Women Against Pit Closures
Coal mining might have been a predominantly male occupation. But miners were powerfully backed by their wives and families who worked miracles during the strike. Without women, they wouldn’t have had the strength or the financial support to keep going. Women were as much a part of the mining community...
Pickets vs Police
The main downside to the strike was the breakdown between communities and law and order. Arthur Scargill resurrected his idea of so-called ‘flying pickets’ – striking miners sent to specific plants, usually to prevent the transportation of coal. Miners swapped a full-time job down the pit for full-time picketing, trying...
Orgreave: Bloody Monday
The strike was often characterised by the confrontation between mass pickets and police lines. But the bloodiest day of the strike was Monday 18th June 1984. The Battle of Orgreave, as that day became known, has gone down in history for all the wrong reasons. Violence. Deception. Brutality. Corruption. The...
March 1985: End of the miners’ strike
As summer turned to winter, the harsh reality of the strike set in for many. Their coal reserves were depleting, with many young lads going out scavenging the pit tops for any bits of coal they could find. Many got buried, including two teenage brothers who were killed at Goldthorpe...
Aroundtown Meets Tony Batty
He might call himself the Sweeny Todd of Barnsley. But barber Tony Batty is anything but demonic. He’s shear saintlike, a breath of fresh hair who’s changing lives one haircut at a time. Over the last few years, 58-year-old Tony has made it his mission to give back to the...
50 years of the Barlow Salmons Shield
This year is the 50th anniversary of the Barlow Salmons Shield, a football competition for schools in the Don and Dearne area. It’s named after two footballers from Mexborough, Frank Barlow and Geoff Salmons, who had benefited from the representative team of the Don & Dearne Schools FA and wanted...
Aroundtown Meets Lynsey Lockey
If there’s one person you’d want in your corner, it’s Lynsey Lockey. A force to be reckoned with in women’s boxing, she’s a fighter in every metaphorical way. She’s fought gender bias and injustice, battled melanoma, depression and personal loss, and combatted the struggle of being a busy working mum...
Giants of the Gridiron
For kids who dream of being the next Tom Brady, their hopes no longer lie in a move to the States. They can step onto the gridiron right here in South Yorkshire with the Sheffield Giants Academy. Since starting in 2018, the Sheffield Giants Academy, based in Mosbrough, has grown...
The Linen of Barnsley & Rotherham
By historian Joshua Daniels It’s well-known that the coal, iron, steel and glass industries dominated the economies of Rotherham and Barnsley. There was, however, another very prominent industry: linen. Whilst textiles are more associated with what is now West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire was also a leading contributor to the industry....
Aroundtown Meets Billingley Christmas Tree Farm
The big man in red might get all the glory, but there’s someone here in South Yorkshire without whom Christmas might not be so magical. His black boots are covered in mud, not soot, he carries loppers rather than a sack of presents, and in place of a sleigh is...
