Barnsley health centre showcases local photography
A new NHS health centre is looking picture perfect after a local photographic society helped brighten up the building with their Barnsley snaps.
South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust officially opened Barnsley New Street Health Centre in December 2015, as part of its commitment to making sure residents have access to community healthcare facilities in a central location.
To reflect Barnsley’s history and heritage, the group contacted the local Barnsley Photographic Society to see if they could help to fill a number of wooden frames the child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) participation group bought using funding from the Trust’s Creative Minds initiative.
Creative Minds is an award-winning strategy that co-funds creative projects across South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust’s localities in Barnsley, Calderdale, Kirklees, Wakefield, and in the Trust’s forensic services.
The group were delighted when Roy Lloyd, vice president of the society, offered them a number of photographs of Barnsley which were previously displayed in the Cooper Gallery as part of the society’s 90th anniversary.
Play therapist Lesley White said: “The building was lovely, clean, and tidy, but felt like quite a blank canvas. We wanted to personalise our consulting rooms with some photographs unique to our area.
“Photographic societies exist in most town and cities and many have collections of photographs looking for somewhere to be displayed. We were so pleased when the Barnsley Photographic Society said they could help us, and the photographs Roy brought for us are truly brilliant.
“They show scenes in and around Barnsley, and our visitors at the New Street Health Centre say they not only add character to the building, they also bring the unseen beauty of Barnsley inside for us to see. Many of the pictures start discussions about where they were taken, how to get there, and what used to be there. We can’t thank Roy and the Barnsley Photographic Society enough for the help they have given.”
Roy also donated a camera to the group to enable them to take their own photos of the region.
£1.7m was invested in New Street Health Centre, which now boasts a larger reception area for child and adolescent mental health services and therapy rooms for one to one support.
Services based in the centre include paediatric services, audiology services, children’s physiotherapy services and health visiting services.
To find out more about the Trust, visit www.southwestyorkshire.nhs.uk, and for more on Barnsley Photographic Society, visit www.barnsleyphotographicsociety.org.uk.