Barnsley Museums & Heritage Trust - 2025: A Year In Review

As we look ahead to what 2026 has to offer, Gillian Thorpe from Barnsley Museums & Heritage Trust re-caps 2025

2025 was a very exciting year for Barnsley Museums and Heritage Trust as it was the year we celebrated our 10^th anniversary, and an event was held at Barnsley College to celebrate this milestone.

A group of ten individuals standing together in front of illuminated letters that spell 'BRIGHT'. The setting appears to be a modern indoor environment. — Barnsley Museums & Heritage Trust

2025 has been another successful year for the Trust, seeing us help to raise more that £350,000 to help support the fantastic activities of Barnsley Museums.

As ever, we have been generously supported by Charitable Trusts and Foundations who have continued to give their support via grants and donations.

An Awards for All grant from the National Lottery Community Fund has allowed us to support volunteers at Cannon Hall, continuing activities throughout the winter closure period when people often feel lonelier and more isolated.

A young woman and an elderly woman sit together in a cinema, each holding a large bucket of popcorn and smiling at each other. — One of the free film shows at The Parkway Cinema

Similarly, an Historic England Know Your Neighbourhood grant has allowed us to tackle loneliness and isolation through a variety of activities including free film shows, art for wellbeing sessions and living history visits to dementia cafes and care homes.

Two young girls playing at a wooden toy kitchen inside a play area, one smiling at the camera while the other engages with play food items. — Children playing in the Stories of Childhood exhibition at Experience Barnsley Museum

We have been able to refresh and increase the number of toys, including sensory items, and costumes available to community groups and visitors with young children at Experience Barnsley thanks to grants from Tesco Stronger Starts and Cash for Kids. These will help encourage imaginative play and an interest in arts and culture.

Two young boys working together to operate a water tap attached to a stone wall, with one boy holding a watering can and the other observing closely. — The Open Doors Group at Worsbrough Mill

Funding from the Asda Foundation provided tools and materials for the Opening Doors group of young volunteers at Worsbrough Mill and Country Park, who have been able to extend their conservation activities and planting as a result.

Creative Minds have offered continued support to activities which help those in the community who may be struggling with mental health issues and have this year funded activities for the Next Big thing group of young people and Mindful Connections groups of older people.

Funding has also helped us to carry out conservation and we are grateful to the Leche Trust for their help which means that a portrait of Barbara Stanhope will be displayed in and exhibition at Cannon Hall later this year, and to the Shawlands Trust whose support will mean that 28 Balakjian Prints can be framed ahead of an exhibition at the Cooper Gallery. The Shawlands Trust has also funded creative activities to run alongside the print exhibition.

We have also recently secured a grant from the Co-Op Local Community Fund which will allow us to create accessible signage at Elsecar. If you are a Co-Op member, please consider selecting us as your cause, as this will increase the amount of funding we will receive.

A vibrant landscape painting featuring a pond surrounded by lush greenery and foliage, with a mix of blue and green hues.

A monochrome portrait of a gentleman standing outdoors, dressed in 19th-century formal attire with a coat and waistcoat, holding a cane, with a hilly landscape in the background.

We have been able to add several items to the museum collection, including a contemporary painting of Elsecar on display in the refurbished visitor centre there, a print depicting Joseph Locke, a gold golf pin made by the Barnsley jeweller, Samuel Krakauer and an original 1980’s tour poster for the Barnsley based rock band, Saxon.

A framed painting of a pastoral scene featuring greenery and figures, displayed on a decorative wall.

Conservation of items in the collection has also continued with two newly conserved paintings on display at Cannon Hall – a painting of Cawthorne Church and Departure for the Chase by Schellinks.

A longbow displayed underneath a framed painting in a gallery. The longbow is encased in glass on a shelf, with a descriptive plaque to the left and a poster on the right.

We have also provided a display case to allow visitors to better view Little John’s bow on display there. Elsewhere, we have arranged for a condition survey on paintings in the Cooper collection, plus conserved some items of decorative plasterwork which were discovered during an archaeological dig at Woodhead Hall Farm on Blacker Hill.

A large group of children and adults stands in front of a historic stone building, all smiling and waving their hands in the air. — Barugh Green Primary School at Cannon Hall

A young boy smiling while pushing a wheelbarrow filled with leaves in a grassy park during autumn cleanup. Other children and adults are visible in the background. — Barugh Green Primary School at Cannon Hall

Funding has also been made available to continue the brilliant work of Fusion, Barnsley’s Local Cultural Education partnership. This has allowed local primary schools to continue with the Artsmark Awards programme which helps to embed creativity in the school curriculum. We were also able to host another fantastic school takeover day at Cannon Hall, where pupils from Barugh Green Primary School oversaw operations at the museum for the day.

We have also been able to provide puddle suits and wellington boots for use by children visiting Worsbrough Mill, as well as some furniture for the education room there.

Three individuals standing in front of a large wooden bookshelf filled with various books, wearing gloves and name tags. — Volunteers at Cannon Hall Museum

With the help of the amazing volunteers at Cannon Hall, we have also helped to reopen the bookshop there which continues to raise funds for the site. We also manage the Celebration Tree in the walled garden where you can remember loved ones and happy times.

It’s been another amazing year for the Trust, and we get involved in such a wide variety of activity that there is never a dull moment. Of course, we could not do any of this without the many wonderful people we encounter – our trustees who help to oversee and champion the Trust, the many organisations who support us, our colleagues in the Museum Service, the volunteers and our fabulous donors and supporters.

If you would like to find out more about what we do, or to donate, please visit our website

Have you read our recent blogs?