Chief reporter JACK TOLSON takes a look back to what was making the news in Barnsley in July 2007...
ENNIS SEEKS TO PRESERVE YORKSHIRE DIALECT
ARE tha lekkin’ togger darn rec?
If you understand that you must have grown up near Penistone but if you grew up near town you’re more likely to have said ‘Are tha lakin’ football toneet?’.
Either way it’s the kind of dialect MP Jeff Ennis wants to preserve - and he has laid down an Early Day Motion in Parliament commending fellow politicians to protect regional accents.
He said research has been carried out showing colloquialisms are dying out as globalisation gathers pace.
“I come from Grimethorpe and I’m proud of my Yorkshire accent and I think we should preserve it because it has taken centuries to develop the dialects,” he said.
“It goes back to Viking days and it is something we need to look at preserving.
“There are good things to come from the growth of the ‘global village’.
“The downside of that is that we are seeing the growth of estuary English where everybody speaks the same.
“We need to protect regional accents.”
LIFE’S A BEACH FOR T4 HEADLINERS
BARNSLEY band The Headliners have made it to the last five in the T4 On The Beach competition.
Winners get the chance to perform in front of 30,000 people.
Drummer Oliver Yonchev, 18, from Wombwell, said: “It’s great because it gives you the opportunity to get yourself out there.
“We’re celebrities in Wombwell.
“I don’t think I’ve ever bought a drink - it’s great.”
Band members write their own material sand turned down a single release last month to concentrate on building up their catalogue.
But they did find time to play Glastonbury two weeks ago where they were the penultimate act to The Rips on the BBC Introduces stage.
“It was very muddy - and different,” Oliver said.
“We’re used to playing live but this was just so different.
“Home gigs are always good - you just have such a laugh.
“We always enjoy The Arches and The Leadmill is always good.”
LITTER’S JUST RUBBISH, SAY KIDS
CLEANING up litter from schools costs taxpayers £30,000 per year.
Now the council is turning to the children to find a solution.
Its environment scrutiny commission asked pupils from nine schools to come to a meeting after agreeing the problem around schools was appalling.
They came up with a number of suggestions including designing their own waste bins, competitions, events and more education, particularly about recycling.
Coun Margaret Bruff said: “It’s a sad reflection on society that we’re having to spend money on cleaning up after young people when it could be used for something that benefits them.
“It’s enlightening to know that kids were asking about things like landfill sites and percentages of recycled waste and they asked what we did as a council.”
