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Around Town Meets...
Lord Mason of Barnsley
By Brian Elliott
 Photographs of world leaders, members of the royal family, original political cartoons reaching back to the Harold Wilson and Jim Callaghan era and of course images of past and present Yorkshire celebrities are among a dazzling range of items presented to and collected by one of Barnsley’s most well-known public figures: Lord Mason of Barnsley.
The bulk of the Mason papers are now in secure storage and in the care of Barnsley Archives and Local Studies Library. However, anyone making a visit to Cawthorne’s delightful Victorian village museum can see a grand public display of Mason memorabilia ranging from red ministerial boxes and pit boots to commemorative swords and a genuine bullet-proof vest.
A book celebrating his life and times - from pitlad to peer - will be published by Wharncliffe Books of Barnsley in 2007.
I met Lord Mason for the first time almost twenty years ago when he was kind enough to write the Foreword for my book The Making of Barnsley. Roy had recently retired from mainstream politics, having been created a life peer, after a thirty-four year distinguished political career which began when, aged 29, he was elected as Member of Parliament for Barnsley in 1953.
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 Roy Mason was born in a terraced house in Royston in 1924 where his parents, Joseph (who had walked from Staffordshire to find pit work at Monckton Colliery) and Mary were in lodgings. The Masons moved to ‘Long Row’, Carlton, in close proximity to Wharncliffe Woodmoor 4 & 5 colliery where Roy started work at the age of fourteen. He worked at the pit throughout the war years, as a fitter or maintenance man, at a time when Bevin Boys were introduced, experienced several accidents and obtained his deputy’s ticket.
Soon developing a passion for the welfare of his fellow workers, Roy served as an NUM branch official, 1947-53.
In the Harold Wilson government of 1964-70 Roy Mason was junior minister for shipping, defence equipment, and power. He was also appointed as Postmaster General, reaching the cabinet as Defence Secretary in 1969-70. Jim Callaghan appointed him to one of the most challenging jobs in government: Secretary of State for Northern Ireland,
in 1975. Serving through a turbulent four years, he is generally regarded as one of the most able and respected holders of the post. Targeted by the terrorists, the title of his autobiography, Paying the Price (1999), reflects the long term security consequences of his most senior role in government.
At the age of 82 Lord Mason continues to lead a very active and busy life, working at the House of Lords whenever it is in session, usually accompanied with his wife, Marjorie. When I met him recently, shortly after Barnsley Football Club’s victory over Swansea in the League One play-off final, it was the unsung aspects of his recent life and work that I wanted him to talk about.
A trawl through the official sessional reports of Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) shows that Lord Mason of Barnsley has been a frequent contributor to debates ever since his introduction to the Lords - by Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos and Lord Wilson of Rievaulx - on 3 November 1987.
 The range of his speeches and the parliamentary questions tabled is enormous. There are items relating to Atlantic salmon, North Sea fishing, marine conservation, animal rights, the Energy White Paper, clean coal technology, nuclear power, miners’ compensation, pit closures, unemployment, Training and Enterprise Councils, Objective 1 status, identity cards, defence issues, Northern Ireland, shipbuilding, professional football, weights and measures, smoking, motorways, museums, and health - and many others too!
Since ‘retirement’ Lord Mason has been involved in a variety of local and national campaigns and initiatives, in fact enough easily to fill this entire article.
It was very interesting to hear about his successful campaign in respect of the Bevin Boys. For years a decreasing number of these men who were conscripted into the mines during the Second World War were unable to have the right to march by the Cenotaph in London on Remembrance Sunday. The Bevin Boys Association requested the help of Lord Mason who began a concerted campaign to gain recognition, including securing the support of the Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Lewin whose ADC happened to be an ex-Bevin Boy. Despite considerable obstacles, refusals and a great deal of red tape the approval of the Home Secretary, Jack Straw, for the men to march, was given. This was a considerable achievement and one that many others might well have abandoned. A local initiative, a Bevin Boys parade in Barnsley, set the ball rolling on 9 November 1997, followed by the first Cenotaph march, with borrowed miner’s helmets, on Remembrance Sunday, 1998.
 Lord Mason also told me how he started the fly-fishers group in the House of Commons more than thirty years ago, dedicated to raising money for disabled anglers and those manning the ‘wheelie [wheelchair] boats.
He would often recruit celebrities such as Chris Tarrant, Geoffrey Palmer and Bernard Cribbins to assist the fund raising.
Yet another charitable initiative was getting sponsorship for a monthly free film show at Barnsley’s Odeon Cinema for pensioners and the disabled. This was a unique activity, not available anywhere else in the country and ran for over thirty years.
A lifelong Barnsley FC supporter, Lord Mason, until very recently, organised and sponsored an annual letter writing competition based on a topical question published in the Oakwell club programme. The winner was presented with a cheque on the pitch, on match day.
Over twelve years Lord Mason has undertook voluntary work as Chair of Prince Charles’s Youth Business Trust in South Yorkshire, helping young people living in former coalfield communities to set up in business. He is also proud of his association with the Barnsley Business and Innovation Centre, assisting young entrepreneurs to develop new hi-tech businesses. This he regards as the jewel of the crown of Barnsley, rising ‘like a phoenix from the ashes following pit closures and job losses’.
I asked Lord Mason how he felt about the recent watering down of tradition in the Lords and elsewhere. He said that this was regretful as he was a firm believer in custom and tradition, citing the proud years he had as Secretary for Defence, when parades and special occasions at home and abroad were so important to all concerned. Nowadays it only takes two or three minutes for a new peer to be introduced, compared with the ceremonial occasion lasting nearer fifteen minutes that formerly existed because it was steeped in custom and tradition. Lord Mason always takes great care to enter the Lord’s chamber in time for prayers at 2.20 in the afternoon when the Lord Chancellor arrives.
Afterwards peers flood into the House, perhaps as many as 400, for the start of Question Time which is always limited to a thirty minute time span. Debates of the Day then begin. It is rare for Roy to leave the Lords before seven in the evening, so days can be long.
Some people may feel that the House of Lords is an outdated and unnecessary institution in this day and age but Lord Mason, as many others do, feel that it is a very civilised debating chamber - far more so than the Commons! This, he believes, is due to the wealth of experience, knowledge - and wisdom now present. The best speakers? We’ll, he immediately cites Jeff Rooker (the former Birmingham Perry Bar Labour MP) who is the Minister of State for Sustainable Farming and Food in the Department of Environment, Food and Rural affairs, because of his superb delivery at the dispatch box, always enjoyable to hear; also Baroness Trumpington (Jean Barker, who, at 69, was the oldest women minister ever appointed, in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, 1989-92) of Sandwich (Kent), guaranteed to be witty and entertaining; and the former Tory Minister and ally of Margaret Thatcher, Baron (Norman) Tebbit.
Lord Mason has had contact with all modern Prime Ministers, from Attlee and Churchhill to Thatcher and Blair. When he was a young, green MP Clement Attlee summoned Mason to his office much to his concern, whereupon two pieces of advice: first, specialise and second, keep out of the bar. This was followed by a brisk ‘Good Morning’. Again, new to the House, aged 30, he had bravely put his name forward to speak in a debate and was summoned to do so - just after Winston Churchhill had made what was to be his large major Commons speech. Despite understandable nerves, the young Barnsley lad did very well, and I dare say got noticed in the process. It was an occasion that Lord Mason says he will never forget, as was his maiden Lords speech more than three decades later. He was then able to to talk with both pride and authority about his home town and what life was like as a coal miner.
Just when he had packed his bags, ready to travel to the United States Roy received a telephone call from Downing Street. It was Jim Callaghan.
A cabinet shuffle and the Northern Ireland Ministry in the offing. Take it or leave it within an hour was the choice he was asked to make. Roy insisted on talking to Madge, his wife, first, and then told Jim that he would catch a train to see him. It must have been a very thoughtful journey on the train to Kings Cross and the rest, as they say, is history.
As he approaches his 20th year in the Lords - and over 53 years as an active parliamentarian - Lord Mason’s interest in local, regional and national matters continues unabated. When, for example, he was recently informed about a new funding bid to create a new Barnsley Heritage centre he was quick to offer his support to what is now called the Experience Barnsley project. He has never forgotten his home town and no doubt will be supporting the promoted Reds in their championship league season.
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