Chronicle chief reporter Jack Tolson delves back into the Chronicle archives of May 2002 ...
SUSAN’S ZEST FOR FAMILY HISTORY
ORANGES are the only fruit for Susan Deakin - and she has one which is a hundred years old to prove it.
It has been in the family since 1902 and was originally kept because it was the last thing which her great aunt, Mary Jane Bennett, touched before she died at the age of four.
It was put in a cupboard at the side of the kitchen range so it dried out rather than rotted.
In 1916 Mary Jane's father, Valentine, found another orange washed up on a beach on the East Coast and decided to keep it with the other.
Susan became ‘guardian’ of the ancient oranges when her grandmother, Cissy, Mary Jane’s sister, died in 1985.
Before then Cissy’s brother, Walter, looked after them until he died in 1970.
She said there was never any question she would throw them away, despite their black, wizened appearance, and keep them in a 1953 Coronation tea caddy.
SEX SHOP IN WRONG PLACE - MP
A BARNSLEY MP has met protesters in an effort to solve the long-running controversy over the sex shop at Stairfoot.
Eric Illsley talked to the placard-carrying residents who have been picketing Direct Pleasures on Doncaster Road.
The shop was granted a licence to sell explicit videos last month but the protesters say it should be on an industrial estate, not a residential street.
Mr Illsley had objected to the application but it was approved after licensing chairman Alex Vodden gave the casting vote during a secret ballot among councillors at the town hall.
“It’s divided issue because there are so many different opinions,” said Mr Illsley.
“Some don’t want it here but others say they are more embarrassed by the protesters than the shop itself.
“I’m very concerned about the situation because tensions are running high and I don’t know how this is going to be resolved.
“The pickets have been jostled by residents who don’t agree with what they are doing and my worry is that things will get out of hand.
“I’m not bothered what they sell in there.
“The window display isn’t offensive - it’s only as explicit as some of the underwear on show in Barnsley Market.
“But it isn’t an appropriate location.
“Property prices will go down and it’s difficult for the people who have to live across from it.”
SAM TAKES THE LEAD IN WALK
SAM the dog went ‘walkies’ and ended up taking the lead in an eight-mile walk for a cancer charity.
Sam - a rescue dog. joined 100 people and fellow dog, Hettie, on the Walk of Hope in Edale to raise cash for Marie Curie Cancer Care.
Owner Lawrence Sheppard, 58, from Darfield, was part of a 17-strong pack of workers from Kendray Sure Start and Community Health who raised £1,000.
Sam was dog-tired but there was a well-earned bowl of water waiting for him at the finish.
