Memories of Barnsley Issue 9

EDITOR

Rebecca Lawther

The Drill Hall,Eastgate

Barnsley S70 2EU

Telephone:01226 734302

email:editor@whmagazines.co.uk

The market is synonymous with the town of Barnsley, I am sure many of you will agree, and I am pleased that we are including an article on the subject in this issue. With change in the air once again under the Remaking Barnsley initiative, it seems fitting to look back on the market from its beginnings; and to remember some of its well-known characters, namely Joe Edwards, who in his day was ‘better known than Michael Parkinson.’ Read all about it on page 6.

DESIGN

Paul Wilkinson

Email:design@pen-and-sword.co.uk

In issue 7 Brian Elliott wrote about running the Barnsley Six, and in this issue he continues his recollections of his road running days, this time in the Barnsley Marathon, a major winter event in the 1970s and 80s. You can read Brian’s latest article on page 28. May I also appeal to readers, on Brian’s behalf, for any memories or photographs of the Alhambra Theatre which may be included in a future issue of Memories of Barnsley

ADVERTISING

Carolyn Mills

Tel:01226 734704

Fax:01226 734703

Email:carolynm@whmagazines.co.uk

PRINTERS

Stones

PUBLISHED BY

Wharncliffe Publishing Ltd

The Drill Hall

Eastgate Barnsley

S70 2EU

In previous editions we have featured articles on various railway stations, and the days of the trams in Barnsley. Continuing on the transport theme, John Threlkeld has written a wonderful history of Barnsley bus station (page 20) and the changes it has undergone over the years. I expect it will stir up lots of memories for many of you, in particular mention of the Threepenny Bit and Godley’s cafe, so write in and let us know.

Many of you may have never visited Wentworth Castle Gardens, but it has some beautiful views and is a lovely day out. On page 14 you can read about the rather interesting history behind the estate.

As always we would love to hear about any of your memories and photographs, if you have anything to share with us please write in to the address on the left. We would be particularly interested in memories of the Women’s Land Army during the Second World War, and of course your memories of the Market.

Rebecca Lawther Editor editor@whmagazines.co.uk

© Wharncliffe Publishing 2009

All rights reserved.This material must not be reproduced without the publishers’ consent. While we strive to ensure accuracy and impartiality of information,final responsibility for this rests with our contributors.

While every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders of featured illustrations,this has not always proved possible because of the antiquity of the images Where we have failed to acknowledge copyright please contact us and we will be happy to correct any oversight.

Every month we publish the latest news, top internet tips, and the best websites so you can effectively research your ancestors. There are articles by experts from The National Archives and elsewhere on getting the best from sources, familiar and unfamiliar, as well as articles on the lives our ancestors lived. Plus the chance to “ask the experts” about your research problems.

6 Barnsley for Bargains

JayneDowle reveals the characters and history of Barnsley market.

12 Knocking out a good tune

Kath Parkin remembers four boys from Barnsley who achieved success with their Skiffle Group in the 1950s.

14 ‘Vermin over the hill’

A history of Wentworth Castle Gardens.

28 The Russians are coming

Don Booker remembers testing Moskvich cars in the 1970s.

20 On the buses

John Threlkeld’s history of Barnsley’s bus station.

26 The bus station cafe

Memories of an ex-waitress in Godley’s cafe.

28 Our winter spectacular

Brian Elliott’s Barnsley Marathon memories.

34 Changing face of Cawthorne

A pictorial look at Cawthorne, past and present.

38 Readers’ Page Comments and memories from our readers.

40 Holgate Grammar School 1946-1954

Former pupil Barry Jackson’s memories of Holgate School.

44 The scripture class of 1953 Memories of Darton from across the miles.

46 A laugh up north

John Threlkeld recalls the career of an old Barnsley comedian.

Front cover: Courtesy of Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council’s Archives and Local Studies Departmen/Tasker Trust

Barnsley for Bargains

If there is one trader everybody remembers from Barnsley Market, it is Joe Edwards. He started his business selling crockery from a horse and cart, and worked on the market until he died in 1994 at the age of 74.

‘I remember going to watch Joe Edwards,’ says Ron Briggs, who lived in Darfield. ‘He would have a big basket of crockery, and he would hold it up and make it rattle. I was only a little boy and I used to wait and watch it for half an hour or so, waiting for him to drop one. He used to juggle plates. His performance was a show, and his sales pitch was his voice.’

Sue Everard, whose father was head salesman at Arnold Dennis’ fruit and vegetable wholesalers on Midland Street, remembers, ‘all sorts

of stalls, Joe Edwards, and Barmy Sam’s that sold the sweets… oh, the banter, and the things they would come out with that they don’t now. Women didn’t used to work the same as they do now, so obviously, on market day, everybody used to go to the town. On Saturdays whole families used to stand for hours watching Joe Edwards with his pots. I’ve seen him chucking whole dinner services.’

As well as his performance skills, Joe Edwards is remembered for his flamboyant dress-sense. He was a Master of the Hounds, and would turn up in a hunting jacket and top hat, with his horse in a horse-box. Or he would arrive suited and booted, with a big cigar, in his Rolls Royce.

Michael Edwards, Joe’s brother, is now 73, and lives in Sheffield. He says that in his day, Joe Edwards was, ‘better known than Michael Parkinson’. Mr Edwards continues to work as a market trader, like his father and grandfather before him. ‘My mother’s father, my grandfather, he was called Joseph Lockwood. He was the one who was in the pot game,’ he recalls. ‘He didn’t used to auction, he used to stutter. But he got everybody at it. When my father got married, he was dead skint and grandad said, “what are you going to do for a living?”. He said, “I’m going to get some pots off you, and put a basket on my head, and go knocking on doors”. And that’s how it started.’

Jayne Dowle delves into the history of Barnsley’s famous market;from its conception in 1249 and favourite traders of bygone days,to the market in 2009.

OLD BARNSLEY

at how Joe Edwards never seemed to drop a plate, but his brother lets slip a trade secret. ‘What we used to do, if we’d got some plates that had been washed, we used to flick cigarette ash on them and wipe it with a bit of paper,’ he explains. ‘That would stop them sliding about. You’re not supposed to know that!’

Joe Edwards’ pitch was

Street. By the 1950s, before the town centre was redeveloped, the market occupied six sites – May Day Green, Lower May Day Green, Market Hill, Kendray, Queen’s and New Market - and dominated the town. The 1948 Barnsley Official Handbook describes the market as consisting of, ‘300 and 400 canvas-covered stalls, covering an area of between

There were also ‘unofficial’ offshoots, such as the Gas Nook, a street which ran off Pontefract Road. Betty Till, like many of her generation, remembers Oldfield’s pie and pea tent here in the 1940s: ‘Sometimes, when we had finished shopping in the market, we would call at Oldfield’s for pie and peas. They had this tent, and it had wooden tables. I can remember it being dark in the winter, but there were lights so you could see what you were eating.’

The market, which was granted its charter on February 6, 1249 by Henry III, soon came to

Market Day, outside the Wellington Hotel, May Day Green. In the background can be seen the Harvey Institute (Civic Hall). The Wellington Hotel was pulled down in 1962.

Onlookers were always amazed at how Joe Edwards never seemed to drop a plate...

characterise the town of Barnsley. Many theories have been put forward as it why it became so popular. From the Middle Ages, Barnsley was on major trade and

transport routes; the town witnessed a massive population explosion in the nineteenth century when the coal industry expanded; and Barnsley people,

thrifty and hard-working, have always been keen to get a good deal. ‘Barnsley for Bargains’, was the legend emblazoned on a warehouse at the junction of Queens Road and Kendray Street.

It has also been argued that the market has thrived over the centuries because during times of conflict, Barnsley has been left relatively unscathed. In the seventeenth century, although there were skirmishes nearby, the town itself was largely untouched by the Civil War. And in the Second World War, Barnsley was not decimated by bombing raids, unlike nearby cities such as Sheffield, so it was able to pick up trade quickly when hostilities

View showing market stalls on Market Hill, 1969.

Cheapside in the early 1970s before redevelopment.

ceased in 1945. Although, it should be noted that under the New Market, to the south of Queen’s Road and east of May Day Green, air-raid shelters were constructed, just in case.

Joe Carnevale grew up in Shambles Street where his mother ran a fish and chip shop. His memories, handed down from his mother, stretch back before the First World War. Mr Carnevale’s family moved to Barnsley because his father, who originated from Venice, was a mosaic craftsman who worked on grand houses in the surrounding area, and later, on

the construction of Barnsley Town Hall.

The Carnevale family first lived in Rich Lane, off Shambles Street, an area then teeming with pubs and houses. He remembers his mother telling him that before the War, ‘there used to be some Germans who came, and they had dancing bears. They kept these bears in the stables behind the Windmill pub. They used to take them round on a chain, to the market.’ Rich Lane was also the site of Goodworth’s bakery, a name which will be familiar to many readers.

As a boy, Mr Carnevale recalls

the meat stalls on Market Hill, where women would go for bargains on a Saturday night when the market was closing for the weekend. ‘They used to call it

Market stalls and warehouse in Queen’s Road photographed in the 1960s.

A bustling May Day Green, showing the Market Inn and Hampshire’s Commercial Hotel

➣

Market Hill, with its stalls in the 1950s.

Les Nixon

quart-to-nine meat, because they used to ring the [market] bell at nine o’clock,’ he says. ‘You could go down and get a bag-full for half-a-crown.’

Mr Carnevale’s brother, Anthony, married Dolly Coe, whose family had a wet fish business which also sold shellfish and rabbits. As well a market stall,

in the 1890s, the Coes had a shop at the bottom of Market Hill, and Anthony would also go hawking with a horse and cart. Mr Carnevale remembers a man who sold wash-leathers by his brother’s stall. He also recalls other characters from the market; Freddie, who wore a trilby hat and helped the traders with their barrows and stalls, Long Sam, a religious evangelist, who would get down in the middle of the road and pray, and a blind man who stood in a kiosk at the end of the fish market and sold matches.

In January 1973, for the first time in its history, Barnsley Market moved out of May Day Green. It decamped to the site of the former Court House Station, whilst the new Charter Market Hall was constructed. When this opened, in 1974, it had fifty stalls on the ground floor, twenty-seven stalls on the Upper Floor, and four snack bars. Adjoining the Market Hall was a new meat and fish market, with twenty stalls

Photograph from 1928 showing the market sites on Market Hill, May Day Green, Lower May Day Green, and Kendray Street.

View of May Day Green in the 1920s. At the side of the Cross Keys Hotel is the Weigh House with its clock and bell which was rung to mark the closing of the market.

selling everything from pork pies to tripe, and a semi-open market for 120 traders.

Although May Day Green has always been at the heart of the market, the stalls moving from Market Hill is, for many people, the most significant change in the recent history of Barnsley Market. As one commentator has

remarked, the ‘hill’, had been ‘the cockpit of all commercial life for centuries past’. Market Hill was the site of the Moot Hall, demolished in 1820, which had a butter market underneath. In 1851, a Corn Exchange was erected on the site of the present Exchange Buildings, which were built in 1929.

Until 1927, when the building was destroyed by fire, the lower floor was used by farmers to sell poultry, butter, cheese and eggs. National events, such as the Coronation of Queen Victoria in 1837, when a great meal was cooked and every man received a quart of porter to go with his roast beef, were celebrated on Market Hill. In 1856, it was estimated that almost 8,000 children assembled to sing hymns to celebrate the end of the Crimean War. And in 1900, bonfires and fireworks lit up Market Hill to commemorate the relief of Mafeking.

Elsie Carnevale worked on Market Hill, on a fruit and vegetable stall belonging to a Mrs Skelton. She came to Barnsley from London in 1944, after meeting her husband Joe in the Second World War. ‘I always remember when decimal coinage first came in, this lady came and she was fair muddled,’ she says.

‘People used to get so confused with the change-over of the money. When it got to half-past four, five o’clock on a Saturday, I’ve seen us still sell cauliflowers for threepence.’

Once more, Barnsley Market is undergoing change and upheaval. The 1970s market is set for demolition, and a new market is planned as the centrepiece of the regeneration programme Remaking Barnsley Whatever happens, you can be sure that a market which started life in the thirteenth century will find a way of surviving in a twenty-first century market town.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

With

thanks to Gerald Alliott and Barnsley Archives and Local Studies.

Photographs courtesy of Chris Sharp, Brian Elliott, Les Nixon and Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council’s Archives and Local Studies Department.

Metropolitan Centre under construction with temporary market stalls on the ground floor circa 1967.

Jayne Dowle is editing a book about the past, present and future of Barnsley Market for the regeneration agency, Yorkshire Forward. If you have memories of Barnsley Market and would like to contribute to the book, please contact her on jayne@jaynedowle.co.uk

The Market Inn can just be seen (left) in this view of May Day Green looking towards Cheapside.

➣

Knocking out a good tune

Kath Parkin remembers four lads from Barnsley who formed a skiffle group in the 1950s and enjoyed success beyond their wildest dreams.

Performing under the name of The Moonshiners were: George Davis (singer and lead guitar), Vin Ogley (rhythm guitar and vocals), Jack Brownlie (washboard) and Dave Jenkins (tea chest and bass). The foursome found that their hard work and dedication paid off with bonuses when they became one of the top pop groups in the North of England, playing to full houses.

They also appeared on television on the popular Come Dancing programme and took part in the World Skiffle Championships. They reached the semi-final, only losing out to a place in the final to The Woodchoppers from Newcastle.

The Woodchoppers, however, featured extraordinary talent, no less than guitarists Bruce Welch and Hank Marvin who later went on to become two of the most famous names in pop music when they became part of The Shadows with Cliff Richard.

The Moonshiners disbanded in

1959 but re-formed a year later with George Davis and Vin Ogley (guitarists) and new recruits Peter Swallow (drums) and Brian Panks (bass), ex-Rock Chords featured recently in the Barnsley Chronicle Memories column.

They were the resident band at the Corner Pin in Barnsley, The Turf public house at Hoyland and The Manor, Grimethorpe. They were so popular they played most nights of the week to packed houses.

When they broke up in 1962 Vin Ogley went solo and George went to Germany to play with a group called the Quens.

They then met up with the talented Chris Andrews and formed the Chris Andrews Combo.

The group found fame with a song written by Chris named 'Yesterday Man' which they recorded and, much to the joy of their fans, performed on Top of the Pops when the renowned Jimmy Savile was compere.

Filming took place in a converted chapel in Didsbury, Manchester. The track reached number two in the charts and is still popular to this day.

They also had another chart hit: 'To Whom it Concerns' and this reached number six in the charts.

Chris then went solo and George Davis formed 'Me and Them.' George was on lead guitar

and vocals and played with Roy Sullivan (bass), Spencer Gibbons (rhythm guitar), Dennis Herrington (drums) and Mick Luckett (saxophone). Prior to joining the group Mick had been playing the saxophone during performances of Barnum and Bailey's Three Ring Circus in America.

Me and Them were very popular and played in towns all over Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire and made three records. A highlight was when

The popular Me and Them pop group from left to right: George Davies, Mick Luckett, Spencer Gibbons, Dennis Herrington, Roy Sullivan.

They were the resident band at the Corner Pin in Barnsley, The Turf public house at Hoyland and The Manor, Grimethorpe...

they appeared on television's popular Ready, Steady, Go However, they broke up after two more releases and George Davis went solo, singing under the name of Ullyses Smith.

Chris was still busy writing tracks, one of which was 'Jet Aeroplane' and this was recorded by George.

Barry Betton, who kindly submitted this interesting information, said: 'George was a great friend. I went all over with him, to the recording studios at Decca and also to London where they visited a club and met some very interesting people, including Georgie Fame and George Harrison, one of The Beatles.

Chris Andrews wrote songs for many prominent artists including Adam Faith and

Barry visited Adam Faith's house in Surrey and found him a very pleasant, friendly person.

One of the songs Chris wrote for Adam Faith, was called 'The First Time' and it was his first big hit for two years.

Sadly, George Davis, who lived in Stocks Lane, Barnsley, was killed in a car crash returning home from a gig in Hull in 1970. 'I was absolutely devastated, he was my best pal for many years,' said Barry.

Sandie Shaw.

Chris Andrews, who wrote pop chart hits in the 1950s and 1960s.

Barry Betton (left) with brilliant musician, Chris Andrews.

George Davis, one of the original members of The Moonshiners.

‘Vermin over the hill’

Hidden away amongst green rolling hills, just five minutes from Barnsley town centre is a place not many locals, even today, know too much about. Wentworth Castle and Stainborough Park is one of the most important historical landscapes in the country, comprising of a 500 acre estate with over twenty-six listed buildings and monuments.

For decades the estate was largely closed to the public. Today, thanks to a £16m project, you can take a stroll through the estate and admire a fascinating mixture of restored buildings and follies; and yet still be totally unaware of their true historical significance.

The creation of this wonderful estate was the result of an intriguing family feud, between two cousins, Thomas Wentworth and Thomas Watson. Both were contestants in a race to inherit the glorious mansion of Wentworth Woodhouse, located in Wentworth village, some seven miles to the south of Stainborough.

Wentworth Woodhouse had risen to prominence in the 1630s

thanks to Thomas Wentworth, first earl of Strafford, who had rebuilt the mansion to designs by Inigo Jones. Under Charles I, Thomas was renowned as the 'Great Strafford' and reviled as 'Black Tom Wentworth'. However, in 1641 he was abandoned by Charles I to execution, in an attempt to appease Parliament on the eve of the civil war. As a result he became legendary for his loyalty to the crown, and Wentworth Woodhouse acquired the cachet of being his ancestral home.

In 1695, the Great Strafford's son, William Wentworth second earl of Strafford, had died childless and his will left the estate to his sister's son, Thomas Watson, rather than to his male cousin's son, Thomas Wentworth. To our eyes today this inheritance is correct, but

Thomas Wentworth was incensed that the inheritance had passed down through the female line; and for the rest of his life he felt he had been disinherited and contested his cousin's legitimacy at Wentworth Woodhouse.

At this time, Thomas Wentworth was highly regarded as both a soldier and diplomat in the service of William III and Queen Anne, when the nearby property of Stainborough Hall, then in the possession of the Cutler family, came onto the market. The Cutlers had acquired the estate from the Everingham family in 1610 for £3,000. In a letter to Thomas dated 15 March 1708, Mr Francis Ellison reports about ‘Sir Jarvis Cutler’s estate’, which he says ‘stands very pleasantly upon ye side of a hill, and is as new and pretty a seate as any I know’.

The attraction of Stainborough Hall was all too obvious to Thomas, for it was the closest property he could purchase to what he still regarded as his ancestral home; Wentworth Woodhouse. Therefore, with

MONUMENTS

The legendary feud between two cousins which inspired a great estate

Thomas Wentworth purchased Stainborough Hall, after his cousin, Thomas Wentworth, had inherited Wentworth Woodhouse.

For the rest of his life

Thomas embellished the Stainborough estate in a bid to outshine his cousin...

much anticipation, Thomas completed the purchase of Stainborough Hall and estate in 1708, for the sum of £14,150.

For the rest of his life Thomas embellished the Stainborough estate in a bid to outshine his cousin, who had by now adopted the name of Thomas WatsonWentworth, and was known by all as 'His Honour Wentworth'.

There was much speculation about the extinct title of the earl of Strafford, and Lady Wentworth wrote a letter of warning to her son (Thomas), dated 1 February 1710: ‘I was told that Wentworth Watson was endevoring to bye the Earldom of Strafforde, sure her majesty will not grant it to any but you.’ And again, she wrote to Thomas (16 January 1711) ‘Sure now you will get somebody to speak to the Queen to make you Earl of Strafford; I would have it to hender Watson from it – God forgive me –now thear side is out will be the time to get it.’

Lady Wentworth need not have worried. The military endeavours of Thomas won him much royal favour, and in 1711

he was granted the title of the first earl of Strafford (of the second creation) by Queen Anne. When, in 1695, his cousin inherited Wentworth Woodhouse, Thomas had been left with the title 'Baron of Raby, Newmarch and Oversley', while the earldom itself had become extinct. This clever manoeuvre to secure the reinstatement of the earldom allowed him to marry well. On 6 September 1711 he

married Anne, daughter and heiress of Sir Henry Johnson. Through his marriage, Thomas acquired great wealth and some valuable estates, which empowered him to embellish his new estate and further outshine his rival across the valley. His first building expenditure at Stainborough was on the creation of a new wing facing north-east. The architect, Johannes von Bodt, was

Painting by Bardwell of Wentworth Castle Gardens, circa 1750.

Badeslade Prospect of Stainborough circa 1732.

commissioned to draw up designs and the new Baroque Wing was completed in the 1720s. Such was the glory of the new wing that is was said to 'make his Great Honour burst with envy and his little Honour pine and die'.

In 1723 Thomas purchased the nearby estate of Rockley, which made a fine adjunct to his Stainborough estate. The Rockley estate was at the time mortgaged to his bitter rival, Thomas Watson-Wentworth, who must have been furious when the identity of the purchaser was revealed!

The procurement of Rockley was carried out with great

cunning and secrecy. Thomas Wentworth employed the use of an intermediary, a Mr Collins, to assist with the purchase. They developed a cipher to enable them to communicate in secret. This special code illustrated perfectly the feelings Thomas held for his cousin, who was referred to throughout the coded correspondence as 'vermin'!

Thomas lavished considerable sums of money on developing his formal gardens and parkland. In a letter to Thomas, dated 26 October 1725, Lord Bathurst writes: 'I had great satisfaction in seeing that place so much improv'd since I was there last.The gallery is a very magnificent room, now the pillars are up, and the gardens are extremely improv'd by laying them open to the Park'.

By 1727, however, work had begun on his most ambitious project: the creation of a mock castle at the highest point in the gardens, on the site of an Iron

Age Hill fort. The castle was a tremendous undertaking and would have dominated the horizon for miles around, a fact that would not have been lost on Watson-Wentworth.

The castle, an obvious display of wealth and prestige, also became a playhouse for his four children, with each of the children taking ownership of a castle tower. This sham castle was intended to project the notion that Strafford's dynasty had been in possession of the estate since time immemorial, and certainly longer than his local rival.

To further annoy his cousin, Thomas interchanged the name of his mock castle with that of the main house. In 1731, Thomas re-named Stainborough Hall, 'Wentworth Castle' and his mock castle became 'Stainborough Castle'. WatsonWentworth responded, renaming Wentworth Woodhouse as 'Wentworth House', when he became Earl Malton in 1735, and Strafford's equal in the peerage.

It is interesting that this great rivalry thoroughly captured the imagination of local folk. A parochial tale from the late nineteenth century claimed that when the Baroque wing was being constructed, Thomas had

Wentworth castle (renamed Stainborough castle) photographed in 1920, and (left) as it appears today.

View of Wentworth Castle showing the Palladian and Baroque wings c1900. In 1731 Thomas renamed Stainborough Hall, (above) 'Wentworth Castle' and his mock castle became 'Stainborough Castle'.

the following verse inscribed on the foundation stone: 'Tommy of Malton, I'll let thee see I can build as fine a house as thee’.

The Sun Monument, located in the gardens at Stainborough, also played a prominent role in this now legendary feud. The monument had been erected by 1746 and was dedicated to Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu. It originally held a bronze disc at the top (now sadly missing), which must have brilliantly reflected the rising and setting sun, sending its light across the valley and making it highly visible from a distance. Locals claimed that it generated such a brilliant beam that when the occupants awoke at Wentworth House, they were all blinded by the resulting light; reminding them, once again, that 'usurpers' were still in possession of the mansion!

Thomas died in 1739 and his son William, the second earl of

Strafford (of the second creation) spent his two remaining years as a minor on the continent, before coming into his inheritance. William never really repeated the rivalry that his father practised and spent much of his time on his estate. He married a wealthy heiress, Anne Campbell, daughter of the Duke of Argyll and Greenwich.

William did, however, continue to build on an ambitious scale. In 1764 the Palladian Wing was added to Wentworth Castle, and in the park, William commissioned a

column to be built in tribute to his father-in-law, the Duke of Argyll, which was completed in 1744.

The imposing column was topped with a statue of Minerva, goddess of wisdom. Today, much is still made of the column’s position, for the goddess does not look back northwards toward Wentworth Castle and ultimately Scotland; but her gaze rests stubbornly southward. This has been interpreted as her gazing towards London and the scene of the Duke of Argyll’s political triumphs. But surely Minerva's disapproving stare rests firmly on Wentworth Woodhouse, and the usurpers who ‘disinherited’ William’s father. Unfortunately, we shall never know the truth, because William never shared his innermost thoughts on the subject. But why not pay the estate a visit and draw your own conclusions?

Wentworth

Park are open daily from 10am (closed Christmas Day) and located 5 minutes from Junction 37 of the M1 (Dodworth). For more information, call: 01226 776040 or www.wentworthcastle.org

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

With thanks to Paul Johnson.

Castle Gardens & Stainborough

Bruce VernonWentworth the last family member to own Wentworth Castle, circa 1890.

Duke of Argyll monument.

The sun monument.

William commissioned a column to be built in tribute to his father-in-law, the Duke of Argyll...

The Russians are coming

Sometimes it is good to look back through the driving mirror and see what I had to do as a motoring writer to satisfy the interests of Barnsley Chronicle readers.

Motoring writers today find life much easier with well-organised Press Departments and test fleets. They can pick up specifications and performance figures from releases or the internet.

They don't need to move away from their desk to prepare copy, but I still have a Redex test tank that I connected to the carburettor by tube, and then hung the tank on the window for the petrol.

After test runs, usually along Wakefield Road, I then filled a measure jug and poured into the tank to reveal the miles per gallon. A messy job, but it was accurate.

Clearing my garage I looked through steel filing cabinets where information was stored, and photos of Armstrong Siddeley, Alvis, Austin, Goggomobil, Rootes, Morris and Triumph, to name just a few.

There was also a file marked 'Russian Cars', which revealed my test of the Moskvich in 1975 when it was imported by Satra Motors, a subsidiary of the New York-based Satra Corporation. The company later started

importing Lada cars which local miners loved because they were cheap and strong.

What I remember about the Moskvich was its extensive tool kit which filled the car's bonnet and included a starting handle. There was an ignition switch, but there were times when I had to pull forward the number plate and use the handle to start the car.

Apart from starting the car, it had another good use. When I got stuck in mud or snow, I just put the car in a high gear and wound my way out of trouble. Hard work, but was part of the pioneering side of motoring in the early post-war years.

At that time some Russian imports cost less than £600.

The Moskvich operation ceased and the Fiat-based Lada appeared in Yorkshire and Barnsley, where local Communist Norman Greenfield never drove any other car. He loved them to the end.

Don Booker MBE looks at one of the first Russian cars to come into Barnsley during the 70s.

The Moskvich could also be started manually, ideal for when you were stuck in the snow with temperatures below -20˚C!

The Lada arrived by ferry to Hull and were then taken to an industrial site at Bridlington to be re-fitted out and distributed

around the country.

In that period there was less glamour and very few car launches for motoring writers. But they were

exciting and adventurous, especially winding a car out of trouble rather than calling for one of the rescue services.

The attraction of the Moskvich 412 was being able to afford a Cortina-sized new car for the price of a Mini. Far from being put off by the terminal understeer, owners were wowed by its two-speed wipers, reclining front seats and a radiator blind.

The 21 piece tool kit which came with the car was an obvious selling point, especially as its ‘choice of bright modern colours’ invariably meant a unique shade of orange.

On the buses

The first Barnsley bus station was planned after a massive expansion in the industry in the 1920s and 30s.

New shops and stores opened in Barnsley during that period and passengers poured in from neighbouring mining villages.

The Yorkshire Traction (later

Stagecoach) increased its vehicles from 200 to 300 and, before the opening of the bus station, used 'stops' in Kendray Street, Midland Street, Church Street, Doncaster Road, Peel Street and the Gas Nook.

In 1936 a site was earmarked next to the then London, Midland and Scottish Railway's

Exchange Station on the lower level and the viaduct of the Court House Station.

The contractors, William Johnson and Son of Wombwell started work on 27 October 1937, and Barnsley’s new Omnibus Station opened in December, 1938.

Four platforms catered for up to 3,000 arrivals and departures each day. It was spacious, said to be the best bus station in South

TRANSPORT

The old bus station from the 1940s,50s and 60s has fond recollections for many. John Threlkeld takes us through the station’s development,and stirs some memories.

The bus station site in 1937. In the background – the Queen’s Hotel and Court House railway station.

A Burrows bus enroute to Wakefield and Leeds in the 1960s. The destination board says ‘Wombwell’ but the vehicle is at the ‘Leeds’ platform. The bus is believed to be a Daimler utility bus, ex-London transport. It was bought in 1954 and rebodied in 1957.

Yorkshire, and had ‘toilet facilities where hot running water was available in the ladies' room.’

There were two newspaper kiosks: the one on the 'centre island' was known as 'the threepenny bit' because it had so many sides like the predecimalisation coin.

The other, with half the number of sides, was known as the 'three ha'pence.'

After a lull during the war, bus services began to expand again in the late 1940s: receipts and bus passengers went up. In 1956 the

Yorkshire Traction announced that the number of passengers showed a decline, the first hint there would be changes at the bus station over the next twenty years.

This station was rebuilt in the 1970s since it was seen as being too large for the modern age. However, it never again achieved a warm place in the hearts of Barnsley people.

It was described as a 'continental-style' bus station and was regarded as characterless and functional, like today's multi storey car park.

Buses and coaches approached the platforms head on and reversed out to ensure maximum use of space, whereas in its predecessor vehicles parked parallel with the platforms.

And of course there was no 'threepenny bit' where romantic couples could meet before going to the cinema or dance.

Meanwhile, Coun Ted Galvin, a councillor from Kendray, hit the local headlines when he described what was then the new bus station as ‘the worst in Europe.’

With his tongue in his cheek,

An evocative photograph of the old bus station, taken in 1958. People are seen leaving the railway station – but there are no buses.

The bus station in the 1950s/60s. Regent Street Congregational Church, The Queens and the Courthouse are in the distance.

Les Nixon

The Leyland TIger PS1 entered service in the 1950s. Notice the open back for embarking and disembarking, this was the last in the line of buses of this type. In the background can be seen the railway line which led to the Court House station. The archways were used as market traders storage, shops, and the bus station cafe.

he told a reporter that he thought there could be one that was worse in Pomerania, not that Ted had ever been there, but at least he got his message across to the public.

Something unusual happened a few years earlier. The new South Yorkshire County Council,

The Leyland Titan PD3/A entered service in 1961. Entry to the bus was through the air operated sliding door which had the reputation of catching the coat tails of the last passenger to embark! These Titans were the last buses to have the isolated driver’s cab as plans were already underway to introduce the one-man operated bus.

dubbed 'The Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire,' decided to subsidise bus fares and the number of passengers rose. For instance, a five mile bus journey cost a mere 10p and shorter trips were 5p.

As a result, South Yorkshire had the cheapest fares

THE THREEPENNY BIT KIOSK

The threepenny bit newspaper kiosk and the bus station cafe have become part of the folklore of Barnsley. The kiosk was on the middle island of the bus station which opened in 1938 and became the spot where courting couples met on their first date. Between the late 1930s and 1970, ‘See you at the threepenny bit’ was a familiar cry with young lovers.

Dave Cherry, 62, a club entertainer and former pit electrician, has written a musical

about Barnsley which will include the construction of a replica of the kiosk on stage. He said: ’The kiosk – it was supposed to be shaped like an old threepenny bit – was the spot where we all met before going round town. I once met a girl for the first time at a dance and arranged to see her at the kiosk the following evening. When I arrived she said: “I am not going out with you –you are too ugly.”And that was that. It seems he

outside Moscow in communist Russia, where services were heavily subsidised. Research carried out by Oxford University revealed that it made economic sense, said former councillor Jack Brown, of Monk Bretton.

‘There were fewer cars on the road and buses were running

looked okay in the dark the previous night.’ A pal of mine arrived in the bus station on the top deck of a bus, spotted two of his girl friends waiting at the kiosk and so went back to Lundwood without leaving his seat.

The musical, ‘The Old Club Trip,' will be staged at The Lamproom in June. Stagecoach is supporting the production and proceeds will be in aid of the hospice.

Dave Cherry

The Ribble Bus Company, based at Preston, prepared the plans for the Kiosk.

Taken in 1970 this photograph shows a Willowbrook bodied Leyland Atlantean PDR1A/1. Circled is the ‘drop box’ system which many may remember. It was a cylindrical steel ‘safe’ which was located at the side of the driver and had a clear perspex top with a coin slot through which passengers would place their fare. When the driver saw that the correct money had been deposited, an elbow operated lever dropped the coins into the ‘safe’ below. As no tickets were issued the system worked on trust. To the left of the bus the threepenny bit kiosk can be seen.

nose to tail,’ he added.

Consumption of petrol went down, there was less wear and tear on roads, shops enjoyed a boost in business and the demand for car park spaces diminished.

To everyone's amazement the bus station, which was once seen as being too big, was now too small. Not that it lasted. The picture changed when the Conservative Government abolished the county council in

the 1980s and the subsidy was withdrawn. Lady Thatcher had threatened to surcharge each individual county councillor unless they changed their road transport policy.

As fares rocketed, the bus station seemed to empty overnight as passengers started using cars again. Once again, it now seemed too big.

The second bus station lasted until the turn of the century when the present grandiose

Many may remember the days of the bus conductor, as he attempted to hang on whilst taking the fare as he made his way through a crowded bus. The ticket machine was a source of fascination for many youngsters and the conductor would sometimes give a child the remains of the ticket roll. In this picture the conductor pretends to collect a fare from a doll, to the amusement of the children.

structure was built. It is warm, clean and civilised.

But nothing can compensate for not having the old 11.25pm last bus out of Barnsley.

That last-minute scramble with a load of drunks to board a Burrows' double decker as the winter wind whistled around the Oakwell Ales hoarding was not to be missed.

Bus journeys today?

Too soft...

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Photographs courtesy of Tony Burrows and Chris Sharp. For more information and photographs see Barnsley Buses by Stephen Farnsworth and Roger Glister.

Early days of the bus service. This photograph shows the bus depot on Sheffield Road in 1913. To the left is a tram alongside the three single deckers.

Panoramic view of the bus station in 1955, taken from the Court House station. The entrance to the Exchange station can be seen on the left of the photograph. The ‘now’ photograph shows the bus station as it is today, although from a different angle as the bridge at the bottom of Regent street where it was taken from no longer exists.

The bus station cafe

John Threlkeld relates the memories of Joyce Vann who worked at Godley’s cafe.

The other bus station institution between 1938 and 1970 was the cafe.

Joyce Vann, 76, of Preston Way, Monk Bretton, started work at the 100-seater Godley's cafe in 1946, being employed on the cash desk and helping out in the snack bar and the kiosk.

At that time opening hours were restricted because of rationing.

The waitresses wore traditional black dresses, pinafores and lace head-dresses and the premises were spotlessly clean.

Customers could get a three course lunch for 2s 5d (2s 7d with coffee) and fish and chips and pie and chips in an evening.

Customers included bookies, detectives, Barnsley footballers, market traders,

salesmen and a character called Smith, who was known as ’Tommy Wallocks, the man who carried the bags for the stars.’ He waited in the cafe until the trains arrived. His job was to meet the artistes who were appearing at the Theatre Royal in Wellington Street. He put their cases and baggage in a long barrow and hauled it to the boarding houses where the stars stayed.

‘He pulled the cart like a horse and we often wondered how he managed to do it,’ said Joyce.

One star-to-be who dropped in was Frankie Vaughan, the singer, whose father-in-law had connections in Barnsley.

‘We had market traders coming in for their toasted teacakes and dripping,’ said Mrs Vann. ‘There was a shortage of sugar and you got one lump per cup. But if one of the traders gave you a pair of nylon stockings he

would get two’.

By the mid-1960s the ownership of the cafe had changed but you could still get chips with everything. It became a place where reporters met and one colleague recalls that the windows always seemed to be steamed up and the place smelled of sizzling fat.

There was at that time a problem with the theft of tea spoons and the new management came up with a novel scheme.

They decided to drill a small hole in the bowl of the spoons so that the sugar dribbled away: who would be daft enough to pinch them?

The trouble was that they then became useless in the cafe, the sugar disappearing en route between the sugar bowl and the cup.

By the mid-1970s the old bus station had been demolished and a new cafe was incorporated in a parade of shops which was pulled down last year. The new grandiose transport interchange has equally posh snack bars where Italian coffee is dispensed, where some of the food has exotic names and fancy prices, and where you can recline in easy chairs and gaze up the middle of Regent Street. Much different to the old days.

Joyce Vann with a pair of nylon stockings she has kept for more than fifty years.

Cuppa time: a member of staff at Godley’s.

Staff pictured at the cafe.

A view of the past

Old Barnsley

Has an extensive collection of images of Yorkshire,showing local towns and villages of the early 1900s

Old Barnsley is a unique stall with over 6000 images of Yorkshire towns and villages taken in the early 1900s.Of particular interest are the buildings and shops long since faded away,which may rekindle fond memories of bygone days.Other subjects include: canals,collieries,industries,armed forces,royal visits and other social events.We may have something which is right up your street. As well as photographs we stock a wide range of local books and magazines;along with commemorative plates,coal figures and other mining memorabilia.

Perhaps we have a view you would like mounted in a frame.You may also bring your own picture or postcard that you would like us to enlarge or frame.

WE BUY OLD POSTCARDS,CASH PAID

Contact us at:

Unit 14 Upper Market Hall,Barnsley

Tel:01226 200018 or 07801 976050

www.oldbarnsley.co.uk

Our winter spectacular

Brian Elliott remembers the Barnsley Marathon, the annual winter road running event which was first held in the town in 1974.

Running twenty-six miles from Barnsley to Bolton-upon-Dearne and back does not seem the most sensible thing to do on a cold Sunday afternoon in late November or early December. But each year over a decade or so the Barnsley Marathon and its classic course attracted hundreds of entrants.

They ranged from elite international athletes and a

variety of club runners of all ages and abilities to a good smattering of fun runners. The Marathon was a perfect complement to the summer Barnsley Six and reinforced the town’s status as one of the premier road running centres in the country.

Described as ‘our winter spectacular’, the Marathon was sponsored by the Barnsley Chronicle and South Yorkshire County Council; and organised by Barnsley Road Runners Club. The new Barnsley College of Technology was used for changing, registration etc and prize-giving. Starting in 1974

This full-page advert appeared in the magazine Athletics Weekly in 1978.

with a modest field of about 150, it pre-dated and almost certainly helped to trigger many other town and city marathons, achieving about 1,000 entries by 1981, a few months after the first London Marathon. Before London, the Barnsley event was the biggest of its kind in Europe, an incredible achievement.

Spectators were understandably not as large as at the summer Six race but there was always a good crowd assembled for the start and finish. Hundreds of people came to Barnsley from all over the UK (and some from abroad): runners, family and friends - and all came away full of praise for the warm welcome and excellent organisation. Writing in the Athletes World magazine in 1979, Vince Regan had this to say:

‘Barnsley, that quaint little Yorkshire town that comedians like to use in their scripts is seriously becoming THE running town of

Britain, regardless of what Ron Pickering constantly tells us about Gateshead...every time he comes on telly.’

The colourful Barnsley Marathon had its fair share of characters and personalities over

the years but they were not limited to the runners. Wearing a white coat and fur hat, ‘Curly’ Burton always stood at the turnround point, in the middle of the road by the Angel pub at Boltonupon-Dearne. It was a stuttering and lumbering job for most of us to circle passed him but there was usually a friendly word of encouragement. Tail-end runners joked with Sunday drinkers from the pub who had ventured out

Runners tackle Victoria Road just after the mass start of the 1979 Marathon. I (No 35) look reasonably okay at this point, even ahead of Ms Lesley Watson who is just visible, running on the pavement in the distance.

Tail-end runners joked with Sunday drinkers from the pub who had ventured out with their pints...

The mass start of the 1982 Barnsley Marathon ➣

Souvenir Programme for the 1977 event when the Barnsley Marathon had already become one of the top long distance road races. In his race notes, Keith Lodge referred top ‘the marvellous rapport...that is the secret behind the remarkable popularity of the Barnsley Marathon’.

with their pints, shouting comments such as ‘Don’t laugh, I’m third in the ladies race’. Neil Patterson from Sheffield got a cheer in 1981 as he ran wearing football boots, sponsored to raise money for disabled facilities at Barnsley Football Club. Curly was too ill to be on duty for the last ever Marathon and, unable to compete due to injury, I was given the great honour of taking his place, a wonderful experience, but no one could match him.

Tackling the last few miles of a marathon is always pretty hard going, especially at around the

18-20 mile point when ‘hitting the wall’ was a not uncommon experience. At about this point the incline from what was then the ‘new roundabout’ at Stairfoot towards Ward Green and Kingstone via Hunningley Lane was a tremendous test of character as well as fitness; and mastering it was also an indication of whether you had run a well-paced race – or not.

In 1974, Wakefield Harrier John Newsome won in 2.24.45, from a fairly modest field of about 150 starters. International athlete Mike Critchley of Cardiff AC crossed the finishing line in 1975, clocking 2.17.34, an exceptional time over such a hard course. Salford AC’s Tony Byrne’s winning time was 2.22.10 for the 1976 event. I remember watching the 1977 race from a variety of vantage

points, including Hunningley Lane, when Jeff Norman of Altrincham & District AC had an outstanding victory, almost casually winning in 2.19.49 on a cold, foggy afternoon. Norman was a Montreal Olympian and a world-class cross country runner. It was an inspiring sight to see the speed

Souvenir programme for the 1981 Barnsley Marathon. ‘The athletes return year after year because they know they will be assured of a a rousing welcome’, wrote Keith Lodge in his introduction.

Veterans in the Over 40, 50, even 60 plus classes usually overtook me with ease on hills and fast stretches of road as soon as I began to tire...

The mass start of the 1978 Barnsley Marathon. Spot anyone you know? There a few Barnsley Road Runners near the front of the photograph.

that he maintained on the inclines.

After ‘competing’ in the Barnsley Six – well, at least managing the great ascent of Old Mill Lane without resting at the top too long – I began to get a little more interested in running. The first step was to change my status from ‘unattached’ (like most so-called Fun Runners) and become ‘official’ which meant joining a club. It felt great to put on the dark blue shirt which had a distinctive white diagonal stripe, of Barnsley Road Runners. What’s more, I began to train on a daily basis and took part in a variety of road and cross country races, mainly from five to ten miles; and even tried a half marathon. To begin with I was always well down the field but it was pleasing to be able to achieve targets or standards set

by the club and enjoy a little rivalry with runners of a similar ability. New friends were made and new places were visited. What amazed and encouraged me was the tremendous times posted by older, more experienced runners; veterans in the Over 40, 50, even 60 plus classes usually overtook me with ease on hills and fast stretches of road as soon as I began to tire – usually after two or three miles. Anyway, in 1978 thoughts turned to improving both speed and stamina and the ultimate test: running in the fifth Barnsley Marathon.

Advice from more experienced runners at the club was much appreciated but ranged from sensible and scientific to strange and sympathetic. Here are a few examples:

‘Tha’ll dee, don’t do it’

‘Tek sandwiches, it’s a long way’

‘Do the bleed-out diet, protein for 3 days and carbos for 3 days and th’all not hit the wall’

‘Wear a hat, two shirts, long johns and socks on thee hands’ (from Keith Binney)

‘Don’t set off too fast, pace thisen or th’all blow up’

‘Check on the times of the Sunday afternoon bus services’ (Keith Binney, again)

‘Walk smartly when tha feels tired’

‘Get plenty of long Sunday morning runs in beforehand’

‘Try running behind Lesley Watson (an attractive elite lady who usually won the women’s race)’

There were about 500 entries for the 1978 Marathon, held on a cold, foggy 3rd of December. The Chron headlines afterwards were: ‘Miserable Day Did Not

Dampen The Magic of Our Marathon’ describing it as ‘a resounding success’. I managed

The ‘sprint start’ at the 1982 Barnsley Marathon: just 26 miles and a couple of hundred yards to go...

My friend John Finn welcomes me with a hot drink at end of the 1981 Barnsley Marathon.

to get round the course in 3.6.08, in 169th from 280 finishers, not too bad for my first attempt, keeping moving throughout, slowing to a stagger at the last few drink stations. What helped me a great deal was the presence of my wife, Angela, who parked at strategic points, just in case I needed a lift! It was very tempting to get in the car at Stairfoot. I struggled to walk for several days afterwards. The race winner, Holmfirth’s Brian Pickersgill won in 2.22.47 and was presented with the Barnsley

Chronicle Trophy and a portable colour TV. Lovely Lesley Watson romped home in the ladies category, her third Barnsley victory, taking just over three hours. Well down the field was Veronique Marot who went on to smash the British women’s marathon record in London eleven years later, in a time of 2.25.56. Dave Bennett was the first Barnsley man home in 48th place with a creditable time of 2.42.43.

The 1979 race attracted over 600 entries (428 starters), described as ‘one of the ‘biggest

fields ever assembled in this country’ in the Barnsley Star. In windy conditions, Birmingham schoolteacher Tom O’Reilly (Small Heath) won the men’s race in 2.26.30, and Lesley

Watson completed her fourth successive first-place for the women. Darton’s Tony Corbett took the honours for the first Barnsley runner (2.42.04), a few minutes ahead of Dave Bennett (2.47.04). In late September I had taken part in the Rotherham Marathon, breaking through the 3-hour barrier in 2.47.25. The Barnsley event was always going to be tough so I was very pleased to finish in 2.54.06.

I did not take part in the 1980 Marathon (won again by Jeff Norman, in 2.19.49) but had run earlier in the year in my first overseas event, the Essonne Marathon, near Paris (2.49.09), then at Sandbach (2.54.38) and Rotherham (2.50.30), the latter

Result sheet showing leading runners in the 1979 race.

Approaching the finish at the 1982 Barnsley Marathon.

somewhat unusually being used as the Barnsley Road Runners Marathon Championships (won by Keith Binney in 2.40.18). The Rotherham race was notable for the appearance of British record holder and former Commonwealth and European champion Ian Thompson who won in 2.18.59, ahead of Jeff Norman.

In 1981 I was part of small Barnsley RR contingent in the first London Marathon on a refreshingly-wet near perfect day for running, achieving 2.38.27. Carl Claydon (2.49.49), Dave Allemby (2.55.46) and Gordon Standish (3.24.30) also had excellent runs. The crowds were amazing, no one had experienced such a public response to a marathon before, even the organisers who were hard pressed to protect the runners from hundreds of spectators on London Bridge. It was then the largest-ever sporting

event in Britain, with 7,000 competitors and at least one million people lining the route. A couple of months later I took part in another mass participation event – the People’s Marathon, held in the West Midlands, coming 30th (from 2,500) in 2.40.02. In September I could not resist the Rotherham Marathon again, finishing 11th in 2.39.33. I was determined to keep my form going for the Barnsley Marathon, winning the club championships for the first time in a personal best of 2.35.14 (with Tony Corbett 2nd and Clive Rushton 3rd). The men’s race was won by the Austrian Pattrjk Macke in 2.23.29.

Now keen as mustard, I ran another two marathons in the first nine months of 1982: Westland, Holland (2.39.3) and Rotherham (2.36.52) before tackling the ninth Barnsley Marathon. Jeff Norman won again (2.23.50) and I retained

the Barnsley Marathon championship in 2.38. But 1983 was my best year. In London I ran 2.29.03 (unofficially a little faster – no computer chips in those days) breaking the town and club marathon record and followed this up with a 6th placing (2.35) in Sheffield on a scorching June day. The Barnsley event was won by Malcolm Mountford in 2.22.35 with Jeff Norman second, four minutes adrift. I finished a little slower than in '82 (23rd, 2.38.54) as conditions were very cold and windy on the return route, but it was my third club championship success. Because of individual and team prizes I finished up with a Barnsley MBC trophy, two medals, a coffee thermos, sports bag, two bottles of wine and a dinner for two voucher for the Royal Hotel Keith Binney (31st, 2.42.44) and Clive Ruston (39th, 2.44.27) ensured that we won the South Yorkshire team championship. Although I competed in London in 1984, again achieving a sub-2.30 time (2.29.09), 1983 was my last Barnsley Marathon as a competitor. I remember helping out with marshalling in the last few events and I think the 1987 race was the last. The logistics of organising, staffing and hosting a winter marathon had become too much for the relatively small Barnsley Road Runners Club; and there were health and safety issues on the unusual out and back course. But what an achievement it had been – and one that will live in the memories of many thousands of participants and spectators. If you have any stories relating to the Barnsley Marathon do write to our editor.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Fastest (sub-2.40) Barnsley Road Runners in the Barnsley Marathon, 1974-1987

The last lonely mile of the 1983 event.

Pictures for this article are courtesy of The Barnsley Chronicle, Roy Sabine, Dave Allemby and Brian Elliott.

Like many of the streets in the idyllic village of Cawthorne, recorded in the Domesday Book as ‘Caltorne’, this view down Tivy Dale has little changed over the years.

Note the delightful vintage omnibus in the picture below. The house on the left is the remaining feature of the ‘now’ photograph.

This photograph shows the Cawthorne Victoria Jubilee Museum. The Cawthorne Museum Society was originally founded in 1884 by the Reverend Charles Pratt to encourage an interest in Natural History from the village’s young people. The current building was opened in 1983 and still houses original collections.

The horse-drawn cart, shown in the photograph, was the chosen form of transport of these two rather elegantly-dressed ladies. The view of the church from this postion is now obscured by the trees.

In this photograph the parish church can be seen in the background. A church in Cawthorne was mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086, probably referring to an old Saxon church built of wood.

These buildings, formerly the site of Cawthorne Post Office and a grocery store, have retained much of their original character in the present day. Note the shopkeepers posing for the camera.

This view looking up Church Street shows the Spencer Arms in the background. The village pub, which was built in 1720 and retains the name of the wealthy Spencer-Stanhope family who occupied Cannon Hall, was used as the Command Post of the Home Guard during the Second World War.

The board outside this, another of Cawthorne’s charming little shops, advertises ‘The Famous Elswick Cycles’ which are on display outside.

Darton Lane on the East side of the village shows little change, though the passage of time is evident with the arrival of the motor cars which replace the wooden cart seen in the older photograph.

Readers’ page Readers’ page

Worsbrough village Church School

Ilove reading your Memories of Barnsley magazine which my cousin sends me out to Australia. I came across the attached photo of a Christmas party taken at Worsbrough Village Church School in December 1949.

The headmistress, Mrs Florrie Sanderson, is on the right, at the back in front of the door is Mr Windross and Mrs Goddard, another teacher who lived in the village, Miss Eglington (teacher), Mrs Windross, my father, Frank Clark, Mrs Stoaker, my mother, Lois Clark (I am in front of her with glasses on), Mrs Ogden?, Mrs Wildsmith. Sylvia Lang is on my right, and Melvin Wragg is next to the minister. I’m afraid I can’t remember anybody else.

Speedway interest

Just a line to say how much I am enjoying the Memories of Barnsley series, they certainly bring back some happy memories for me. I wonder if it would be possible to include a feature on the two Speedway teams that brought thousands of fans flocking to see this exciting sport all those years ago.

I don’t know much about Lundwood but I can just about recall being taken down to Station Road in Wombwell to see ‘The Colliers’ race. I have quite a bit of history about this venue; results, programmes, badges etc, but the one thing I would like is a photograph of the Stadium itself.

Geoff Thompson

Editor: If anyone has any information or photographs about Speedway racing in Barnsley, please contact us at the above address.

Molly Buchanan née Clark

If you have photographs or memories you would like to share with us, please write to:Rebecca Lawther,Editor,The Drill Hall,Eastgate,Barnsley S70 2EU or email:editor@whmagazines.co.uk.

Postcards from the 1940s

Chris Sharp

Ithought you might be interested in reproducing these two postcards with their observations of Cawthorne. They were written by a soldier who was probably at Noblethorpe Park Hall, where about a hundred soldiers from the 1st Highland Light Infantry were billeted in the grounds, whilst the headquarters staff were in the hall itself.

The back of the postcard below reads:

‘This will give you an idea of the scenery around this part. Me and a mate walked to this place on Sunday afternoon. We do our pontoon bridging at this place which is two miles from the camp. Before we reached the stream where the bridges are made we walked through a beautiful wood with trees over our heads and saw some young reindeers and

birds, such as I have never seen before and the place was as quiet as a graveyard and you would not think there was a war on.’

The back of the above postcard reads:

‘Dear Aunt,

The cross on the other side is really a drinking fountain and we were sitting under that tree just beside it, and the village is just as peaceful as it looks. The people down here are allright and they speak broad Yorkshire and Iam much happier here than Iwas at Hpool (?). This place would suit you a treat, it’s grand. Well we have had fried cod for tea yesterday, and for breakfast we had finny haddocks and roast for dinner today and stewed prunes and custard for tea and we can always get a bit supper. My regards to you all, don’t worry.

Yours sincerely, Bill.’

Holgate Grammar School 1946-1954

Barry Jackson recalls his school days at Barnsley’s top school for boys.

MEMORIES

The boys who started at Barnsley Grammar School in September 1946 were, in most cases, the first members of their families to enjoy the benefits of secondary education. Many of their parents had left their primary schools and gone into jobs in mines, factories, shops or offices.

My own father passed the examination for the Grammar School in 1916 but was told by my grandparents that they could not afford to let him go there. It is not surprising that by 1946 one of the proudest statements that many men could make was 'My lad's passed the scholarship (as the 11+ was then known) and is going to the Grammar School'.

Within a few weeks of becoming a pupil at the school, I was made aware of its history when I became a member of the choir for the celebrations at St Mary's Church in honour of the 400th anniversary of Archbishop Robert Holgate’s foundation of a grammar school at his birthplace

of Hemsworth. It was with this foundation that the Keresforth Foundation of Barnsley amalgamated in 1887 to form the Barnsley and District Holgate Grammar School.

Among the staff was a physicist, John Cottingham, who

had served in the trenches of the First World War in the noncombatant role of the stretcherbearer. He had taken out patents for several pieces of school equipment which he had designed, and when, in the late 1920s, the buildings in Shaw Lane were extended to include new

laboratories, he and some sixth formers worked in the cellarworkshop of his home to make much-needed equipment. Nearly thirty years later he was still working tirelessly with surveying instruments directing bulldozers and scrapers to provide magnificent new playing fields.

Others gave generously of their extra-curricular time and talents. George Pym and Francis Merrin, members of the Barnsley Playgoers in the 1930s directed school productions, and their abilities to turn on a theatrical rage added greatly to their reputations as disciplinarians. In the 1930s Pym had been courageous enough to engage Oswald Mosley in argument and debate when the fascist leader had come to the Civic Hall with his Blackshirts, while Merrin had received the Czechoslovak Military Medal from President Benes for his work in intelligence when seconded in

Staff photo taken at the 400th

celebrations

the Holgate

1946. Front row: Matthews, Greenland, Merran, Bassford, Roche, Pym, Cottingham, Pickles, Wheeldon, Hillary. Second row: Burgess, Rusby, Dousiney, Grayson, Walker, Haigh, S Smith, R Smith, Milner. Third row: Rooke, Profitt, Andrews, Jubb, Gaskell, Thompson, Burton, Sugden, Wilson, Goodman. Back row: Garfield, Swift, Hook, Ellis- Williams, Cain, Ashworth, Anthony, Stinson, Adey, Livesey, Livesey Snr, Hoard.

wartime from the Royal Air Force. These are just three of the remarkable men who influenced the lives of hundreds of BGS boys. Presiding over the 800 pupil school from 1939-1964 was headmaster John Ward Roche. He was somewhat owl-like in appearance, his spectacles masking deep-set, dark-ringed eyes. An academic with First Class Honours degrees in English and Economics, he used to sweep into daily morning assembly with his gown ‘off-the-shoulder’ and frequently sporting several pieces of tissue paper or cotton wool where his face had come into too close contact with his razor. He taught all first year pupils for scripture, employing a gym shoe belonging to the ‘keeper of the slipper’ (the boy with the biggest feet) to ‘assist’ in the learning of names! The sixth form had one lesson per week of what he called ‘Culture’; an innovation well ahead of its time before anyone had thought of Aand O Level General Studies. It was during his headship that German was added to the timetable and GCE replaced

The Science Sixth Form, 1946. Front row: Parfitt, Manners, Crossley, Roche, Profitt, Small (Head Boy), Burgess, Hillary. Second row: ?, Roscoe, Rock, ?, Jarvis, Smith, ?, ?. Back row: only one name known, fourth from left, Alan McCrum.

anniversary

of

foundation,

school certificate in 1951. The school was unashamedly academic in the education which it offered, and by the 1950s his staff was so good and so were the results which they obtained that the school received glowing reports from inspectors. Between 1946 and 1954, around sixty boys won places (many of them with scholarships) at Oxford or Cambridge, with many more going to other universities and colleges, or into sponsored apprenticeships in industry or commerce.

It should not be imagined that

the school was a mere ‘academic sweatshop’. A games afternoon was introduced into the curriculum and the school prospered in sporting competitions with soccer teams winning the Daily Dispatch Shield, and the South Yorkshire Grammar Schools’ Cup. Crosscountry running and boxing were compulsory, the trick in the latter being to contrive to be eliminated in the very early stages with a minimum of damage (unless one fancied one’s chances in the ring).

The major staff figures in the sporting life of BGS at this time were Webster ‘Web’ Swift and Eric Goodman. Web, an old boy of the school, was a hard taskmaster at soccer and cricket, both of which he had played semi-professionally. He kept himself fit enough to play at centre half for the staff against the school at the age of fifty, where he was always in the thick of the action. In cricket he would challenge schoolboy bowlers to get him out in the nets and was harsh on those he thought were

BGS 1st XI soccer team, 1948, at Oakwell where they had just beaten Ecclesfield Grammar School 4-2 in the final of the Sheffield and District Grammar Schools’ Cup. Standing: Goodman, Tyas, Dossett, Parfitt, Truelove, Eyre, Flanagan, Swift. Seated: Wilson, Hinchcliffe, Jarvis, Rogerson, Bradley.

Boxing semifinalists, 1946. The semi-finals were fought at the school and the finals at the Drill Hall on Eastgate (now part of the Barnsley Chronicle).

not trying hard enough.

At BGS Goodman concentrated his efforts upon soccer and athletics and in 1953 he became senior games master. Under his guidance and coaching many pupils flourished and won honours. Eric was manager of the Yorkshire Schools AAA (of which he was eventually made a life member), and qualified and served as a judge at national and international events.

Eric Goodman also helped to run the school’s agricultural camps. These had begun during the Second World War as a way of helping the war effort during times of food and labour shortages.

They continued during the period of post-war austerity. There were often three camps during July

and August involving fruit picking, harvesting and potato picking, and the favoured venues were farms at Pershore, Uffington, Pocklington and Steeple Bumpstead. For many of the boys these might have been the only holidays which they had at that time and were almost certainly the first time that many of them had lived away from their families. Trips to take pupils away from their home environments were encouraged, and among the places visited by parties organised by the language and geography departments were Fecamp and Paris in France, Sachseln in Switzerland and Achensee in Austria.

A trip organised by Web Swift and Eric Goodman promoted international goodwill through sport. Over the Christmas and New Year periods of 1949-50, fifteen soccer players accompanied by three members of staff went to Bielefeld and became the first English school party to visit Germany after the Second World War. They stayed in the homes of their German hosts, and were entertained at civic receptions. During a very enjoyable trip they played three matches against German teams, winning two and losing one.

An activity which was encouraged to help develop selfconfidence in front of large numbers of people was amateur dramatics. In 1947 three short productions were staged including one by the Junior Dramatic Society in which the young Michael Parkinson

enjoyed his first spell under the spotlight as Mrs Bob Cratchit.

John Roche set up a very effective parents’ association of which Edgar Rayner was secretary for a number of years. This organisation ran a series of lectures by visiting speakers, for both pupils and the public, from 1947-1955. Some of the speakers presented the prizes and certificates at the annual Speech Days in the Theatre Royal.

A look at the list of speakers always astonishes me and makes me think how fortunate we were to hear them. The list included politician Lord Halifax, Admiral Lord Mountevans (survivor of Captain Scott’s Polar Expedition), Diplomat Sir Alexander Cadogan, Field Marshal Lord Wavell, and broadcaster Lewis Hastings. When speaking of his battered old Lanchester car, through the floor of which one could catch glimpses of the road, Roche used to say, ‘it’s a rattling good car which has carried everything from chicken-feed to field marshals!’

Considering the influence that the school had, it is not surprising that its old Boys’ Association is still strong. On the first Friday in January at least 160 of its members meet for their annual dinner. They sing the school song with gusto, and, in vowing to ‘bravely hold the gate of the world to be’, they acknowledge their debt to the school which opened for them the door to a world far different from that in which their fathers had lived and worked.

Cast of The Rivals, 1953. ➣

The scripture class of 1953

MEMORIES

Across the miles in New Zealand,an ex-Barnsley girl remembers her days helping out at Darton Primitive Methodist

All dressed up in their Sunday best, youngsters who attended Darton Primitive Methodist Chapel in the 1950s, including four members of the Boot family.

Chapel. Kath Parkin writes.

Thousands of miles separate Barnsley and New Zealand, but the two countries are linked with a photograph of children who attended Darton Primitive Methodist Chapel over half a century ago.

Beth (otherwise known as Bertha) Falkingham was a helper when eight of the children who attended the chapel did so well in their scripture exams in the summer of 1953 they were awarded the Barnsley & District Scripture Shield.

She lived in Bloomhouse Lane, Darton, and emigrated to New Zealand over forty years ago. She now lives in St

Martins, Christchurch. Beth has supplied the photograph (right) and is seen on the left wearing a flowered dress.

Although now in her seventies, Beth (now Marsden) is still an active leader in her local Girls’ Brigade.

Vera Boot (now Vera Shorthouse), who was one of the children who was successful in her scripture exams, still keeps in touch with Beth.

The chapel, at the corner of Station Road and Fountain Square, near to Darton railway station, opened in 1876.

Children attended chapel once or twice a day on Sundays and every year a special service

took place to mark the Sunday school’s anniversary. It was conducted by Mr Wintersgill who was also the local schools’ truant officer. The children recited poems and sang songs.

As well as this, every year there was the Whitsuntide Walk

when the children wore new clothes specially made or bought for the occasion. Mothers had to

choose well when buying the clothes because they had to last until the following Whitsuntide.

The clothes, only worn on Sundays, were normally bought a size bigger than the child needed so that they could grow into them.

There is also a second photograph (below left) which shows a group of youngsters standing outside the chapel looking very smart in their Sunday best. Four of them are members of the Boot family. The chapel stayed open until the end of 1964 or the beginning of 1965. It was then taken over by BSB Quality Clothing who traded there for the next forty years.

Reg Littlewood, who played the piped organ at the chapel until its closure, got married to Christine Coupland there on March 30 1963. After the chapel’s closure, the organ was dismantled and taken to Zion Methodist Church situated at the bottom of Darton Lane and Reg continued playing it there.

‘They were very happy times,’ said Vera.

Beth Marsden (née Falkingham) far left, seen with the children who were awarded the Barnsley & District Scripture Shield in 1953. Back row, left to right: Vera Boot, Reggie Littlewood, Anne Roome, Christine Coupland. Front row: Barrie Roome, Robert Telfer, June McBride, Barry Fletcher. The helper on the right is Barbara Green.

The chapel, at the corner of Station Road and Fountain Square in 2009.

A laugh up north

Albert Modley was one of those comedians who became hugely popular in the north but who was not appreciated by audiences in the south.

PERSONALITIES

He was basically a stand-up comedian who adapted to radio, films and the early days of television but who failed to survive in the ever changing 1960s.

With his wide flat cap, broad accent and big grin, he personified the middle aged working class Yorkshireman who may appear to be a push over but who invariably outwits his quicker thinking adversaries.

He was rooted in the north with its mills, pits and smoking chimneys, and the fact that the south did not embrace him warmly was a bonus to northerners.

Like his flat cap, his humour is now dated but he could be

riotously funny in his day.

Our family loved him in the early 50s, huddling around the wireless at home in an evening to absorb a dose of comedy ozone from Blackpool, where he was starring in a radio variety show.

Children read about his exploits in Radio (or was it Film?) Fun comic, and we all eagerly awaited his appearance in a film, Up for the Cup, at The Empire in Wombwell.

The character played by Modley loses his tickets for the Cup Final and the film deals with his adventures – or misadventures – as he tries to gatecrash Wembley.

The cheap black and white film was rudimentarily made and peppered with school boy jokes, but in those days cinema audiences had an almost childlike quality about them anyway.

However, by the end of the

1950s and the early 60s entertainment was changing.

The Goon Show was flourishing on radio, That Was The Week That Was turned television upside down, cinema audiences demanded Carry On films, not the celluloid capers of Albert from oop north, and he slipped from the limelight.

He had spent decades entertaining northerners during the golden age of Blackpool, particularly in On With TheShow; now holiday-makers headed for Spain, and he retired to his bungalow at Morecambe.

On a sad evening in the early 1970s he tried to make a comeback and appeared at the Ba Ba Club in Barnsley.

By that time a new breed of funny men had arrived, often young and dressed in tuxedoes like American nightclub comedians but who had a racist and sleazy seam of humour made for the new flashy nightspots that were springing up.

Albert still had his old drums and cymbals; his act had not changed in decades and no one wanted to know.

As he turned the cymbals like tram levers, he put on a tram driver's cap and announced he ‘was going to Duplicate’.

A sea of blank male faces gazed back at him in bewilderment.

Trams belonged to another age and where was Duplicate?

The young men in suits on a boozy Friday night groaned and longed for the racist jokes and the brutish joy of the new comedians.

He visited his old home in Princess Street and his school in Agnes Road where he gave a reporter this wonderful line: ‘I did not start at the London Palladium like they do today.’

Albert died in 1979, aged 78, shortly after he had appeared in an Alan Bennett play on television called All Day On The Sands.

Flat-capped comedian Albert Modley spent his childhood in Barnsley where his father,known as Professor Modley,ran a gym used by Barnsley footballers. John Threlkeld recalls his career in entertainment.