Events

The University Centre Barnsley opened its doors to the town’s great and good of past and present on Wednesday 10th October to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of our iconic building.

Based on Church Street in Barnsley, the building was officially opened on 10 October 1932 by Alderman Henry Milnes Walker J.P, Chairman of the Higher Education Committee.

Its original purpose as Barnsley’s Mining and Technical College was an important event for the town and was the largest technical college in the country at this time. Now home to the University Centre Barnsley (UCB), part of the University of Huddersfield, this is yet another important achievement for Barnsley and its community. We wanted to celebrate these achievements.

The University’s Head of Centre, Dr Cathy Doggett, opened the event and welcomed the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof Bob Cryan and MP for Barnsley Central, Eric Illsley to speak.

Prof Cryan addressed the audience in a filled to capacity TV studio and welcomed them to an evening for which ‘we are here in honour of students past, present and future.’ The Vice-Chancellor told of his vision for the future of UCB ‘which now provides Barnsley with university education of the highest standard’ highlighting that we must remember that this was all made possible ’by the investments made in 1932 which demonstrate the commitment to education at this time’.

MP Eric Illsley echoed the Vice-Chancellor’s statements especially with regards to the many regeneration projects that are currently being undertaken throughout the town. Mr Illsley stated that, ‘it is clear that education is the key to the regeneration of Barnsley’
The event was closed with an atmospheric and powerful performance by Skelmenthorpe Male Voice Choir which captured the evening atmosphere perfectly.

Throughout the event University Centre Barnsley Journalism and Media Production students filmed and interviewed guests such as sports personality Dickie Bird, author and historian Mel Dyke and original Calendar Girl Angela Knowles, amongst many others.

Also interviewed was Gerald Booth, 62 who studied and taught in this historic building during its time as Barnsley’s Mining and Technical College. Gerald reminisces, ‘One group of students used to call me ‘Pick a pane’. This was because they all knew that I would take things in jest once but after that I told them to pick which window they wanted to go through!’

He and his colleagues could all handle the banter from the students because of their mining past but it was also something that they expected from the students. As Gerald explains, ‘I liked to call their banter good-natured rottenness. It was a great time to be here, I would dread to think what you would be told if the walls could talk in this place though’.

When the miners’ strikes hit the area in 1984, the mining college became a focus for the community. ‘I’m pretty sure all the students that year passed and in fact we had three students who were amongst the top students in the country back in ’84.

A whole month of activities were coordinated to celebrate this anniversary. Central to these was the Voices in the Stone exhibition. This project, partially funded by Arts Council England, was born from the University Centre’s wish to celebrate the character and history of tour magnificent building.

The aim of this project was to explore the memories of a number of people educated in Barnsley over the last 75 years. The journey between these 1932 and current day has been varied and wonderful, therefore the focus of this project was not on the bricks and mortar that constitute the building but on the lives, experiences and aspirations of its past and present students.

The artists, photographer Chris Sedgewick and writer Jessica Penrose have researched and produced a series of photographs of past and present students which are defined and linked by pieces of creative writing.

 

Jessica explained to student reporter Terry Hibberd the snowball effect this project had within the town, ‘I started working on the project just after Easter and straight away it was easy to see we would be unlikely to finish in June like we first anticipated. More people were becoming involved in the project and others who heard about it were quick to step forward and get involved too. Some of the people I have spoken to just brought things to life with their stories. The miners who only came here on day release always seemed to have interesting stories about coming here one day a week and being away from work. Keeping the Barnsley accent within the work was something Jessica felt she needed to do but some statements needed no explaining, ‘I spoke to a former tutor and he told me that being a teacher here and teaching the mining students was much like being a lion tamer!’

Photographer Chris Sedgewick added to Jessica’s comments proudly stating that this exhibition and the redevelopment of higher education with Barnsley ‘is a great way of saluting the men and women of this town’

The University Centre Barnsley’s music department also worked with the artists to produce a piece of music to complement the Voices in the Stone exhibition.

The celebrations also included an exciting exhibition of memorabilia produced through close work with the National Coal Mining Museum for England. The Museum have a large exhibition which can viewed throughout the year from Miner’s lamps to coal cutters, the collection covers all aspects of the coal mining industry, encompassing communities, science, technology and art. The University Centre were able to bring a sample of this selection to Barnsley, once again bringing these pieces to life.

The National Coal Mining Museum for England’s Living History performances were also welcomed into the University Centre.

A number of children from local primary schools thoroughly enjoyed their time with ‘Sally Fletcher’ meeting her right in the middle of the Industrial Revolution. Sally discusses the 1842 Act which was introduced by Lord Ashley and looked at the types of jobs which children did underground, encouraging discussion on whether acts like these are good or bad and allows children to think of the bigger picture.

Adults were treated to a meeting with ‘Mabel Lockwood’. Mabel gives a humorous a realistic portrayal of the role of a miner’s wife in the 1940’s. Taking into consideration how life was affected following the war, Mabel discusses domestic duties but also the important role and involvement that women had during this time.

Naturally, the University Centre Barnsley recognises the importance of raising the aspirations of our young people and therefore coordinated the ‘My Barnsley’ competition. This competition is for the young people of Barnsley to express what the town means to them through a piece of art or creative writing.
The competition was judged by some of Barnsley’s elite including artists Ashley Jackson and Graham Ibbeson, historian and author Mel Dyke and Barnsley Chronicle editor, Robert Cockroft with prizes given to the winning entries and also the school or college of the winners.

Finally, to encourage and introduce a university culture to the Barnsley community a series of public lectures are being held from September to March on a series of subject matters including politics, music, architecture, entrepreneurship and evolution.
The Voices in the Stone exhibition is a permanent exhibition within the University Centre and can be viewed at any time.

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For more information about the University Centre Barnsley and this project please contact Josie Harvey on 01226 644250 or email barnsley@hud.ac.uk.

With thanks to article contributions from UCB Journalism and Media Production students, Liam Fookes, Terry Hibberd and Sarah Wilson.