known to many of the South Terrace residents. Later after returning to the UK their second son 'Stephen' was born.

Many are aware Ken spent time in his later years tending the gardens of close friends and neighbours. His love and knowledge for all things 'green' developed while the family lived in Newton Bewley, Hartlepool - there he grew the food that kept his family fed throughout the years. The garden was larger than most allotments and he grew all manner of fruit and vegetables; he also kept pigs, turkeys, chickens, anything that could either be sold/swapped or eaten - the original 'good life'.

In 1960 Ken started working at Cameron's Brewery based in Hartlepool, and his first role was 'area sales rep'. He worked for Camerons for many years rising through the ranks to finish as Regional Manager for the North of England. It was while working for Cameron Brewery that the family moved to South Terrace in 1965 and his award-winning 'hedge at No7' began its development! He continued with this company until his retirement.

Along with his love for his family, his next passion was for fishing.

Ken won many trophies and titles for Sea fishing from both shore and boat. The team of sea fishermen operated out of the 'Greyhound' pub in Parkgate (Kens local for many years). They team took part in many local and national competitions. 

When not able to get to the sea he was also a keen and very accomplished trout fisherman.
















One evening after his retirement from Camerons whilst Ken was having a swift half or two in the Greyhound, a member of staff from the Civic Theatre across the road from the pub came in looking for someone to help pull a couple of ropes during a performance; Ken gave it a go. That evening of rope pulling lasted for many years, during which he also moved/built scenery and moved performance equipment in and out of the Civic. He has held the rope while quite a few celebrities flew across the stage during panto time.

Ken will be missed enormously by his friends here on the terrace. He was the perfect neighbour.

Ken's last Christmas on the terrace

Action Fraud

This is a message sent via The Neighbourhood & Home Watch Network (England & Wales). This information has been sent on behalf of Action Fraud (National Fraud Intelligence Bureau)

Cold calls, on line, suspect emails. Here in South Terrace we are not immune. To help, read what steps you can take - as advised by the national agency.

Action Fraud (Action Fraud, Administrator, National)

We are the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and financially motivated cyber crime and are run by the City of London Police, working alongside the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau. Our specialist team uses information from all of the fraud and cyber crime cases reported to us to create alerts about new types of crime or those which are increasing in severity.

Further to the message you received on the 19th December from the Neighbourhood Alerts team, we are delighted to now be working together with this network because it means that we can share our prevention alerts with you from now on. Don’t worry – we will send only a reasonable amount of these alerts to you, and only when we think that they may be relevant, in the hope that you will be able to prevent yourself from becoming a victim of this type of crime.  

Issues that we commonly see, and that we will be informing you about specifically over the coming weeks and months include the following:

• People who call to tell you that there is a problem with your bank card and that they need to collect it from you to fix the problem;
• Fraud committed by people selling event / entertainment tickets, weight-loss / teeth whitening drugs, or vehicles online;
• Fraud committed by people who cold-call thousands of people in the UK in order to sell them an investment in shares or precious metals, or who want them to invest their pension;
• People pretending to be someone they are not in order to persuade your business to send money to a new bank account to pay for an invoice;
• The activities of cyber-criminals who want to infect your computer or smartphone in order to steal your banking details or “lock” important files to prevent you from using or viewing them;
• Fraudsters who persuade people to pay a fee in advance of receiving a loan, which never appears. 

All of these can be avoided by following the simple prevention advice we will include in every alert we send you, which you will also be able to find on the Action Fraud website

We hope that you find our alerts interesting and that they can help you to keep the criminals at arm’s length.

You will also continue to receive messages as normal from the agencies who already communicate with you.

Thanks for your attention,

The Action Fraud team

If you believe you have been a victim of fraud or cybercrime, please report it to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040, or visiting www.actionfraud.police.uk.

Reaching across the Skerne - conservation

Tonight Stephanie and I met with the Victoria Embankment Conservation Area group - making a unique moment when two communities connected by one asset came together.

Our mutual interest is, of course, the River Skerne, and more particularly, its banks.

Darlington has 16 conservation areas, of which Victoria Embankment is one of the more recent, being created in 2007. The character appraisal makes fascinating reading, describing a journey of architecture from the 1890's through to present times.

When Esh Development first applied for planning permission on Feethams Football site, they promised to retain a wild-life corridor to the west side of the Skerne. This was an area historically protected by the east boundary of Darlington Cricket Club. The concept was to form a river-side walkway alongside the new access road.

Our recent survey of the river bank indicates that this idea has either been abandoned or alternatively given very little priority. Whilst the unsightly cracked concrete wall was removed, galvanised fences took its place where the walkway was supposed to pass, and behind, the development has impacted on the line of trees and river bank edge.

Together with the Victoria Embankment group, we propose to make a difference. I have volunteered on your behalf to join a joint residents steering committee (the Kingfisher group) to examine the options available to us as residents to protect and enhance the west bank, to spare it further environmental encroachment, and to ensure that the riverside character and tree-line is preserved.

Do get in touch with Stephanie or me if you have any ideas or thoughts about the riverside.