Do you remember Barnsley in the '60s and '70s? Photographs by reknowned photographer Roy Sabine have now been turned into a book

He had worked for Barnsley Council planning service before retiring and has been following his interest in

the history of Barnsley and its buildings for many years. So when he was approached by Amberley Publishing to write another book about the town centred around photographs he wanted it to be about people – but it was a challenge.

"It was just after Covid and so many people have changed the way they work that is it harder to access things because they have become so fragmented,” says Dunn. He approached the NUM (National Mineworkers Union) who pointed him in the direction of the Barnsley Archives. "They were amazing and so helpful,” says Dunn. “There I found the Sabine Collection – four big boxes of negatives probably thousands of photographs, taken by the photographer Roy Sabine. Roy Sabine was a freelance photographer and contributor to the Barnsley Chronicle as well as a wedding photographer,” says Keiron. “It was really these photographs that inspired the direction the book would go in.” He spent a long time sifting through the negatives, choosing the ones that would make it into the book tell the story of Barnsley and its people during the sixties and seventies.

“A selection of his photographs along with contemporaneous articles chronicle the cultural schism of the sixties and early seventies and form the basis of this book. The term ‘Lost Barnsley’ is in this case the passing of a seminal era.” Barnsley grew through its industries of linen weaving, glass-making and coal mining from a settlement around Monk

Bretton Priory. Communities grew up around these industries which also brought wealth to the town but today many of these industries are just a memory and not only has the fabric of the town changed in the last hundred years but also a way of life has disappeared. Shops have opened and closed, places of worship and entertainment, not least music venues, theatres and cinemas, have disappeared and a major redevelopment of the town centre has seen many old buildings swept away. Lost Barnsley presents a portrait of this corner of South Yorkshire over two decades that has radically changed or disappeared today, showing not only industries and buildings that have gone but also people and street scenes, many popular places of entertainment and much more.

One of Dunn’s favourite images is at the start of the first section of the book where a group of youngsters are looking at a massive gun with member of the army. “In August 1970 the Light Infantry were recruiting, whilst an article on the regiment needed special permission from the War Office. This was early on in the Troubles and it was reported that our lads were keeping the peace in strife-torn Belfast,” recalls Dunn in his book.

The book is split into sections which look at what was happening in the pubs and club, in the theatre and cinema, famous people and local characters, sport – including Barnsley FC, industry and coalmining – including the mass demonstrations. There are a number of pictures of sprinter Dorothy Hyman who won silver in the 100 metres and bronze in the 200 metres at the 1960 Rome Olympics. She won the sprint double in Perth at the 1962 Commonwealth Games and another gold in the 100 metres at the European Championships in Belgrade and many more. She was named 1963 Sportswoman of the Year and awarded an MBE in 1964. But after writing a book on her life story Sprint to Fame for which she was paid £150 she was banned from international competition

“The last British woman to get an individual Olympic medal at 100 or 200 metres could no longer compete in international events," writes Dunn. “Residents in Cudworth sent a petition to Minister of Sport Dennis Howell

to get her reinstated. The petition was placed in pubs, shops and clubs in Cudworth, Shafton, Brierley and Grimethorpe.”

Dunn says what struck him most during his research for the book was that nothing really changes. "I kept coming across the same things repeated time and time again. Like the redevelopment of the market in the sixties and now they are redeveloping it again now.” Many things were sacrificed in the name of progress. As well as showing the change in fashion the photographs are a social history archive. In 1968 there were plans to turn the Civic Hall into a ‘vast entertainment complex’. The main theatre had a £1,800 facelift and it was said the former ground-floor library could become a dance floor. The unused headquarters of the Barnsley Museum, which moved to Cannon Hall, became the Centenary Rooms to bring in a younger audience. Barnsley Brewery Co. donated the bar and dance floor from the Three Cranes Hotel to create the ‘Old Barnsley Bar’ with ancient beams and old Music Hall posters on the walls

Barnsley MP Roy Mason is pictured outside the NUM offices in April 1961. Before becoming an MP Roy Mason worked as a fitter at Wharncliffe Woodmoor Colliery. By February 1969 as Minister of Power, Mason decided the future of his old pit. Prior to closure Mason asked Ashley Jackson to paint the pit for sentimental reasons.

While other towns chose a Rolls-Royce, Barnsley’s mayor chose a £4,994 Daimler Limousine with the registration THE 1. The new car was handed over at a ceremony at the Town Hall in November 1970. In attendance was the mayor’s chauffeur, Mr A. Hunt. Frank Crow’s Daimler was the Queen Mother’s favourite car. It had walnut cabinet work, deep pile carpets, cigar lighters and ashtrays in the armrests. Only 450 of these luxury cars were built each year.

Lost Barnsley by Keiron Dunn, published by Amberley £15.99 https://www.amberley-books.com/lost-barnsley.html