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...
Aroundtown Meets Tom Masters
He’s the Barnsley lad with the big voice, big heart and big hair. And it’s clear to see why Tom Masters has instantly struck a chord with audiences across the region. Over the last few years, we’ve seen Tom mature from this young tenor in the award-winning Barnsley Youth Choir...
Aroundtown Meets Dr Bijoy Mondal
As specialist in ageing, it comes as no surprise to hear that geriatrician Dr Bijoy Mondal is still working at 82. Many of his patients are younger than he is. But his motto – to himself and his patients – is ‘use it or lose it’. “Working keeps my brain...
Aroundtown Meets Cynthia Shaw MBE
When a letter from the Cabinet Office came through the letterbox at her home in Harley, stating that she was to be made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in King Charles’s 2023 New Year Honours List, Cynthia Shaw put it down in semi-disgust. Thinking it was...
Aroundtown Meets Wilson Design Collective
It’s strikingly obvious that the two women we’re here to meet are identical twin sisters. But theirs is a story of life imitating art around the fabled connection between twins. Doncaster artists Caroline Perkins and Louise Draper have been inextricably bound to each other since doctors failed to spot one...
Aroundtown Meets Kelly Clark
Age doesn’t have to be a barrier. Rotherham powerlifter, Kelly Clark, was 54 when she made her international debut with Team GB at the 2019 World Championships in South Africa. She placed fourth in her category and achieved a personal best – a huge feat for someone who’d only started...
Aroundtown Meets Labre’s Hope
We meet the founders and staff at Labre’s Hope, a community interest company that is ending homelessness – one bar of ethically made soap at a time.
Aroundtown Meets Ian McMillan
We meet the Bard of Barnsley, Ian McMillan to hear more about how hardly saying no has led to him becoming one of poetry’s most recognisable faces.
Aroundtown Meets Val Hoyle
Trundled in the back of her dad’s green transit van, a 12-year-old schoolgirl captained a bunch of her friends from Swinton to a game of five-a-side football at Rawmarsh baths. While that might sound commonplace by today’s standards of parents ferrying their kids around to after-school sports clubs, this was...
Aroundtown Meets Tala Lee-Turton
There’s an admirable fearlessness about Tala Lee-Turton. Her whole life has been spent meticulously moving her body beyond its limits as a classically trained dancer. But now she’s pushing the boundaries of ballet, exercising her creativity to produce performances that defy the customary conventions and boxed in views of the...
