Saturday, 28 November 2020

Carlton, St John's Church, Yorkshire Regiment Association Memorial Bench

 

Blessing the memorial bench - photo from YRA Facebook page

The Yorkshire Regiment Association - Barnsley Branch (YRA) aim to site memorial benches around Barnsley, with one at each of the main outdoor memorials around the area.

The above bench, in the grounds of St John's Church in Carlton, was installed in November 2020.

An article appeared in the Barnsley Chronicle on Friday 13 November 2020, p. 15:

Memorial Bench is blessed and in position at St John's
A memorial bench dedicated to fallen servicemen was blessed after being placed in a church's grounds by a group of armed forces veterans.
The bench, funded and installed by members of the Barnsley branch of the Yorkshire Regiment Association, was blessed by Fr Peter Needham of St John's Church, Carlton, as part of the joint remembrance service with St Helen's.
Members put the bench in the ground by hand, and it now faces the war memorial in front of St John's Church on Church Street.
After the blessing, Fr Needham led the remembrance service and played The Last Post, before YRA branch chairman Phil Elwell recited the Ode of Remembrance.
The ceremony was unfortunately scaled back from initial plans, but member Stuart Garnham said the group was pleased to be able to continue its work to site memorial benches at areas of importance.
He added: "With the lockdown, we've had to change our plans. What we will do next year is the whole parade with our standards and a bugler, and have a proper ceremony, and Father Needham has said he will bless the bench again. You've got to plan, as these things don't happen overnight.
The YRA's Barnsley Branch, set up in 2016 and based on Wakefield Road, has further plans to site benches at Royston, Darfield and Penistone.
The benches are self-funded by members - former reservists and regular serving solders - and feature the YRA name and badge and the motto 'Lest We Forget'.

There is an online Barnsley Chronicle article with a larger photo here.


B&DWM  #CRL03

Barnsley, Manx Arms (formerly Tykes Sports Bar), Sheffield Road, Mural

 

Most recent photo - Manx Arms from CAMRA's ?What Pub website

November 2018 version of this mural on Tykes Sports Bar

The earliest version of this mural on Tykes Sports Bar
(photo from Google Street View history)

The first version of this mural appeared on the side of the pub early in the First World War Centenary and was updated in autumn 2018 by the more complex version.

According to the Barnsley Chronicle on 9 November 2018:

Pub's poignant tribute to war dead
A mural on the side of a pub paying tribute to fallen soldiers has been replaced with a bigger and better one to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War.
Lyndsey Smith and Jason Mawer, of the Manx Arms on Sheffield Road, decided to update the tribute installed a few years ago which showed a soldier looking town at a cross with the words 'Lest We Forget'.
The new painting also features a built-in poppy mosaic made of bits of broken tile, and it shows all three services, the RAF, the Navy and the Army, alongside a brigade of planes and the same words 'Lest We Forget'.
Neil Richardson, a local artist, did the design and made a template which was projected onto the wall which Lyndsey and friends Ian Campbell and Gareth Lovett traced and painted. Gareth also made the poppy.
The pub will host a 1940s themed evening tonight and then on Sunday at 9am regulars are encouraged to meet to raise a glass before heading en-masse to the town hall memorial to join in the Remembrance service.

 

Ref: BAR77

Thursday, 26 November 2020

Hoyland, Owd Martha's Yard, Rear of Belmont Club, Memorial Bench

Memorial Bench photo taken 3 August 2020
 

There is a small plaque mounted on one of the support posts of the surrounding wooden gazebo. 

Dedication plaque photo taken 3 August 2020

Inscription:

This Special Seat Is To Commemorate All Our Service Personnel Who Lost Their Lives In Conflict

This article appeared in the Barnsley Chronicle 10 November 2017:

Alex hits a new benchmark by Oliver Dyson
Alex Dodson has created everything from Freddy Krueger to Darth Vader with his welding business, he has turned his torch to something a bit different for remembrance.
The 34-year-old former technology teacher, who now runs business Burned by Design from his Hoyland home, was commissioned by the people at Owd Martha's Yard to create a special bench. And Alex has risen to the challenge, designing a decorative back for the seat which immortalises soldiers lost in war.
Alex said: "I was approached by the Owd Martha's Yard committee and asked to design or fabricate something which wourld remember our fallen soldiers.
"I incorporated silhouettes of soldiers from the First World War, Second World War and modern warfare so it could relate to all ages.
"There is a poppy on the bench back and on the sides along with the Owd Martha's Yard insignia.
"The painting was done by a local lad's company, Chris Akid who owns BAW coatings in Sheffield.
"He has several employees from the Hoyland area and allowed them all to get involved doing various jobs from blasting, undercoating, painting and detailing.
"I thought it would be cool to get involved in something that was bespoke for them."
The bench is due to be installed for Remembrance Sunday.

This bench was installed in time for Remembrance Sunday 2017. An article in a local magazine (Barnsley Today, No.37, December 2017, p.9) says:

Commemorative Bench Opens
A fantastic looking new bench was recently unveiled at Owd Martha's Yard in Hoyland on Remembrance Sunday.
With it being the 100th Anniversary of the First World War next year, Hoyland now has a permanent reminder, not to just commemorate the First World War, but all conflict that took place, which is waht the design is all about.
... the wonderful creation has been designed by local man Alex Dobson. Alex makes bespoke fire pits under the name 'Burn by Design'. Ironically the bench briefly left Hoyland to be painted in Sheffield, only for it to be painted by a Hoyland man Chris Atkin. So the bench was truly made by Hoyland folk from start to finish.
The bench was funded by private funding along with some post code funding and is for the enjoyment and pleasure of local people in Hoyland.

A search online confirms that Alex Dodson's company is 'Burned by Design' and he  has a website under that name. 

A follow up piece appeared in the Barnsley Chronicle on Friday 17 November 2017:

Detour to take in new bench
The Remembrance Sunday march through Hoyland took a slight detour this year to allow those involved to view a new bench installed at Owd Martha's Yard community garden.
It was designed and built by Alex Dodson, 34, a former technology teacher who now runs a metal working business Burned by Design and was commissioned for the task by the volunteers who run the garden.
The design is intended to recognise the sacrifice made by military personnel though the ages and incorporates images of those who served in both World Wars as well as modern images.
The parade is organised annually by the Royal British Legion Hoyland branch and included a service at the war memorial in West Street.

There are lots of photos of the bench under constrution and during installation on the Owd Martha's Yard Facebook page if you scroll back through the albums to October and November 2017.

 

Ref: HYL15

Wednesday, 25 November 2020

Tankersley, Jublilee Park, Westwood New Road, Memorial Bench

Memorial Bench photo taken on 3 August 2020

This bench is located in a park across the road St Peter's Primary School on Westwood New Road in Tankersley. According to a Tankersley Parish Newsletter from Spring 2019 (and confirmed by a small plaque adjacent to the bench) it was designed by 11 year old Alex Page, who had been a pupil at the school. 

 

Ref:  TNK09


Wharncliffe Silkstone Club, Roll of Honour

 From the Barnsley Independent on 16 November 1918, p.3.

Tankersley's Roll of Honour

An interesting function took place at the Wharncliffe Silkstone Club and Reading Room on Saturday, when Lieut.-Col. H. S. Walker unveiled a Roll of Honour of the members of the Club who have joined His Majesty's Forces. The list contains 66 names, four of whom have made the supreme sacrifice, one military medalist, two prisoners of war, one torpedoed, and 25 wounded. The Roll, which is a magnificent example of artistic work, was executed by Mr. Honey. The proceedings were preceded by a concert, given by the Imperial Entertainers from Barnsley, also cornet soles by Mr. Honey, of Sheffield. Mr. K. Kidson, F.R.C.O., officiated at the piano. Mr. T. Golding, of Tankersley, made the arrangements.

The above cutting is the only reference to this Roll of Honour that has been found. The original Reading Room was in the yard of Pilley Colliery, where the Industrial Park now stands on Wentworth Way off Westwood New Road near Tankersley.

There is an article with a little more history here.


Ref: TNK08

Tankersley Peace Garden, Moor Lane, Birdwell

 

Photo from the WayMarking website page for this location

Difficult to find, as it is not in Tankersley as the name suggests. It is actually off a small cul-de-sac in Birdwell, just off Sheffield Road, and behind the Aetherius Society building. The photo above shows the entrance which is on a corner.

From Google Maps - entrance to Gardens bottom left

There is a plaque by the gate which reads:

Tankersley Peace Garden
This Garden Was Re-Dedicated On
10th November 2008
By Cllr. Ken Sanderson, Mayor Of Barnsley

To The Honoured Memory Of Tankersley Men
Who Gave Their Lives For Their Country

"At the going down of the sun
And in the morning
We will remember them"

Ref: TNK07

Monday, 23 November 2020

Cudworth, Star Hotel, Barnsley Road, Remembrance Mural (and seasonal lights)

 

Star Hotel, Cudworth, taken from St John's Road October 2018

Close up of Remembrance Mural

This artwork was created in 2015 in time for Remembrance Sunday. 

The Barnsley Chronicle on 13 November 2015 reported that 'Landlord Simon Davey, who commissioned Sheffield-based artist Craig Hoyle to come up with the fitting tribute, told the Chronicle that hundreds of people have been stopping by to photograph the eye-catching mural.'

Photo taken 22 November 2020

A year or so later, some seasonal lights were added. 


Ref: CDW15

Saturday, 21 November 2020

Continuing Maintenance of this Website

The Committee of the Barnsley War Memorials Project (BWMP), after completion of the First World War Roll of Honour (click the 'Roll of Honour' tab for more information and full listings of the details of names and available photographs) and the donation of remaining monies collected for that project to Barnsley Archives and a local war memorial project, decided to wind up the Project and to cease updating this site. 

However two ex-Committee members of the group - who contributed in a major way to the creation and maintenance of this website and to the collation of data for the BWMP - have continued the running of this site as of 21 November 2020. We stress that this in no way denigrates the work of the Committee and Members, but rather reflects our wish to continue our research without having to completely create a new website. It also reflects the continuing discovery of war memorials and erection of new memorials across Barnsley and its surrounding towns and villages.

Therefore, the site has been renamed to: 

'Barnsley & District War Memorials'

There is no need to update any links to the site as the domain name remains the same.

The site continues to cover the whole of the Barnsley Borough, including war memorials in all settings, outdoors, indoors, cemeteries and graveyards, and of all types. Please see the updated 'About' page for more information and for the official definitions of a war memorial.

The contact email for all enquiries about this site is now barnsleyhistorian@gmail.com   We have made every effort to update contact details throughout the site, but apologise if we have missed anything.  Please do not hesitate to contact us if you spot any omissions or errors.

A Facebook page 'Barnsley's History - The Great War' with over 700 members interested in all things First World War (FWW) including war memorials can be found here. Members include experienced military historians, local historians and family historians. Post your general FWW queries there if you can rather than emailing us, and take advantage of this expertise.

Linda Hutton & Pete Schofield