Sheffield Daily Telegraph – Monday 21 July 1919

Don and Dearne Districts – Peace Day

The townships of the Don and Dearne districts were aflame with colour and loyalty on Saturday. Almost everywhere the peace celebrations were marked by great heartiness and right good will.

The most considerable of the organised carnivals was that at Wombwell, where a very large procession embodying every feature of the public life of the town, and headed by the Wombwell Town Band, took place.

The public and private decorations in this district and in the neighbouring district of Low Valley and Darfield, were most lavish. There was tea, followed sports in a field near the railway station.

Festivities on something like the same scale were conducted at Wath and Thurnscoe, under the leadership of the Council. At Wath, after the processions and the teas the rendezvous was the beautiful Town Hall grounds. At Thurnscoe everybody foregathered in the cricket field. The procession at Thurnscoe was a particularly fine spectacle. At Thurnscoe, too, over five hundred old people and widows sat down to tea in St. Helen’s School. The chairman of the Thurnscoe Council (Mr. M. L. Nokes) was in general charge of the festivities.

Swinton’s celebrations were mainly confined to the children on Saturday, though the ex-service men, the widows, and the old people are being feted to-day. There was a good deal of individual initiative at Swinton, and some of the private decorations were among the finest be seen in the district.

At Mexborough there were no celebrations, these being postponed until to-day because the cricket field was not available on Saturday. The town was, however, gaily beflagged.

There was practically nothing doing at Denaby Main, and the people there were very indignant with the authorities for their apparent neglect and indifference. At Conisborough, too, public leadership was lacking, but the teachers and private individuals took the matter in hand. The children were given tea and sports; there were illuminations, fireworks, and decorations, and in the evening a huge bonfire on the Cadeby pit bank defied the deluge.