Projects
Denaby Main Forum has supported several groups and organisations in arranging a number of events in Denaby Main and the surrounding area.
Our work with The Conisbrough and Denaby Main and Dearne Festival Group includes the organisation and design of the 'Peace Plaque' dedicated to 'Those who gave us peace' which can be seen in All Saints Church and Miners Chapel.
Heritage Open Days:
Denaby Main Forum has been instrumental in the development of a Heritage Open Day, which has become an annual event involving local venues and sites and places in Doncaster.
Parades have taken place in Denaby and Conisbrough on 'Remembrance Day' and on the anniversary of the battle of at Ksar Rhilane (the Miners Battle) fought on the 10th of March 1943.
The restoration of the Holy Well site at Conisbrough is part of the Forums aim to develop a tourism strategy for the area. The Holy Well site commemorates a local pacifist who suffered for his faith and his principles. It is also a site of local historical interest and importance with connections to a historical milestone.
Groups and individuals have been helped in producing leaflets and books they have compiled including, 'An Australian Journey' a local mans account of a trip to Australia taking in the wine region of the Barrosa Valley and the England v Australia Cricket Test Series.
Mexborough Quills, a local writers group, produced a book of reminiscences of the life of miners and their families. John Gwatkin raised £300.00 for the Blue Bell Wood Children's Hospice appeal from his collection of Mining Poems.
Two musical events that Denaby Main Forum helped organise in partnership with CDDT, Local Schools and DARTS featured two local historical events based on 'The Bag Muck Strike' of 1902/03 and 'Strike'. On completion of these events a CD and DVD was produced.
The commemoration of Reverend Jesse Wilson's role in helping the miners during the Bag Muck Strike of 1902-03 was held in January 2005 and the Lord Lieutenant of South Yorkshire, Mr. David Moody planted an oak tree in recognition of this mans help.
Rachel Home a local art student, currently at university, asked the Denaby Main Forum to help with the development of a project to commemorate the lives of local men who died in the pits. The project was to be called 'Out of Darkness'. Rachel completed the project in May 2006 which was a highly successful event and regarded as the event of the year, as part of a pilot project involving Junior, Infant and Special Schools and running from September 2005 to July 2006.
Denaby Main Forum successfully applied for funding to hold a series of Dance Festivals for schools in Edlington, Conisbrough, Denaby and Mexborough. This project was to run in partnership with the DMBC Active Recreation Unit.
The Jim McFarland Trust provided funding to organise a 'Make, Bake and Icing Course' for the residents of Denaby Main and this proved to be a popular course and ran for ten sessions over ten weeks. Many of the participants had only scant experience at the icing stage and were highly pleased to take away their very own iced Easter Cake at the end of the course.
The Denaby Main Forum Training and Enterprise Centre took advantage of funding from CEN Single Community Programme to bring the centre in to line with cutting edge technology with the acquisition of two interactive white boards for use in the training room and meeting room.