Luke Watson explores the Barnsley Chronicle archives from September 2000.
A PROTEST and petition at Barnsley’s NUM hall by a disgraced Brodsworth Colliery miner was all to no avail.
Arthur Owen, 38, picketed members as they entered a Yorkshire Area Council meeting, holding a board bearing 340 signatures.
But the miner, pictured, was barred from holding union office at the meeting after an investigating committee found his claims regarding unsafe electric cabling at Brodsworth Colliery to be ‘completely untrue’.
Arthur said: “I have been the victim of a witch hunt, and victimised by the management.”
THREE Barnsley miners say they were sent away from a Miners’ Convalescent Home ‘like naughty bairns’ while recuperating from illness.
The men, who included Alfred Soar, 50, of Wyke Road, Lundwood, had been out for a drink during their stay at Low Hall, Scalby, and caught the bus back to the home at the same time as they had on previous nights.
However, the bus, which usually got them back to Low Hall two minutes before the 9.30pm curfew, was running late by two minutes - meaning they arrived when the doors were locked, and the next morning, they were told to leave.
“I think it’s taking rules and regulations a bit too far and treating us like bairns,” said miner of 30 years Alfred.
“A man of 50 doesn’t feel too pleased at being timed down to two minutes.
“We want the matter clearing up because as it stands now we have lost our good names and characters, and it means we can’t apply for any other convalescent homes.”
BARNSLEY’S best-known fireman Norman Greenfield is to retire at the end of the month.
Born in Barnsley, Norman joined the Manchester Fire Brigade in 1930 but was sacked following his support for members of the Auxiliary Fire Service.
He returned to Barnsley in 1941 and was elected to the national executive of the Fire Brigades Union.
Norman served on several national committees, and was also chairman of the Dodworth Prize Band.
Writing in the current issue of the Union Journal, a colleague said of Norman, 53: “He has one of the most enviable Trade Union records in the history of the Fire Service, fighting for his colleagues and training them to be better firemen.”
This week the Barnsley branch of the FBU nominated Norman for election as National Officer of the Union.
TWO Barnsley motorcyclists were taken to Barnsley Beckett Hospital on Sunday after being involved in road accidents.
James White, 16, of Tune Street, Barnsley, was kept in hospital after he was involved in a collision with a car at the junction of Queen’s Road, Langdale Road and Harborough Hill Road.
He was said to be ‘progressing favourably’ after treatment.
Scooter rider John Hoyland, 23, of Shaw Street, Barnsley, and his pillion passenger Myra Needham, 25, of South Avenue, Bawtry, were both taken to hospital after a collision with a car at the junction of Huddersfield Road and Cockerham Lane.
The passenger was discharged after treatment, but Hoyland was held with head injuries multiple abrasions.
