Miners' welfare hall renamed 'without council's knowledge'

Residents objected to the name change at a parish council meeting on Wednesday

The name of a miners' welfare hall has been changed on the Post Office's register of addresses despite objections from villagers and without the go-ahead from councillors.

The Great Houghton Miners' Welfare Hall, near Barnsley, now appears as the "Dorothy Higginbottom Miners’ Welfare Hall" on the Post Office website.

Residents had opposed the proposed name change at a parish council meeting last week.

Parish councillors said the change had been made without their knowledge and that an extraordinary meeting would take place next week to discuss the issue.

The hall was established in the 1920s and given to Great Houghton Parish Council by local pit workers when they could no longer financially support it.

'Emotional value'

The council had proposed to rename it in tribute to long-serving councillor Dorothy Higginbottom, who died aged 81 in 2022, the Local Democracy Service (LDRS) reports.

However, residents argued that the building's original name as the Miners' Welfare Hall held "significant historical and emotional value".

They instead suggested naming a garden after Mrs Higginbottom, who was given an MBE for her public and voluntary service.

However, Dorothy Coates, who is Dorothy Higginbottom’s daughter and chair of the parish council, told the LDRS that the hall's name was changed with the Post Office without the authority's knowledge.

The council was "as shocked as everyone else", she added.

“At the parish council meeting on 22 May, all parish council members conducted our meeting without any knowledge that the listing of the Miners’ Welfare Hall on the Post Office website had been changed," she said.

"Of course, this would upset people. This includes the parish council who were clearly entitled to this information and have been as shocked as everyone else by the revelation."

Ms Coates added that the Post Office listing was "not set in stone".

The Miners' Welfare Hall in Great Houghton was originally set up in the 1920s

Councillors had subsequently been subjected to "shameful and upsetting" attacks on Facebook which had led to a number of resignations, according to Ms Coates.

“The parish council simply want to pay a fitting tribute to the hard work and dedication of my mother," she said.

"She tirelessly gave 60 years plus over volunteering for Miners’ Welfare Hall, Great Houghton, surrounding villages and South Yorkshire.

“They have a right to do that, and it never entailed removing the original tribute to the miners."

Ms Coates stressed she had not asked for a tribute and had not played any part in the proposal, seconding or voting.

Any plans or decisions would be finalised at an extraordinary meeting of the parish council next week, she added.

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