Take a trip through time with new collection on Rotherham's history
BIG changes in Rotherham over the years are preserved in print as the memories of a borough past resident have been reprinted.
A collected edition incorporating the four books of Jack Parnham has been produced by Rotherham District Civic Society and is on sale now.
The book – which can be bought at the Rotherham Council Information Centre at 26 High Street and costs £6.95 – brings together Mr Parnham’s books Growing Up In Brinsworth in the 1940s, Town v County, Rotherham Races, and Chapel Church and Pit.
Local historian Jeremy Blundell told the Advertiser that the publication would offer a fascinating journey into the past for readers.
He said: “The enormous changes of the last two decades have meant that even the comparatively recent past has become quite foreign.
“This is well demonstrated by the book by the late Jack Parnham, Growing Up In Brinsworth in the 1940s, republished along with three other books, in one volume, by Rotherham District Civic Society.
“In it he remembers life in the war, with air raid shelters and bomb sites, kids’ games such as 2keggy and Kick Can, and how rural Brinsworth still was, with cows blocking his walk to school.
“Later memories include the 1945 election, and the street parties to celebrate VE Day.
“In the other books included in this volume he describes the long history of football and the early teams in Rotherham, before the emergence of Rotherham United.
“Going further back in sporting history he describes the history of horse racing in Rotherham with courses on the Moor (Herringthorpe) and Doncaster Road, with crowds of over 20,000 and military bands and the local aristocracy in attendance.
“In the final book he returns to his Brinsworth homeland with a detailed look at the collieries of Treeton, Catcliffe and Canklow areas, and at the communities they spawned, including the chapels, churches, housing estates which lay along the banks of the Rother, claimed to be the most polluted waterway in England.
“This book will fascinate local historians and all inhabitants past and present of Rotherham, and especially his home patch of Brinsworth.”