What`s New?

News about the Museum">

What`s New? News about the Museum, the Amenity Society, Darfield! Visiting Groups At The Museum. The following groups have visits planned to the museum this year. Friday 8th. February         11.30am.         Royston Local History Group. Tuesday 26th. February     2.00pm.         Barugh Green Local History Group. Tuesday 26th. February.     6.30pm.         Billingley History Group. Thursday 7th. March.         7.00pm.             Goldthorpe womens Institute. Friday 5th. April.                 2.00pm.                 Retired Scouts Group. Tuesday 23rd. July.             7.00pm.                Wakefield Historical Society. Tuesday 10th. September.   7.00pm.            Thurgoland Tuesday Group. We are open for visiting groups at most times. Contact Geoff. at Geoffrey@darf.freeserve.co.uk or write to the museum to get details for your visit. We are also willing to come out to groups to to give talks.   New Displays In The Museum. The displays in the museum are constantly being updated to make the best use of the space that we have available and to show new items recently added to the collections. Two new displays just completed are: 1. "The Village Cobblers Shop." a display of cobblers tools and the things that the cobbler would sell. This display has been made possible by the generous donation of artefacts from two cobblers shops recently closed down. Thanks Brian and Les! 2. "Old Time Mining". This display shows photographs and artefacts rescued from old mine workings that were uncovered when the site of Houghton Main Colliery was opencasted. We have the remains of a rag and chain pump, a wooden shovel etc. More was there but lost to the machines whose only concern was "coal". Thanks Bill for rescuing what you did.   New Book. A new book on Ebenezer Elliott is due to be published in the autumn, the first new volume on the "Corn Law Rhymer" for 100 years we are told. Who was Ebenezer? He was born in Rotherham, lived and worked there and in Sheffield, spent his final years and died in Great Houghton, but he is buried in Darfield churchyard. He composed a great deal of poetry, in particular writing verse to try to get the corn laws repealed. If you saw the musical `Godspell`, the words of one of the songs "When wilt thou save the people, O Lord of Mercy when? The People Lord the People, Not thrones & crowns, but men!", are by Ebenezer. Watch the press for further details.   Return.