RESIDENTS turned out to celebrate the completion of a project to create a new bridge, the result of several years’ work.

The Jubilee Bridge, based at Lower Levenside in Stokesley, was opened by the Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Lord Crathorne, on Saturday afternoon (June 1).

The £25,000 bridge was designed to allow access over the river to wheelchair-users, people with pushchairs and other pedestrians from Levenside to the town centre.

It replaced an old iron footbridge, which closed two years ago after it was deemed unsafe.

The first person invited to across the bridge was Stokesley resident Nat Smith, chairman of the River Leven group, who has been involved in the project from the start. Stokesley’s Manorial Lands Trust and local councils had also been involved.

Second over the bridge was former Stokesley GP Dr Robin Kerr, who lives near the bridge and has mobility problems.