HERE’S a selection of stories as they were reported in the Chronicle back in Augusy 1991.
HISTORY was made when Angela Owen became the first woman in Barnsley to give birth under water.
Water baby girl Ashley, who weighed in at 6Ib 7oz, was born in a specially-built pool which was set up in one of Barnsley Hospital’s labour suites.
The birth went without a hitch and Angela was in the water in labour for about 49 minutes which experts say is a short time for a first child.
Angela, 22, and father Paul Gillow, 32, of Barnsley Road, Cudworth, opted for a water birth after reading about it.
When the couple first made enquiries at Barnsley Hospital they were turned down.
Paul, a fitter with a mining contractor, said: “The hospital refused to entertain us at first because of insurance and because a water birth had not been done at the hospital before.
“The hospital relented but we had to sign forms saying that all responsibility was ours if anything went wrong.”
The couple hired the 6ft by 4ft by 4ft-deep pool from a a firm in Middlesex.
OLD SOLDIERS face being taken to court by Barnsley Council over non-payment of poll tax.
Army veteran Ray Heald, of Hoyland, says he and two other Barnsley ex-soldiers have received final notices because they haven’t paid any poll tax. They are expecting court summonses any day now.
“I have got no intention of paying my poll tax,” Mr Heald told the Chronicle this week.
“I didn’t pay a penny last year and I haven’t done this year. I will let the council take me to court.”
Mr Heald says the soldiers’ non-payment is a result of Barnsley Council’s ‘meanness’ in classing war veterans’ pensions as income.
This means they have to pay the full poll tax because they are not eligible to the 80 per cent reduction offered to other pensioners.
A FORMER senior Barnsley police officer has died Barnsley Hospital at the age of 80.
Ex Chief Supt Rufus Winstanley, of Quaker Lane, Ardsley, was in charge of the Barnsley division of the old West Riding force from the mid 1950s until his retirement in 1971 with 40 years’ police service to his name.
SHOPKEEPERS are to be issued with special leaflets to give to children wanting to buy cigarettes.
The orange leaflets, which say ‘this is to show I have to say no’, have been issued by Barnsley Council in a bid to save shopkeepers embarrassing arguments over age with anyone they feel is under 16.
The law puts a duty on Barnsley Council to make sure cigarettes and tobacco are not sold to under-16s. Any shopkeeper caught can face a fine of up to £2,000.
A Barnsley Council spokesman said: “The leaflets are designed to save shopkeepers any argy-bargy over someone’s age. We feel any measures taken to stop children obtaining cigarettes worthwhile.”
