Penistone, Building on the Old and Developing the New

Penistone Village, near Barnsley

As the autumn issue of Around Barnsley showed, there is much about the history of Penistone that explains the character of the old town and perhaps the local people.

The physical character of Penistone in Barnsley can of course be traced to those early days of church, school and market followed by the impact of the local steel and engineering industry and the associated importance of the railway links. As for the people of Penistone, this is less easy to argue especially in these days of greatly increased mobility. Penistone is a great mix of long-established families and family businesses and so called “newcomers” and in fairness to the latter it is probably fair to say that nowadays they far outweigh the former. It all depends of course on what your definition of a “newcomer” might be. It is not unknown for a whole generation to pass by before a newcomer comes to be regarded as a genuine Penistone “local”.

Whilst this no doubt applies to some extent to Penistone with its well-marked and much valued old traditions, there are clear signs of change. Change that is important to maintaining and developing the vitality of the town based on Penistone local initiatives. New people moving into the Penistone area – even those who appear at first or even second glance to have mainly “dormitory linkages” nevertheless bring new interests, abilities, skills and of course, expectations to the town.

Brenda Hinchliff the current Mayor of Penistone is in no doubt that the essence and perhaps the great strength of Penistone resides in its people. She is full of praise for long-serving town councillors and major voluntary contributors to local organisations that keeps Penistone alive. As just one example she refers to the continuing hard work of those involved in the Penistone Show – this year hit by atrocious weather but indomitable as ever and already planning for next year. Brenda herself is great worker for her community. On the Town Council since 1986, she is now in her second spell as Mayor and seems to enjoy every minute of it – none more so than when she appeared in a Citroen CV (complete with mock grand-father clock) in her parade in June this year this year. She enjoys the diverse nature of the job; one day liaising with Yorkshire Forward and arguing her case for the preservation of the character of the High Street and the next braving the rain to choose the prettiest pig at the Show. One day putting forward the case for the GradeII listing of the Town Hall and Cinema and the next helping with the running of the local music festival.

Emphasising that Penistone is still a market town despite the demise of the livestock market, she points to the success of the Farmers Markets and also the Country Market held in the Community Centre every Thursday morning – which brings us to the St Johns Community Centre itself. If the Paramount is the jewel in Penistone’s crown then the Community Centre is undoubtedly the heart of the town. Apart from housing the busy town clerk, Liz Sedgwick, the Community Centre is a hive of activity throughout the week. Classes and meetings of all kinds fill the meeting rooms – creating skills, developing interests and turning leisure time into community activities in a pleasant and well-serviced environment.

Looking to the future, the development of Penistone and district requires new ideas, effective planning and funding assistance. Most of all, in the present day, it appears to require partnership between local government, the business sector and voluntary activists of all kinds. This has already been recognised in the Penistone and District Community Partnership. The Partnership is itself a local, “not for profit” voluntary group with the prime objective of facilitating the physical, social and economic regeneration and development of Penistone, and its surrounding parishes. The Partnership draws on a mix of funding mainly from a number of European Union and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs initiatives. The Rural Target Fund of the Objective1 Programme for South Yorkshire has been managed by the Yorkshire Community Council. The recently commissioned Tourism and Heritage Project has been funded by Leader+ but one of the earliest components of the mix was the Penistone Market Town Initiative (PMTI) – a Yorkshire Forward pilot scheme aimed at reinforcing the role of market towns as local service centres. The PMTI attracted £340,000 of funds all of which was used to deliver projects between April 2002 and March 2005. Together with matched funding this brought almost £1 million into Penistone and the surrounding area.

Nick Waterfield, the Project Delivery Officer for Penistone and District Community Partnership, recognises the great start that the PMTI gave to the regeneration of the town and echoes the sentiments of the mayor in emphasising that “Penistone has a strong tradition of community organisations and groups”. He has a long list of new or pipeline projects for which the Partnership or linked agencies have a least partial responsibility.

Some examples of the Community Projects delivered under the various schemes are the Waggonway Trail at Silkstone, the St Johns Gardens, the St Aidans development at Oxspring and the Penistone Fair-Trade Campaign. Penistone aims to be a Fair-Trade town and under the Partnership “umbrella” is already close to meeting all the criteria.

Perhaps the best publicised and most compelling project has been the Royd Moor Viewing Point that was opened in June 2005. The spectacular location close to the wind-farm high above Penistone was suggested in 2003 and the project evolved to commemorate the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. John Gledhill Smith a past-President of the Penistone and District Society donated a patch of land and the structure was designed by John Wade. Local craftsman David Gladwin was responsible for construction alongside volunteers and the final outcome is the result of an exemplary degree of cooperation amongst local government, private individuals and voluntary bodies. It is something new of which Penistone can be justifiably proud alongside the town’s fine history and community spirit.

The Community Partnership’s recently produced Annual Report draws attention to the Tourism and Heritage Project headed up by John Hislop and Chris Evans. A new Penistone and District Heritage and Tourism Guidebook is close to completion and work is in hand on Heritage Trails, Tourism Promotion and Visitor Information, Oral History and an archaeological survey of the Upper Don.

Steve Holmes is involved in Sports Development working closely with local schools and sports and leisure groups. A wide range of programmes started or encouraged through this project include tennis coaching, inter-schools hockey, keep fit classes, badminton, soccer and rugby. The related Active Lifestyles Project will seek to promote the link between sport and good health and encourage a range of outdoor leisure pursuits for all ages.

As with Penistone Business Support Penistone and District Community Partnership is in a position to respond to ideas, to assist in planning and help to secure funding support. The Action Plan currently being developed is recognised by Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council as a valuable ingredient in the overall regeneration of the town.