HERE’S a selection of stories as they appeared in the Chronicle back in October 1998.
RADICAL new measures including a new swipe card system are on the cards to try to boost the uptake of school meals.
And pupils may soon be enjoying onion bhajis and other exotic food as schools spice up their menus.
More children are having traditional primary meals, and more are using secondary school cafeterias but the council is still subsidising the service to the tune of nearly £50,000. Now catering contract boss Phillip Grosvenor is spearheading the campaign to get kids away from the chippie and back into school at dinner time.
“Everyone wants the situation to improve the council, the parents and the schools,” he said.
“We want to break even and parents, schools, the government and ourselves want the kids to eat healthily. If we can get more bums on seats then we will.”
ARSONISTS have destroyed a speed camera on Wakefield Road.
The camera which cost about £25,000 when it was installed last year will be out of action until manufacturers Serco inspect the damage next week.
A spokesman for Barnsley Council said: “It’s a highly irresponsible and illegal act. By removing a piece of equipment designed for road users’ safety they are putting lives at risk.”
The burnt-out camera was discovered on Tuesday morning. It is the worst episode of vandalism since the first ones were introduced in the borough two years ago.
FOOTBALL stars are to turn fashion models for a night to raise cash for a chemotherapy unit for the town.
A professional catwalk choreographer has been brought in to work with the likes of Ashley Ward, Dave Watson, Nicky Eaden and Darren Sheridan for the show — being staged at Pharaoh’s on Wednesday November 11.
Workmates at Frank Bird Menswear set about organising the show after hearing that a colleague was suffering from breast cancer.
She had to make regular trips to Sheffield for her chemotherapy treatment but hopes that the money the fashion show raises will bring Barnsley’s own chemotherapy unit a step closer.
A SQUIRREL went nuts in a town centre cafe.
It spent more than five minutes scampering around the I’m Mustard snack bar. One of the regular diners at the Kendray Street cafe got the shock of his life when it jumped on his shoulder.
The squirrel had run through the town centre, crossed the road and got in through the front door which had been left open.
FIREFIGHTERS were called to a house fire in Cemetery Road on Sunday morning after a youngster set fire to a pile of papers to keep himself warm.
A spokesman for Barnsley Fire Station said they were called at 8.30am by the boy’s parents who had gone downstairs and found the fire in the living room.
“The lad had got up before his parents and was cold and decided to set fire to the papers to get warm,” he added.
