Barry Hines memorial.

I think it was already like that....

Badum tish.

 

Is it on a streaming service? I wouldn't mind watching it again.

 

I'm not sure, sorry. I've got a digital copy but can't remember where it actually came from...

 

No idea what the quality is like, but it seems the Internet Archive have it available to watch:

https://archive.org/details/threads_202007

 

We did that, I don't know if that was just because it was local or not. I also seem to remember doing a lot of Alan Bennet - but again, the teacher was from Leeds so I don't know if this was national.

 

The school scenes were filmed at St Helens primary school Monk Bretton.

 

They study it at the school where I work now.

 

School I went to was like being in a scene from the film most days.
It was only a couple of years after the book was published.

 

Watched it. Going to slit my throat now.

 

What statue is this

 

Fantastic piece of art work, perfect tribute to the book, film, people and town.

Pity they got a racist to help Dai unveil it though.

 

That was my old secondary school - few of our teachers were in the film.

 

I recognised a couple who ended up transferring to Broadway. I presume there was some system where if you did well at a Secondary Modern you could move up to Grammar School level.

 

My grandfather doesn't know what to feel whenever A Kestrel for a Knave/Kes is brought up. He has late-stage dementia now, but to this day he is absolutely adamant it is based on him. When he was a teenager in the sixties, he started an apprenticeship working for his father (Herbert Hepworth) who ran the Hepworth garage and recovery business, which had garages all over Barnsley. He rescued a kestrel that had been attacked by an animal, and taught it to perform all sorts of tricks for food. He really tamed it. He could call it and it would fly to his arm.

Barry Hines was a regular at the garage, and started quizzing him on every visit when the kestrel was present. He would ask questions, take notes, ask more questions. The only thing that upset my grandfather was that Barry never said he was writing a story, and then when it was released he suddenly stopped visiting. It stung him a bit.

I passed it off as dementia tales for a while, but many details have since been confirmed by third parties, so now I'm wishing I'd contacted Barry a few years ago to ask him if he remembered my grandad.

 

I'll respectfully disagree with your disagreement.

I understand your point and it's probably going to get more exposure being in the centre of Barnsley however I don't consider Hoyland and Hoyland Common "the suburbs". They aren't even part of Barnsley in true sense as they only became part of Barnsley MBC in 1974 (which ironically is after the creation of the work which he is most noted for).

Hoyland is it's own place and since this is statue to Barry Hines and not the film 'Kes' then I suggest the correct home should be the place that he is most closely associated with, the place that shaped his work and the place where he returned to live before dying and that to me would be Hoyland Common.

I could play devils advocate and state that Barry Hines has equally close ties with Sheffield (he was educated there, taught there and 'shock horror' was even a season ticket for one of the clubs there). If we're going with the argument of where it would get more exposure then you could argue that it should be there. I'm only the son of Hoylander and someone who spent 6 years living on the Common before moving away so it's interesting that none of the other board members with closer ties to Hoyland have expressed this.

Having said all that, and I realise that I'm essentially splitting hairs, I do agree with your final sentence. It is a great tribute and it's great for the town and it's great that Barry Hines can be remembered and celebrated in the local area. This should be commended and well done to all those who created this fitting memorial.

I'm looking forward to visiting it on my way to the game today.

 

Heppy’s garage at Stairfoot, there’s a blast from the past. Was in the same year as their son Andrew, He used to drive around the yard in an old car and sometimes we’d go down and ride around with him

 

Good reposte.

 

He also wrote a book called the "Blinder" about an up and coming young footballer, that's a great read too. Then theres "The price of coal" BBC dramatised it. Well worth a watch.

 

This is worth a watch,

 

well worth a read,