Town’s first museum gets ready for opening

A museum charting the history of a Yorkshire town is set to open next month – almost a year later than originally scheduled.

Final touches are now being put to the £4.3m Experience Barnsley museum, located on the ground floor of the town hall, in order for it to open to the public on Thursday June 27.

Several objects on show have been loaned to the museum by the public, while some pieces – such as a jacket worn by metal band Saxon and “Coronation Street” scripts and costumes belonging to actress Katherine Kelly – have been donated by celebrities.

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The museum will also include a “discovery centre”, where people can request items from Barnsley’s archive or research their own family history; a tourist information centre and a high-security changing exhibition space.

John Tanner from Experience Barnsley said: “There’s never been a museum just about Barnsley before. “Over the last few years, people have been donating things in their hundreds. The way people have rallied round has been brilliant.”

Exhibits also relate to key events in the area’s history – including the long-running and bitter miners’ strike of the 1980s and the successes of Barnsley FC.