Chief reporter JACK TOLSON looks back at the Chronicle Archives from April 2005
DEVASTATION AS THREE OLD FOLK’S HOMES ARE AXED
THREE of Barnsley’s old folk’s homes will close by the summer, health bosses decided yesterday.
At a special meting of the Primary Care Trust board, Carlton House, Steadhaven and Oaklands were all axed - with Oakwood being given a 12-month reprieve.
Staff and residents at the homes have been officially gagged, but the Chronicle has learnt that they are devastated by the decision.
Eric O’Brien, of Carlton House, was so angry he spoke out in defiance.
He said: “I’m gutted, especially for the people who have been here for years, what will moving do to them?
“This is our home and we don’t want to leave, we have been let down.
“No one cares about what we want.”
The 26 residents will now be assessed and moved to new homes.
The future of the staff at the homes is uncertain.
About £800,000 saved by the move has been allocated to elderly services in the borough.
SOCCER STRIPPERS LOOKING TO SCORE FOR CHARITY WITH FULL MONTY ROUTINE
COACHES from a junior football team will kick off a charity appeal tonight by getting ‘stripped for action’.
They are performing a routine from the Full Monty at the Gilroyd Social Club to raise funds for disadvantaged kids in Lithuania.
Andrew Robson, of Dodworth Miners’ Welfare junior football club, said the lads were happy to ‘bare all’ for a good cause.
He said: “For the past three years we have been sending people out to the village of Graziski as part of an appeal to renovate a hostel.
“The area is poverty stricken, it only has one shop and the kids have to walk miles to get to school.
“Our visits mean a lot to the people and the whole village comes to a standstill when we stage our annual football tournament.”
WATCHMAKER CALLS TIME ON MARKET STALL BUSINESS
THE clock is ticking for a Barnsley watchmaker as he tries to find a buyer for his business before he retires.
Dennis Fawcett and his wife Joan have been trading on Barnsley Market for 40 years.
Dennis, a craft member of the British Horological Institute, learned the trade at Leeds College before starting work at Benjamin Harral’s on Eldon Street in 1955.
During the Suez crisis in the early 1950s he served in Egypt, Palestine and Cyprus.
He first retired in 2003 when daughter Carol took over the business.
But nine months later Dennis and Joan were back on the stall after Carol decided to try something new.
The couple are going to give retirement another go, if they can find someone to take up the reins.
