HERE’S a few stories from the Barnsley Chronicle as they were reported back in May 1975.
THE government’s industry secretary Tony Benn - attacked by some Conservative MPs this week as ‘the most dangerous man in Britain’ - will be in Barnsley tomorrow speaking at an anti-Common Market rally.
The event has been organised by the Yorkshire area NUM and takes place at the Civic Hall.
Douglas Jay MP, a former Labour Board of Trade President, will also be speaking and the rally will be chaired by Yorkshire miners president Arthur Scargill.
COUNCILLOR Ron Rigby, a Yorkshire area NUM executive member, became Barnsley Borough Council Labour Group’s third leader in less than three months.
He defeated Coun Allen McKay at the group’s annual election of officials, to take over from Ron Fisher, who lost his Barnsley North East Ward seat on the council in last Thursday’s council election.
Mr Fisher became leader only 11 weeks ago, succeeding Coun Brian Varley, who resigned because of the ‘pressure of work’.
Coun Jim Oldham, the mayor, succeeds Bernard Goddard, another Labour casualty in the council election, as deputy leader of the Labour Group, and continues as chairman, too.
MORE than 100 regulars at the Ash Inn, Wombwell, are threatening to boycott
the public house because the landlord has been sacked over a bottle of vodka.
The threat is included in a petition which ‘protests most severely’ at the sacking
of the landlord.
The trouble started when he and his wife entertained a few friends at the public house after closing time.
Instead of using vodka supplied by the brewery, he put a bottle from his personal stock in the public bar.
When the pub opened the following morning, he did not have time to remove
the bottle from the optics. As he served four customers, a brewery official
walked into the bar and spotted the bottle.
BARNSLEY Music Centre Brass Band, formed only seven months ago, carried off
first prize in the brass band section in the Buxton Music Festival.
It was the band’s third success in competitive playing, but the first time they had
won a first prize.
Secretary Edward Pell said: “Everyone in the band was really thrilled. They put in
a lot of hard work practising and it paid off.”
Only three months after being formed the band gained second prize in Section B of
the Ossett Brass Band contest and they came fifth out of 17 in the Yorkshire Regional
Qualifying Brass Band championships in February.
Eighty per cent of the band are schoolchildren, the average age being 15.
The youngest member, Mr. Pell’s son Graham, who plays the cornet, is only 11.
