LOCAL filmmaker and historian Dave Cherry has teamed up with Barnsley College to commemorate George Orwell’s stay in the town.
Orwell, who visited the town in 1936, will see his legacy marked in Barnsley later today when a blue plaque is unveiled in his memory.
Dave Cherry is well known for his filmmaking across the town, and he’s previously raised more than £24,000 for Barnsley Hospice by teaming up with the college.
He’s now gearing up for another joint project - this time on Orwell’s visit to the town.
He told the Chronicle: “I have been asked by Darrell Ford from the Barnsley College media film unit to help with making a film about the author George Orwell’s visit to Barnsley in 1936.
“We intend to film in the NUM building on Friday as well as using archive film.
“I am particularly interested in Orwell’s stay here.
“It was just before he fought for the Republic side in the Spanish Civil War and he visited the public hall here at a 700-strong rally to hear the fascist Oswald Mosley.
“Strange to say he admired his speech but said ‘it was the usual claptrap’ .
“Orwell visited the Chronicle offices and also castigated the council for spending £150,000 on a new town hall when 70,000 houses didn’t have an inside bath.
“The editor of the local paper ‘responded in a highly indignant fashion’.”
