LOCAL HISTORY


Celebrating the Tin ‘Oyle


at Experience Barnsley Museum


An exhibition charting the history of Barnsley’s Canister Company, dubbed The Greatest Tin Factory in the World, uncovers the little-known story of how this enlightened employer led the way to liberate working women from a small corner of South Yorkshire.


Two years of in-depth research and collaboration have resulted in a fascinating exhibition; Tins! Tins! Tins! - Lifting the Lid on the Barnsley Canister Company, to be held at Experience Barnsley Museum in The Town Hall from Saturday April 13th until Saturday, September 28th 2019. Showcasing examples of the tins themselves with accounts and stories connected with the factory, the revealing exhibition shows how the business positively impacted on its mainly female employees. It also tracks how northern working women’s lives have changed since it was established in the 1940s. The Barnsley Canister Company came into being soon after the end of World War One in a former


Dana Kubick’s


Panda Tin design


Workers at the former munitions factory Photograph courtesy of Sonia Barrett


munitions factory, sited behind the now Gateway Plaza, where women had been toiling for the war effort. This new line of work was an altogether more attractive proposition – making fancy tins with striking designs that were soon in demand, not just at home, but around the world. The highly decorative products were prized for the beauty of their embossing and artwork as well as their practical


‘‘Dana was among the artists to produce designs for some of the tins including her famous Little Bears, cottages and cats’’


function of storage and were commissioned by big name national and international retailers including the Co-op and Twinings as well as American chocolate manufacturer Hershey’s.


So many households will have owned a Canister Company tin of some sort, often long after its original contents had been used. Many of


One of many ‘Royal Tins’ that will be on display


us will remember an eye-catching button, ribbon or house-keeping tin that was a regular sight on family sideboards and in drawers and cupboards and, chances are, it may well have come from Barnsley. From its earliest days, the factory employed large numbers of local women and up to 80 per cent of its workforce was female. Clearly ahead of its time, the Canister Company even encouraged flexible working by allowing staff to work shifts around bringing up their families, enabling them to bring extra cash into the household coffers. With typical Yorkshire humour, workers often joked about how posh the tins were while taking the greatest pride in producing items that would end up in homes of all descriptions. In readiness for the exhibition, Barnsley Museums’ collections team, with the help of University of Sheffield MA student Stacey MacKenzie, spoke to several former workers to capture their recollections which are reflected throughout the exhibition. Researchers also contacted well-known American illustrator Dana Kubick whose varied career owes part of its success to her association with The Barnsley Canister Company in the 1980s after moving from New York.


Dana was among the artists to produce designs for some of the tins including her famous Little Bears, cottages and cats and her story is as interesting as that of the company itself; Dana came to Barnsley on a cold misty day in 1982 and the small but historic town changed her life forever. Her tin designs kick-started her career, helped to pay for her life in London, where she now lives and


36 aroundtownmagazine.co.uk


Barnsley Canister Company sample room


has a studio, and spawned several other jobs along the way including designing for Walker’s children’s books and creating Little Bear ice-cream wafers that have sold in their millions.


Dana’s world-famous bear designs have travelled the globe in some very interesting ways. One was even turned into a tattoo for Canadian fan Amy Williams from Nova Scotia in memory of her late cousin who had given her one of Dana’s bear drawings on a card during childhood. Dana will be back in Barnsley for the very first time to attend the launch when she will see some of her original tin designs and meet the factory workers who made them.


Radio 4’s Kate Fox has also been commissioned to lead a creative writing workshop, through the Hear My Voice literacy programme supported by Barnsley TUC Training, inspired by the real stories of the workers. The end result will form a new poetic response created exclusively for Barnsley Museums in honour of the exhibition and Kate will share her poem at the launch. Tins! Tins! Tins! will not only highlight the significance of the Canister Company and its global reach from a small town in Yorkshire, it will also celebrate the contribution made by the women of the Tin ‘Oyle (which to date has been unsung). To further acknowledge this fascinating chapter of local history, an exciting series of wraparound events and family activities has also been planned. Central to the celebrations is a reunion for former employees and their relatives on the evening of Wednesday, August 28th. Starting at 6pm the event hopes to bring former workers back together to share their stories and memories.


For more information about this and other activities, pick up an exhibition leaflet during from Experience Barnsley Museum or visit the website at www.experience-barnsley.com


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