As someone born and brought up in Hoyland, it felt slightly weird to hear it mentioned so many times. Then Kirk Balk, my old school. Then some bloke talking about Ronnie Hallam, my old teacher. Surreal.
Watched it last night on catch up. Very interesting. I didn’t know that Barry also wrote Threads and The Price of Coal. Excellent both. Nice to hear my old schoolmate Ian McMillan’s voice.
Just watched this, a really good documentary. Still made me cry when they showed him looking in the bin and finding Kes.
I've only just watched this on iPlayer, what a brilliant bit of work, Greg Davies made a really good job of it. Whilst the film was from my parent's era, it's hard not to get sentimental about our area, there is a beauty to it, and still some lingering links to the past heavy industry and mining, the change in the horizon and the absence of winding gear stands out a mile. All captured in a novel and film that carries our town far and wide. I also feel our accent is generally warmly accepted by those from out of the area, there's a welcoming and honest tone to it. I've had to laugh too, my son has returned home from Med School in Birmingham for Christmas, and has proudly announced that his pet name among the lecturers and fellow students is "Dr Kes". There's already a Casper on the course. Love it.
Funny that because the one thing that people seem to know about my daughter at uni is that she's from Barnsley!
Just been emailing my Mum, as I told her to watch it. She loved it. Brian Glover was a mate of my Dad's & they wrestled together professionally, they grew up in Mapplewell. Kes is everything that is good & bad about Barnsley in a nutshell, but mostly good. By that I mean the people, put down by the machine, BUT rising above it. I couldn't think of a better person than Greg Davies to present it. Credit to the BBC for this one.
I have a bunch of mates in Liverpool. I was sat in the Kop with them when we won in the premier league at Anfield. They don't call me Mark, they call me "Barnsley". So many things since the Brexit debacle have made me sad about the town, but I'm still Barnsley. I can't speak for anyone else, but your roots are your roots.