Barnsley – Barnsley Community Support Centre

Tag: Barnsley

13
Feb
2016

No Fracking in Barnsley Campaign Update

Here is a campaign update from No Fracking in Barnsley. There are numerous ways to get involved from helping to distribute flyers, to attending events, signing the petition and writing to your councillors. The best way to beat fracking is before it starts. Don’t leave it too late, get involved now!

Leafleting: May Day Green, Barnsley
Saturday 27^th February, 11am.

Following the great turn out to leaflet in Barnsley Town Centre a couple of weeks ago, we will be holding another leafleting and petition signing session on Saturday 27^th February. It is important that we try to raise as much awareness as we possibly can, as a recent poll showed that the more that people understand about fracking, the more likely they are to be against it.

Rumour has it that there will be a big push on exploratory licence applications in the spring, so that just gives us a few short weeks to get as much information as possible out there. There will be no chance of running out of flyers this time, as we have ordered a print run of 5000. Please come and help.

The flyers are due back from print by mid-week, so if you would like some to distribute around your area, please get in touch.

New Campaign Website

During the last few days, we have launched a new campaign website at http://www.nofrackingbarnsley.org. Please visit regularly as we will be building the campaign and on-line resources from here. The old wordpress website will no longer be updated, but will operate for a little while, then divert to the new website.

Voices from the Gasfields: Film Showing
Friday 4^th March, 7pm
Montgomery Hall, Church Street Wath-upon-Dearne S63 7RD

Frack Free Dearne Valley will be showing Ian R Crane’s film, Voices from the Gasfields, followed by a discussion. The film is very thought provoking and should not be missed.

Petition: Keep Barnsley Frack Free

Just three weeks after being launched, our petition to Barnsley Council has passed 2000 signatures (2025 online, 130 paper). If you haven’t already signed, please do so. If you have signed, thank you. Please pass the petition on to your friends and family.

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/keep-barnsley-frack-free

Write to your councillor

The only way that we will stand any chance of keeping fracking out of Barnsley is by people power. Our councillors need to be made aware of the scale of public opposition to fracking, so please write to your councillors and make this clear. We have a letter template that you can use, or amend with your own words and a link to find out who your councillors are if you don’t know.

http://nofrackingbarnsley.org/action

The Great Barnsley Wall of Fracking Resistance

Add your #FrackOffSelfie to the wall of resistance and tell the frackers where to go!

Add your frack off message to your selfie (no need to be polite) and send it to us via Twitter @NoFrackBarnsley, post in on our Facebook wall NoFrackingBarnsley or email us nofrackingbarnsley@yahoo.com and we’ll add your selfie to our wall of resistance.

Be as creative as you like, get your friends, family, pets and soft toys involved and help spread the word that fracking isn’t wanted in Barnsley or anywhere.

Coming soon…

Frack Free Dearne Valley – 15 May 2016: Walk & Rally to Manvers Lake.

03
Feb
2016

Stand up to racism in Barnsley

categories: Anti Fascism, Refugees and Asylum Seekers, Stop Racism

Now is a really important time to stand up against Islamophobia and in defence of refugees. I’m proud we had a good public meeting and rally in Barnsley in December to say “Refugees are Welcome Here” when the South Yorks Casuals marched in our town. We need to keep up our public presence to drown out the voices of hatred which try to divide our community.

Unite Against Fascism is supporting the national demonstration against racism and fascism which is taking place in London on Sat March 19th. We have a bus booked from Barnsley – more details to follow, but if you want a seat on the bus please let me know.

There will be an open organising meeting at the YMCA Blucher St Barnsley on Tues 23rd Feb at 6.30. We will be discussing local activities including holding a public meeting in advance of the national demonstration. All are welcome to come along and help build the anti-racist movement in Barnsley.

Hoping to see you on 23rd. If you cant get there but can use leaflets etc to advertise local events, please let us know.

02
Feb
2016

SUPPORT THE JUNIOR DOCTORS STRIKE; DEFEND THE NHS

categories: Junior Doctor's Strike, NHS

BARNSLEY TRADES COUNCIL

SUPPORT THE JUNIOR DOCTORS STRIKE; DEFEND THE NHS

8am Wed. Feb. 10th Barnsley Hospital

Barnsley Trades Council is calling on trade unions to send delegations to the Gawber Road entrance of Barnsley Hospital at 8amonwards on Wed. February 10th to show solidarity with the junior doctors’ strike and picket.

Bring your union banners and flags and make your own placards. Around 25 trade unionists joined the striking doctors last time – it would be great if we can make that number bigger.

AXE THE TORY ANTI-TRADE UNION BILL

Protest 12pm – 1pm Thursday Feb. 11th Town Hall Steps – (below the fountains).

Barnsley Trades Council has organised a protest against the Tories’ anti Trade Union Bill as part of a national TUC day of action. We are calling on unions to send delegations, bring banners and placards and come prepared to speak.

We have to defend our unions and defend our right to strike. That is why solidarity with the doctors is so important as well as defying the Tories’ anti trade union laws.

26
Jan
2016

NO FRACKING WAY – South Yorkshire Day of Action

categories: No Fracking in Barnsley

Fracking is a destructive, polluting, dangerous industry. It has caused real pain for communities in the USA and Australia and it is coming to Barnsley!

Exploratory fracking licences now cover most of the borough. Licences were granted in Dearne Valley last year and just before Christmas, a new round of licences extended coverage over Barnsley itself.

No Fracking in Barnsley will be taking part in the national programme of anti-fracking events, called by No Fracking Way. This is an unmissable opportunity for us to raise awareness locally and to make a noise about fracking at a national level.

No Fracking in Barnsley
Saturday 30^th January 2016
May Day Green (Barnsley Town Centre) at 11.00am

We will be leafleting at May Day Green (near Thorntons) and collecting signatures for our petition to Barnsley Council, calling for the rejection of fracking in Barnsley.

Please come along and help us to spread the word to the people of Barnsley, even if you can only spare half an hour. Everybody’s help is valuable and with a good turn out, we can engage with as many people as possible.

Frack Free Dearne Valley
Saturday 30 January, 10am-12Noon
Wath-upon-Dearne (near the Market)

There are other events planned to take place across the region on the same day in Sheffield, Doncaster and Rotherham. Visit our event page on Facebook for more details as they are available, or our website.

Tweetathon: Sunday 31^st January 2016

In support of other events happening around the country, we will be sharing their tweets from our account under the hashtag #NoFrackingWay. Please join us, share as many posts as you can and help us to get the argument against fracking trending nationally.

You can sign our petition here.

Please share this message with anyone who you think may be interested in helping.

20
Jan
2016

ESOL Donation

categories: ESOL Project Unite, Football

During the run up to Christmas, Barnsley Trades Union Council launched an appeal to assist asylum seekers and refugees in the town.

On Saturday at the end of an Anti-racist 5 a side Football tournament held at the Barnsley Football Club Dave Gibson, on behalf of the BTUC presented a cheque to the value of £300 (part of the total appeal) to Richard Vivian and Brian Clarke, 2 of the volunteers at the Unite Community Support Centre, based at the NUM Headquarters on Huddersfield Road.

08
Jan
2016

Barnsley Picket – 12 January

categories: Junior Doctor's Strike

Barnsley Trades Council is calling for a solidarity with the Junior Doctor’s picket, starting at 8am on Tues Jan 12th, to join their first strike picket-line at the Gawber Road entrance of Barnsley Hospital. Please spread the word and bring banners, flags and placards. UNITY IS STRENGTH

05
Jan
2016

Attila the Stockbroker @ Lamproom Theatre, Barnsley

categories: Events

Attila the Stockbroker
Lamproom Theatre, Barnsley
Start: 10 Feb 2016 – 07:30 PM
Price: All tickets £10.00

Singer-songwriter and pioneer performance poet, Attila has fought injustice all his life, including benefit gigs during The Miners’ Strike and for ‘Rock Against Racism’. His work tackles serious issues but he’ll make you laugh when he delivers it!

STOCKBROKER’S CLERK, 1980: THE NAME

“And then, one day, I got myself a stage name. A stage name that, on its own, got me fifty per cent of my earliest gigs outside Harlow, all my early media coverage and entries in ‘silly band name’ lists all over the world, alongside the likes of Death By Milkfloat and Half Man Half Biscuit.

To this day, it still raises a smile everywhere I go. I can be quite clumsy: I bump into things easily. And in that job I didn’t give a shit. I can’t exactly remember how or where, but I knocked a cup of coffee over in the office one day and somebody said something like ‘You’ve got the manners of Attila the Hun!’ A light came on in my head.

Attila the Stockbroker. That’s what I’d call myself. The last bit of the jigsaw was complete.”

Launched into public consciousness by John Peel in the early 1980s, performance poet, musician, journalist and political activist Attila the Stockbroker has spent thirty five years touring the world. Having performed over three thousand gigs in twenty four countries, releasing forty records and seven books of poetry along the way, he pauses here to relate his life story, a tale of single-minded determination to earn his living, without compromise, doing what he loves in the context of the ever changing, increasingly corporate minded politics of the last five decades.

An autobiography like no other, ‘Arguments Yard’ bounces effortlessly from frontline tales of touring East Germany, the first ever punk performance in Stalinist Albania, being thrown out of one of his own gigs and the ongoing fight – often literally – with the fascist thugs who targeted him in the early 80s to more homely anecdotes: his coastal upbringing and love of his home in West Sussex, his passionate involvement in the battle to save his beloved Brighton and Hove Albion FC and his path from punk bass player into a career which has lasted decades longer than the ranting verse fad which spawned it.

Full of humour and intellect, and peppered with encounters with notable figures, ‘Arguments Yard’ demonstrates a depth rarely found in the everyday performer’s autobiography, and relates an important social history, being a left wing activist’s eyewitness journey through the great political battles and movements of recent times. Rock Against Racism, the Anti Nazi League, the miners’ strike, the Wapping dispute, Red Wedge, the Poll Tax and campaigns against two Gulf Wars are all analysed from a ringside perspective before the author packs his bags and takes us on another tour of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the USA or Europe. Attila once turned down an offer of shows in North Korea (only because he was already booked to tour Canada) has stood in for Donny Osmond at a gig, been supported by the Manic Street Preachers – and DJ legend Steve Lamacq was his roadie for a while.

Now a long established Glastonbury regular, a celebrated poet at his football club and the organiser of his own hugely popular beer and music festival, Glastonwick, Attila The Stockbroker remains as focussed and active as ever and continues to perform around a hundred gigs a year to diverse audiences across the world.

His message is a simple one: you don’t need to be ‘a celebrity’ to lead a life earning your living doing what you love to do. You just need a way with words, the self-confidence and organizational ability of Napoleon and skin thicker than the armour of a Chieftain tank.

‘Arguments Yard’ is the perfect antidote to the countless fake tan splattered and empty headed celebrity autobiographies that increasingly fill the nation’s bookshelves.

17
Dec
2015

My dream is achieved

categories: Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Jimmy, a refugee from Sudan tells us the story of his refugee football team

When my friend told my about Barnsley and said it is a small town, and you will not like it, also you will not find your dream of some good people and education, they told me that it would be better if you chose Manchester or Liverpool or London, so that you can live and learn quickly. They have told me that refugees and asylum seekers living there are scattered and do not know each other.

I have told them the problem is not in Barnsley as a small town and it is not the solution to go to Manchester, Liverpool or London. The problem is when a person living in a small town has small dreams the city becomes small, and when you have big dreams the city becomes large even if it is small. For the people I told them it’s important to show love, respect, trust, honesty and good ethics and then people show love to you.

Some things are not impossible, but if a man wanted only to be in a small place in a small room with small ideas and thinks only of eating and sleeping he will achieve little. But if a man wanted to transform the dream of a small idea into a big idea, this can become a successful project, creating strength from weakness.

The simple idea I had was to buy a football for three pounds and bring refugees together. I told them life is tough, but we must live with all the pain and rigors. I told them the tiger stands strong, and the eagle loves space and a life of freedom so we have to be strong like tigers and live in space like eagles do. We have a football field and we are brothers who play there and afterwards we all eat together. We also go to English language lessons at the Red Cross and then to the library for conversation and coffee.

Hearts have gathered and are united before they gather in our home lands and unite, our making of Barnsley City is unprecedented in the UK and today we dream of games with all refugees in London, Manchester and Liverpool, this is the idea of one man, now we are one hundred and fifty strong in the heart of one man.

Anything is possible within the world in which we live. Only fear prevents us from fulfilling our hopes and dreams. If we are faint-hearted or cannot be bothered to search for ways to improve ourselves and pursue our goals, even simple things won’t be achieved. However, we can be successful in achieving improvement if we are diligent and patient. Seeking advice and the opinions of good law-abiding decent people from all communities will help us all to live in a better and peaceful society.

This applies to the football team I started in May 2015 and above is a picture from that time.

My grandfather used to say that no matter how dark things may seem there is always light at the end of the tunnel, but we must be patient and determined in order to achieve our aims.

This is a story about a farmer who had a deep well. He had a horse that was old and he wanted to get rid of it because of it’s age. He asked his friends and neighbours to put the horse in the well and fill it with earth. The horse became aware that it was in great danger and as the dirt was poured into the well it shook the dust from it’s back and climbed to the top of the mound. The horse gathered all it’s strength and jumped from the highest point of the earth and escaped from the well.

Everyone marvelled at how brave, intelligent and determined the horse was. Although it was only an animal, it knew it wanted to live and wasn’t prepared to just accept it’s fate, it wanted to survive.

Sometimes a door closes, but we mustn’t surrender to disappointment, despair or worry as another door will open eventually. We must never give up, just like the horse did.

As human beings we can learn much from this. The horse was steadfast and determined in it’s resolve and we must try and be like this in our efforts to live with dignity and pride.

This is the picture taken five months after the first one and it shows how far we have come from our humble beginnings in a local park to playing matches at Barnsley Football Club. We are very grateful to the club for letting us use their facilities and providing us with our kit.

All of us came to this country from very difficult situations in different countries and this brought us together and helped us enjoy life. This is not only because we enjoy playing football, because after the match we like to socialise by eating and drinking together. I thank God I have changed the course of my team for the better, so they are in a stronger position in Barnsley. Thank God the dream came true.

Jimmy from Barnsley

09
Dec
2015

Don’t frack with our future

categories: No Fracking in Barnsley

Groups in Barnsley that oppose fracking have been invited to attend a planning meeting on Tuesday 5 January 2016, at the YMCA in Barnsley at 6.30pm, to build a new campaign to stop fracking in our area.

Fracking is coming to Barnsley. This may be a short sentence but it is one loaded with the possibility of dire consequences for the future of our environment. Just five short words that could spell out quick profits for a few investors, but leave communities to deal with the pollution of our water, air and land.

In August, the government announced a new round of exploratory licenses covering the Dearne Valley, to the east of Barnsley. This includes villages such as Darfield, Brampton, Wath, Thurnscoe, Goldthorpe and Mexborough. The next round, currently under consultation will include Barnsley itself.

Fracking is a way of extracting gas or oil which is trapped inside rocks – such as shale. To get the gas or oil out, the rock has to be fractured – this is known as ‘hydraulic fracturing’ or fracking for short. Once the well has been drilled, a charge containing explosives is passed along the well fracturing the rock. A mixture of water, sand and chemicals is pumped down the well at very high pressure. This opens up the fractures in the rock and, when the pressure is released, the gas or oil flows back up the well.

In countries such as the USA and Australia, where the fracking industry is much more established than in the UK, evidence is building for the detrimental effects that fracking can have on communities close to frack pads. This includes the contamination of water by leaking chemicals used during the fracking process and methane leaking through faults in the bedrock, the contamination of the air by well vents and seismic events such as earthquakes and landslides.

In November a joint meeting held by Frack Free South Yorkshire and Barnsley Green Party attracted a crowd from across the political spectrum, all concerned about the dangers that fracking could bring to Barnsley.

The meeting demonstrated that there is a solid base on which to build a local campaign to stop fracking in our area. We would like to bring together people from a wide range of political parties, groups and individuals to create a non-partisan campaign and ensure that fracking does not gain a foothold in Barnsley.

A follow up meeting has been called to discuss how the campaign will be built and aim to serve as a rallying point for local opposition to fracking.

No Fracking in Barnsley Planning Meeting
Tuesday 5 January 2016 @ 6.30pm
YMCA, 1 Blucher Street, Barnsley S70 1AP
Find the Facebook event page here.

07
Dec
2015

Anti-racism rally Dec 12th

categories: Anti Fascism

Thanks to those of you who came to yesterday’s public meeting “Refugees Are Welcome Here”. We had a brilliant meeting attended by around 40 people. Speakers included from refugee and asylum seeker support groups, a journalist from Eritrea, someone who visited the Calais refugee camp only 2 weeks ago and gave a moving descriptions of conditions there, and a local journalist. Over £100 was donated to the Trades Council appeal to support the Calais refugees and Unite’s local work with asylum seekers and refugees in Barnsley.

Things are looking very positive for next Saturday’s rally in opposition to the South Yorkshire Casuals anti-immigration march (11am May Day Green). I hope you are able to get along. I have attached the leaflet for the rally – feel free to publish this around your own networks and contacts. We hope as many people as possible will be prepared to say a few words at the rally so that our message that the racists of the SYC do not represent the people of Barnsley comes across loud and clear.

Solidarity!

Fran