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Wearside stories you may have missed

BBC Roger Stainforth has grey hair and a moustache. He is looking directly at the camera and is biting his gold medal.BBC
Roger Stainforth won the 2,000m and 500m events in his age category at the indoor championships

An 80-year-old rower winning two gold medals, a hospice at risk and the news that a donkey rescue has too many animals.

Here are some stories you may have missed on Wearside this week.

Rower, 80, takes home two gold medals

Roger Stainforth has short, neat grey hair and a moustache. He is standing in a gym and is wearing his medal around his neck.
Roger Stainforth took up indoor rowing 20 years ago when he was 60

An 80-year-old fitness enthusiast won two gold medals at the British Rowing Indoor Championships earlier this month.

Roger Stainforth, from Durham city, won the 2,000m and 500m events in the 80-84 age category.

He faced just two other competitors but said at his age he does not compete against many opponents.

He said the problem was as the age category "goes up and up" the number of competitors goes "down and down".

Hospice faces 'heartbreaking' care cuts

St Cuthbert's Hospice Paul Marriott standing in front of the entrance to St Cuthbert's Hospice. He is bald with short grey hair at the sides and is wearing glasses and a tweed blazer and khaki shirt. The building behind him is made from brick and has glass doors, tinted black.St Cuthbert's Hospice
CEO Paul Marriott said hospices across the country still relied on charitable funding

Almost 30 people could lose their jobs, with some patient services reduced, as a hospice in Durham struggles with funding worries.

St Cuthbert's Hospice, employs 124 staff, but says it faces "growing financial pressures".

The facility, on Park House Road, provides pain management and end-of-life care as well as dementia and bereavement services.

Hospice chair Angela Lamb said there was a "real risk" some services would need to be cut - a step she described as "heartbreaking".

Minster matchstick model sold for charity

An older man wearing a checked shirt stands next to a model of York Minster which is made from matchsticks.
Clive Holmes spent two years building the model, which was sold at auction to a toy shop

A model of York Minster made out of 80,000 matchsticks has been sold to a toy shop, with the money donated to charity.

Clive Holmes, 87, from Durham, spent two years fashioning his 6ft (1.8m) long creation, inspired by his granddaughter moving to the city for university.

However his wife said it was taking up too much room in the house.

Daughter Sue Todner said: "He was going to torch it, so it certainly had to go somewhere and we're so glad it's found a new home."

'Pitmen Painter work was hanging in my dining room'

Helen Clay. She is standing in her home holding a framed collection of her grandfather's ammonite sketches. She is smiling at the camera and wearing glasses.
Helen Clay would go fossil hunting with her grandfather William, who would then draw their finds

A previously unknown work of art by one of the Pitmen Painters is being displayed in a public art gallery after hanging for years on a dining room wall.

Tom McGuinness's painting Fish and Chips was gifted to William Cartner, a university art lecturer who taught McGuinness at night school.

Mr Cartner's granddaughter, Helen Clay, inherited the work in 2019 and surprised collectors when she revealed the painting was in her home in Hylton Castle, Sunderland.

"It was hanging on my wall for five years and people have offered me money for it, but I won't part with it," she said.

Full donkey rescue struggling to rehome animals

Durham Donkey Rescue Fluffy brown and white donkey with eyes closed lying on the floor.Durham Donkey Rescue
The charity is currently looking after 24 donkeys

A donkey sanctuary has said it has too many animals for its site and is "struggling" to find homes for them.

Durham Donkey Rescue largely takes in rescues from across north-east England.

The charity is currently looking after 24 donkeys, though only really has capacity for about 20.

Its head Ian Emmerson said: "We've only been a charity for two years and it's been non-stop trying to build new shelters and make things work."

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