Aroundtown Magazine May June 2023 edition

MEETS
Planting a tree in 1975 for colliery’s centenary
With John Healey MP outside Parliament
Cynthia’s biggest influence
“
has to be the campaigning
she has done as chair of the
A6135 Accident Reduction
Group. Cynthia’s back garden
overlooks the road that leads
from Chapeltown to Hoyland
which is England’s second
most high-risk route.
”
about everything from TV license or speeding
fines to those involving children and animal
cruelty and was known for standing up for the
rights of victims.
“I don’t purport to sit in judgement – who am
I? But it is the law of the land and someone has
to do it. I enjoyed it in a way as I felt instrumental
in promoting a law-abiding community. I always
tried to impress upon defendants that there was a
victim of their crime.”
Cynthia also became a public governor at
Rotherham Hospital where she launched the
governors’ surgeries in 2014 – something that is
still in place today to gain feedback from visitors
to the hospital. She gave up the role to care for
her husband Barry who sadly passed away four
years ago.
She is also chairman of the patient
participation group at Walderslade GP practice
in Hoyland where she led a petition in 2017 for
double yellow lines outside the surgery after
seeing a young man in a wheelchair be forced
onto the road due to cars mounted on the
pavement.
But her biggest influence has to be the
campaigning she has done as chair of the
Public Governor Rotherham Hospital
6 aroundtownmagazine.co.uk
A6135 Accident Reduction Group. Cynthia’s
back garden overlooks the road that leads from
Chapeltown to Hoyland which is England’s
second most high-risk route. She has collated
an extensive catalogue of every incident that has
occurred since she moved there in the 1970s,
with 15 fatalities and endless accidents on that
one stretch of road.
A fatal crash in 2008 involving three teenagers
led to safety measures finally being installed two
years later.
Cynthia wrote to the coroner to say it was
high time something was done. She was invited
to give evidence at the inquest, detailing how a
similar accident had happened in 1995 involving
another three young people. The coroner made
a number of recommendations under Rule 43 of
the Coroner’s Rules to prevent further deaths.
A large tree was felled, and foliage was
removed to improve visibility on the Hood Hill
bend. A crash barrier was added, along with
bollards and new road markings. There have
been no fatalities since these measures were
put in place 13 years ago. In recognition of her
efforts, Cynthia was invited by her MP, John
Healey, to a community heroes reception at
Parliament where she also met with the then
Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.
Since 2012 Cynthia has been a trustee of the
Wentworth Charity, which supports residents in
the village, and has also been a parish councillor
for Harley since 2017.
“The work never stops. I once had a
phone call at 9.30 at night telling me I need to
do something about the horse muck on the
pavement. Well, I was in my nightie so I said shall
I come out with a shovel, love?”
Over the last six years, she has fought to save
Harley Mission Rooms from shutting, raising
over £150,000 to secure the future of the 1887
building.
She had us doubled up with laughter as
she told us a tale about how she secured
£14,000 from the Yorkshire North and East
Ridings Freemasons and, in gratitude, kissed
the grandmaster during their AGM at Harrogate.
“There was utter silence. It’s never been done
before or since.”
She also received a grant from London-based
livery company, The Weavers, after persuading
them to reassess their stance of not supporting
projects up north.
Visiting Downing Street 2010
“The Mission Rooms are vital to the village.
We’ve only got one pub and not everyone wants
to go in there every day. So, I was determined
to ensure it wouldn’t close. It’s a lot of money
to raise for an old woman and I’ve never done
anything like it before. I once raised £400 to buy
wheelchairs for injured miners in the late Eighties
but nothing compared to the scale needed for the
Mission Rooms.”
The money was used to renovate the building,
with new windows, a new kitchen area, and a new
heating and air conditioning system. A roller door
has also been added to section off the religious
area of the building so that the venue can be
dual purpose for Sunday religious services and
daily community activities. It is now available to
hire for concerts, parties and community groups,
bringing in extra revenue to sustain the building.
In between her busy schedule, Cynthia will
have to find time to attend the investiture when
she formally receives her MBE.
“I’m not sure what will happen yet or when,
but I am told it will be after the Coronation and
all probability is that it will be King Charles
presenting the awards at either Buckingham
Palace or Windsor Castle as these are his first
New Year Honours as monarch.”
Once a date is confirmed, Cynthia hopes
to take her son, Kelvin and two grownup
grandsons, Thomas and Samuel, to
the ceremony.