South Yorkshire Times – Saturday 03 January 1942
Annual Review
During the year just closed. Darfield people have carried on patriotically. The miners have worked hard, and the women’s services, with special mention of the W.V.S., have put forth all their energies.
In the early part of the year the oldest inhabitant, Mr. J. Brooke, died aged 91.
Mr. G. A. Pearson, a Darfield native, was appointed headmaster of Westfield Lane Modern School. South ElmsaII.
Mr. William Edwin Buckley, of Oak Lea, Saltersbrook Road, Darfield, was appointed manager of the Coke Oven and By-Product Works in succession to Mr. E. J. Maskell.
Owing to heavy snow some farmers harnessed horses to drays and fought their way through embankments of snow and ice to deliver milk.
In January news reached the district that Seaman Harold Dronfield, of West Street, had been killed.
In February Darfield Conservative Club finished raising £2,000 for national savings in less than a year.
The following month extensive flooding occurred, especially in the Darfield Bridge area.
Youth Movements of Darfield and Great Houghton were launched.
Mrs. E. Wilson, aged 63, of North Street, an old Darfield resident, was found drowned in the flooded waters of the Dearne, after being missing for some weeks.
A promising career was brought to an untimely end when Cpl. Jack Caswell, B.A., son of Mr. J. Caswell and the late Mrs. Caswell, of Snape Hill, was killed by enemy action.
The same month we learned of the death of a Darfield sailor, Frank Purple, of Hill Street, killed In an air raid.
The Darfield Foulstone Modem Senior School was opened after the Easter holiday, with Mr. A. R. Martin, of Mexborough, as head.
Mr. Edgar Blackwell, former well known Low Valle resident, was killed in a mine accident in America.
Mr. and Mrs. William Swain, of Saltersbrook Road, celebrated their golden wedding.
News reached the district in May of the death of the Rev. S. Avill, a former Darfield student, who went out to Trinidad on missionary work.
Iris Lenton (5), of New Street, was drowned in the Dearne.
Eileen Woodcock, of Millhouses, who rescued two children at the time of the tragedy, was later at Wath Grammar School, awarded a medal for bravery.
Evan Jones (64), a farm hand, of Edderthorpe, was found drowned.
A piece of masonry engraved ” Darfield 1173,” was discovered during repair to a wall in the Council yard.
Dar-field raised £73,531 for War Weapons Week.
Sergt. Edward Law, of Snape Hill, was reported to be a prisoner of war.
The first batch of evacuees arrived in the district in September.
In the same month Mr. Edric Sharpe, of Tempest Avenue, was appointed under-manager at Monk Fryston Colliery.
In October Mr. Christopher J. M. Staniforth, of Doncaster Road, was presented with gifts by Darfield Property Owners’ Association, when he resigned the secretaryship.
In the closing stages of the year news reached the district that Petty Officer G. H. Dove, of New Street, must be presumed dead.
The total of £43 3s. raised by the sale of Flanders poppies constituted a record.
Mr. and Mrs. D. Baxter, of Barnsley Road, celebrated their Golden Wedding.
The closing stages of the year saw the retirement of and presentations to Mr. P. W. Clayton, head of Darfield Council School. He is to be succeeded in the New Year by Mr. K. Kilner, Barnsley, a brother of the late Mr. Roy Kilner.
During the year we have reported the deaths among others of the following: J. Brooke (91), Emma Whitham (79), Elizabeth Bytheway (76), Mary Ann Mullany (67), Harry Crossley (71). Ada Button (67), James Rodgers (80), Eliza Millington (66), E. Brown (65), Fred Howdle (68), William Henry Jackson (74), Anna Frances Laws (70), Mary Hannah Shaw (79), Jane E. Gladman (69), George Bissett (65), Mary Johnson (70), Margaret I. Campbell (69), John Heckingbottom (67), W. Penaluna (65). Annie Tate (68), John Goodair (69), George William Rushforth (71), James Rawlinson (nearly 65), James Dinning (82).