SAUSAGE makers are inviting people to go along to a family fun day and try out a newly restored walk along a historic railway.

HECK Sausages, based near Bedale, are throwing open their HQ to stage family games, a fun run and give people a chance to try out their range of food.

The event runs from 9am to 2pm on Saturday, August 27, at the headquarters at Lime Lane, Kirklington, with free entry.

The company, run by the Keeble family, have restored a two-mile stretch of the old Leeds Northern Railway, with the help of many of their 80 staff. They have cleared the stretch of the line which ran up to Sinderby Station, where HECK’s head office is now. A spokesperson said: “In a big team effort during lockdown we cleared the two-mile stretch. Taking in wildlife and a wonderful old bridge along the way, the renovation project was initially for staff to enjoy during lockdown. But now we are opening it to the public for the first time with a 1.5k family fun run and obstacle course along the route.

“The work to reinstate the walk was inspired by HECK team member Jack Tate. After an epic 476-mile walk for charity from Kirklington to Cornwall last year in aid of SameYou a charity that breaks the silence on brain injury, he became HECK’s outdoor ambassador, a campaign that encourages colleagues to get walking for good health which also got the backing of TV presenter and walking advocate Julia Bradbury.”

The Leeds Northern Railway was originally the Leeds and Thirsk Railway. The company built and opened a line from Leeds to Stockton via Harrogate and Thirsk, part of which opened in 1848.

It then formed an alliance with the West Hartlepool Harbour and Railway, starting a price war with the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway which it later merged with. Eventually it merged with the York and North Midland Railway, becoming the North Eastern Railway in 1854.

Everything changed during the Beeching cuts in the 1960s, including the line from Thirsk to Sinderby, although sections of the former Leeds Northern Railway still form the line between Leeds and Harrogate, and the Northallerton to Stockton line.