Chief reporter Jack Tolson takes a look through the archives of twenty years ago.
ALSOP’S HALOW SET TO GET THE DAVE CHERRY TREATMENT
IT MAY be pie in the sky to some, but singer Dave Cherry hopes it’ll be another hit.
The retired club turn is releasing a record about Will Alsop’s halo-in-the-sky idea, and is confident sales will beat his previous efforts about Stairfoot Roundabout and Jumble Lane crossing.
Dave is working on the track, and hopes to release it in aid of Barnsley Hospice at the end of the year.
The halo, part of Remaking Barnsley, is set to be switched on at Christmas and is expected to be visible across the borough.
Dave said: “I’m slowly working my way through all these landmarks - it’s a good laugh for charity.
“Lots of people are having a go at the halo idea and so I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon and write a song.
“Personally I think the halo is a daft idea and it’ll take a lot of torches to get a light like that in the sky.
“They could probably spend their money on something better if you ask me.”
OLD SCHOOL PAL GIVES KIDNEY HOPE TO TONY
ALL that kidney patient Tony Batty wants is the chance of a new life with his two children.
Six times his hopes have been dashed when complications developed with potential kidney donors.
After the nightmare of dialysis, Tony now has fresh hope.
He is to receive a kidney in the autumn - from an old school pal.
Tony and Darren Portman grew up in the same part of Kingstone and were at Longcar Primary and Holgate schools together.
Darren will undergo a four-hour operation to have his kidney removed and implanted into Tony’s body.
Tony said: “It’s been an absolute nightmare and I have been on edge all the time because dialysis isn’t a cure.
“I don’t think I will ever be able to thank Darren enough.”
KILLER AMERICAN CRAYFISH MARCH ON BOROUGH
KILLER American crayfish are on the march through the borough eating up the native white-clawed species as they go.
Barnsley’s Biodiversity Trust says signal crayfish now riddle the River Dearne after being introduced to the Darton area.
It’s believed they were brought to the village by the public to deal with weeds in garden ponds.
But now the immigrant crustaceans have bred and are heading towards Cawthorrne Dyke - a prime spot to find the threatened white claws.
Like all crayfish, signals are cannibalistic and they eat their weaker cousins and beat them to the food supply.
They also carry a plague virus which kills white claws, but leaves signals unharmed because of their immunity.
Trevor Mayne, a member of the BBT, said: “Unfortunately they are probably doomed unless we manage to get them into some landlocked ponds which the signals cannot get to.
“The problem is that signals are extremely tenacious beasts and difficult to kill.”
