AROUND TOWN South Yorkshire
To commemorate 100 years since the end of the First World War, our region will be joining forces to remember the fallen and the stories of those who came home with a series of community events happening across South Yorkshire.
Barnsley Museums
1918: The Great War Ends In Barnsley, the flagship museum dedicated to the town’s history and people, Experience Barnsley, will be hosting the final installment in a trilogy of centenary exhibitions.
1918: The Great War Ends follows on from 2014’s Road to War of 2014 and 2016’s Stories of the Somme exhibitions and focuses on the final stages of the Great War.
Running from Saturday 27th October to Sunday 31st March 2019, visitors can discover real life stories of those from Barnsley and the borough who were involved in the war efforts and how the conflict left a lasting legacy on the local community.
An exhibition of remembrance, 1918: The Great War Ends will display objects brought home from the trenches and personal belongings such as medals of those who fought.
It will also look at how and why Barnsley and the borough have continued to remember the war over the last 100 years, particularly through its many war memorials. The main focus of the exhibition is the human impact that the conflict had on communities like Barnsley – and how its effects have continued to ripple through generations to shape the borough we know today.
1918: The Great War Ends will highlight stories of those people from the town and surrounding areas who were involved in the war thanks to information gathered and shared by their relatives. It will tell of the many promising lives of young men that were cut
short, as in the story of former Barnsley FC footballer, Wilfred Henry Charles Bartrop, who enlisted while football was on shutdown during the outbreak of the war.
Originally from Worksop, Bartrop signed for Barnsley in 1909 and helped his team to their first and only FA Cup final victory against West Bromwich Albion in 1912 at Bramall Lane. A few weeks before the war broke out in 1914, Bartrop had been signed by Liverpool.
Bartrop’s story is just one of those highlighted in the exhibition and includes archive film footage from his footballing days. The exhibition at Experience Barnsley seeks to do justice to Barnsley’s women too, looking at how they kept the town afloat during the war years.
Stories include that of Madame Amy Joyner, daughter of a Barnsley coal miner who was soprano singer that entertained the troops overseas, along with Dorothy Fox, granddaughter of a Cooper Gallery benefactor who served as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse. 1918: The Great War Ends also looks at how an industrial mining town like Barnsley was affected by the passing of the Representation of the People Act in February 1918 which gave married women over the age of 21 the right to vote. Alongside with the exhibition, there will be a series of events across the remembrance period to mark the centenary commemorations.
During the October half term holidays, children are invited to Experience Barnsley to make felt and button poppies to form a large Barnsley Museums’ wreath. Sessions are from 11am to 2pm on Monday 29th to Wednesday 31st October; the wreath will be
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laid on the town’s cenotaph at the Children’s Remembrance Service on Monday 12th November. On Tuesday 6th November, there will be a rare public showing of Blackadder Goes Forth’s iconic final episode, Goodbyeee. This funny yet poignant episode with its powerful ending will be shown from 6pm along with archive footage of Barnsley during the war years. Afterwards, there will be a question and answer session with a guest panel until 7.30pm. The event is free to attend.
On three consecutive Saturdays following Remembrance Day, leading military historian, Paul Reed, will be giving a trilogy of lectures at Experience Barnsley. Paul has worked on TV history programmes such as Timewatch, Meet the Ancestors and Who Do You Think You Are and now manages guided battlefield tours. Looking at the causes, impact and legacy of the Great War, Paul’s lectures will give an insight into the volunteer Pals battalions, the forgotten Territorial Army and the soldiers of the Commonwealth; women and the impact on communities; and how to trace ancestors and those named on local war memorials.
The lecture series begins on Saturday 17th November, from 11am- 1pm, and will conclude on Saturday 1st December; it costs £20 per person and booking is essential.
Elsecar
Heritage Centre Home from the Front
At the announcement of the Allies’ victory in November 1918, millions of soldiers were eager to get home from the shell-riddled lands. But this in itself would be no easy feat – the demobilisation of troops proved a logistical headache that caused a brief period of unrest both in the camps and at home.
As part of the region’s
commemorations, Barnsley College and University Campus Barnsley students have been working with the Great Place Wentworth and Elsecar team to produce a living history project based around Barnsley’s soldiers and nurses returning home from war.
Home from the Front is an emotive, sobering performance which looks to remember, educate and celebrate the end of World War One from the eyes and mouths of those who lived to tell the tale. Based at Elsecar Heritage Centre, the historic site will lay the stage for recreating the journeys of soldiers and nurses making their way home thanks to anecdotes shared by families. To give an authentic portrayal into the journeys the 3.8million British soldiers faced after the war, the 45 minute performances will be held along the Elsecar Heritage Railway on board No. 813; a 1904 Leeds-built locomotive plus a six-wheel carriage.
Retelling the stories of real local people returning home, the actors will look at the original yet flawed 1917 demobilisation scheme and the one later drawn up by Winston Churchill when he became the War Secretary in January 1919. Previously, it was proposed that the first men to be released from service should be those who held jobs in key industries such as mining. However, as these men were likely those who had been called up
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