retiredmartin

September 2023. Doncaster.

The bus passing the Horse & Groom said “Sorry – full”, even though it clearly wasn’t. The driver said

“Gonna be a millions school kids on here in a minute mate, I’d wait for the next one”.

Now, if life has taught me anything, it’s “never wait for the next one“.

Well, there weren’t a million schoolchildren joining at Sandringham and Our Lady of St Carmel, so I reckon our driver just doesn’t like children. The worst thing about the 20 minute trip was one a lad’s splodgy (?) ball that kept rolling up and down the aisle.

I got out at the town museum.

Doncaster has some great art, including this giant mural, one of the largest in the UK, which US Dave sent me an interesting piece about.

The mural reflects on the town’s mining and railway history, beautifully explored in the Danum Centre.

A lot of northern towns built impressive social history museums 25 years ago with Millennium (lottery) money, and Donny was one of the best, but the Danum is brand new, free and quite brilliant.

A floor of trains, a floor of local art and a floor of the history of the town (with a theme around Windrush at the moment) through the centuries.

You’ve seen the format; fossils, war, industry, shop fronts, sporting memorabilia, mildly sexist adverts, uniforms for school children to put on.

Not a lot for the pub enthusiast, bar this,

and an invitation to settle once and for all the eternal debate.

After an hour of culture, it was time for more cask.