# Durham Miners Gala Sat 12th July



## The Black Hand (Jun 4, 2008)

I am going to be at this one with a stall, as I have been for the past 5 years or so.

Well some of you folks will have been to past ones, but this one is going to be the biggest for some time. Approx 50k went last year to see the 60 plus miners banners (more added every year currently) and brass bands, and this year the Gala subject is racism and the Chairman of Sunderland AFC will be talking, Niall Quinn, as well as other Labour movement figures.

You can march with the banners from 9am, drink beer and watch as the bands play at the County hotel, go to the great Durham Cathedral for the Miners service in the afternoon and so on...

There is a fun fair for the kids on open grassland, there is a large tea tent for those who like a sit down for a cuppa char, other food and drink, many local pubs (inc. the Colpitts which sells a pint of Sam Smiths for £1.28!), trader stalls, music/bands, Union tents and so on. All in all a good day out, and a good place to advertise the 2nd annual Working Class Bookfair in Durham this November 15th.


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## Citizen66 (Jun 14, 2012)

No heads up this year?


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## krink (Jun 14, 2012)

Millibean says he's defintely, _definitely_ going to attend and speak.

So he'll not be turning up then!

I'll be going as long as it's not pissing down like last year. Very odd weather - got sunburn and soaked to the skin in the same day.


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## Smokeandsteam (Jun 17, 2012)

I'm planning to go to this for the first time. Im also staying over on Saturday night to have a look around the city.

Any advice on where to stay? What to do etc?


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## Citizen66 (Jun 19, 2012)

If you're in Durham and like museums go to Beamish.

http://www.beamish.org.uk/


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## The Black Hand (Jun 25, 2012)

We've got stalls booked and I passed on details to no less than 3 people/groups interested in a stall at the Durham Miners Gala at the Sheffield Anarchist bookfair at the weekend. Here are the facebook pages for the Gala this year;
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Durham-Miners-Gala-July-14th-2012/178008108959169
https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/445337982149557/

Ed Miliband - will he or won't he? Perhaps he'll call our cynicisms bluff this year? We'll see. He has definately committed to attending/speaking this year though, not 1 letter, but 2...

Efforts are also underway to get a Spanish Miner to speak about the latest struggle in Spain.

The Gala remains the largest working class/left event in the country with over 100000 expected to attend, the march takes ours though central Durham, and this year, as it does 1 in every 7, it clashes with the Tolpuddle festival too.


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## Spanky Longhorn (Jun 25, 2012)

Smokeandsteam said:


> I'm planning to go to this for the first time. Im also staying over on Saturday night to have a look around the city.
> 
> Any advice on where to stay? What to do etc?


 
Make sure you check out the People's Bookshop next to Waterstones http://peoplesbookshop.co.uk/

Also the castle and cathedral are cool, and the Durham Miners Association building, if you get there in the morning you might see it open.

And another vote for Beamish from me.


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## krink (Jun 25, 2012)

Smokeandsteam said:


> I'm planning to go to this for the first time. Im also staying over on Saturday night to have a look around the city.
> 
> Any advice on where to stay? What to do etc?


 
and don't turn up on the 12th like the very old post title says, it's on the 14th.


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## Belushi (Jun 25, 2012)

No, but one day I will make the journey from London.


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## The Black Hand (Jun 27, 2012)

krink said:


> and don't turn up on the 12th like the very old post title says, it's on the 14th.


 Thats because somebody bumped the 2008 thread.


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## Citizen66 (Jun 27, 2012)

The Black Hand said:
			
		

> Thats because somebody bumped the 2008 thread.



Because someone hadnt posted a new one.


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## The Black Hand (Jun 29, 2012)

Citizen66 said:


> Because someone hadnt posted a new one.


 There's other local stuff happening that I could post on here but I do not either.
I've lost the enthusiasm to report things diligently here.
I've lost interest in U75 due to its ultra left, such is life.
I do other more productive stuff instead


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## Citizen66 (Jun 29, 2012)

The Black Hand said:


> There's other local stuff happening that I could post on here but I do not either.
> I've lost the enthusiasm to report things diligently here.
> I've lost interest in U75 due to its ultra left, such is life.
> I do other more productive stuff instead



Such as the Sunderland book fair?

What's this ultra left stuff any way? Surely, as an anarchist, you personify ultra left?


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## The Black Hand (Jun 29, 2012)

Citizen66 said:


> Such as the Sunderland book fair?
> 
> What's this ultra left stuff any way? Surely, as an anarchist, you personify ultra left?


 
The Sunderland Bookfair is broad left, and my praxis for years has been broad left and anarchism as part of this broad left. I am not orthodox anarchist ultra left like Af/SF etc and if I was you may shoot me cos i would have given up. Anarchism, when it has been useful such as J18, always goes beyond its ideological ultra left forms.


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## butchersapron (Jun 29, 2012)

What about anti-anti-ultra-leftism?


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## belboid (Jun 29, 2012)

The Black Hand said:


> We've got stalls booked and I passed on details to no less than 3 people/groups interested in a stall at the Durham Miners Gala at the Sheffield Anarchist bookfair at the weekend.


aah, that was you, was it?  I suspected as much


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## Nigel (Jun 29, 2012)

I'll try and make it.


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## The Black Hand (Jul 3, 2012)

belboid said:


> aah, that was you, was it? I suspected as much


 U shud av sed 'Hello' - I don't bite


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## The Black Hand (Jul 3, 2012)

Nigel said:


> I'll try and make it.


b gud 2 C U


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## krink (Jul 3, 2012)

Millibean is now listed on the posters and program as a speaker? fuck me, this means we need some snappy heckles and fast!


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## The Black Hand (Jul 3, 2012)

krink said:


> Millibean is now listed on the posters and program as a speaker? fuck me, this means we need some snappy heckles and fast!


 It'll be swarming with Bill and I think more people will attend than usual so we could be looking at 110 - 120K attending. First time for 23 years a labour leader is on the platform, '23 years not long enough' etc ad infinitum.

If anybody wants posters and the programme please let me know, I have loads

Also, the Gala is creating a new Friends of the Gala scheme where you contribute £2 a month by standing order, get a magazine and other promos, all in the programme...


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## Citizen66 (Jul 3, 2012)

The Black Hand said:


> Also, the Gala is creating a new Friends of the Gala scheme where you contribute £2 a month by standing order, get a magazine and other promos, all in the programme...


 
That's interesting. Not sure I can make it on the day but it's certainly something I want to support in any way I can.


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## The Black Hand (Jul 3, 2012)

Citizen66 said:


> That's interesting. Not sure I can make it on the day but it's certainly something I want to support in any way I can.


PM me a name and an address, and I'll send you the meaty programme, bound like a book, A5, card cover and 96 glossy colour pages = 100 pages in all.


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## The Black Hand (Jul 3, 2012)

"I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all our comrades, friends and supporters who will be joining us in Durham on the occasion of the 128th Durham Big Meeting.
The Gala goes from strength to strength and we have to thank our banner and community groups for much of this success. They play a vital role in maintaining our links with the former mining towns and villages of the County - communities bearing the brunt of the Government's savage attacks on the social wage and the very fabric of the Welfare state.
Whether, young, middle aged, or old no one is safe from this vicious Tory/Liberal coalition. On the one hand they reward bankers for failure, allow politicians to get away with dodgy expenses claims and reduce taxes for the rich. They then conclude that the solution to the crisis is to clobber the poorest in society. And now while every family lives in fear of unemployment we have some lunatic advising the Government to make it easier to sack workers. To make matters worse they insult our intelligence by saying 'we are all in it together'.

Well, we weren't in it together when the big profits were being made and just how much our people think 'we are all in it together' was demonstrated in the results of the local government elections.

In County Durham and Tyne and Wear the Tories and Liberals were obliterated - and rightly so. They represent the interests of big business and capitalism and we want no truck with them.

Although it is now 18 years since the last pit on the Durham Coalfield closed, the fight to get justice for our former miners who suffer from painful and debilitating diseases continues.

Although we have has considerable success in some fields we are still struggling to establish compensation for our members who are sufferring from the painful and crippling symptoms of arthritis of the knee - known in the industry as 'miners knee'.

We are at the moment awaiting a judgment from the Court of Appeal which we hope will allow our litigation against the Coal Authority to proceed to the High Court. If we lose the case it will not only deny many of our members, now advanced in years, the justice they deserve but the legal costs will have a profound impact on the Durham Miners Association.  

We are very proud of the success of our Compensation department which is due to the dedicated work of Davy Guy. unfortunately as we go to press Dave is too ill to take part in the preparations for the Gala. His struggle against serious illness over the past 4 & a half years has been an inspiration to us all and our thoughts today are with Dave and his family.

In a county where the County Council has been labour controlled for 93 years, where all Metropolitan Borough Councils have vast Labour majorities and where every constituency regularly elects Labour MP's, it is fitting that, after an absence of 23 years a Labour party leader h.as accepted an invitation to speak at the Gala and we of course welcome Ed Miliband to Durham.

We also welcome the new banners to this year's Gala from Burnhope, Felling, Brandon and Heworth, all making a reappearance so many years after their pits closed. There has hardly been a year without new banners being brought to the Gala. They are a credit to the communities who have produced them and a fitting tribute to our forefathers who fought so hard for our future. We must dedicate ourselves at this Gala to defend all the gains they made for us and to fight for a better future for the next generation - there is no other reason for the trade unions and the labour movement to exist.

As the European financial system teeeters on the brink of total meltdown it is now clear to all that capitalism has failed miserably. As we go to press the Spanish miners are fighting a life and death battle for the future of their industry and their communities. They are as we were in 1984/85 the victims of organised state violence and we pledge to them our solidarity and assistance as they did for us 28 years ago.

We have never had a better opportunity to fight back and establish a society based on the needs of people and not on the profit and greed of the few. Let today's Gala be that launchpad.

Have a great day and a safe journey home.

Best Wishes, Dave Hopper," General Secretary of the DMA, NE region NUM

Taken from the 128th Durham Miners Gala programme, pages 11-13, Sat 14th July 2012.


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## The Black Hand (Jul 11, 2012)

Massive Miners Support in Madrid 

Well over 150,000 people in Madrid saluted the striking miners “black march” that triumphantly entered the city on Tuesday night after marching halfway across Spain.

The miners marched with headlamps on their helmets lighting their way and were met by the masses with enthusiasm and support.

Chants of “Long live the struggle of the working class!” and other chants/songs and flags of socialists, Anarchists, communists and Marxists dominated the city. Many supporters had travelled across Spain to greet them as the Miners have captured the imagination of wide layers of Spanish youth, unemployed & workers who came out tuesday and will do today for a massive demonstration of working class solidarity.

Despite the huge crowds, no major TV station saw fit to turn up and witness the arrival of the miners. But an even bigger solidarity protest is expected in Madrid today, Wednesday 11th July.

Spanish miners are fighting against the decision of the right wing government to cut subsidies to coal mining by 63% this year. This means the destruction of 8,000 direct jobs and a further 20 or 30,000 indirect jobs which depend on them. For a month and a half miners have marched, organised a general strike of the mining valleys, set up barricades blocking highways and railway lines, clashed with the police and suffered brutal repression by the anti-riot units of the Civil Guards (the hated military style police force). 

Miners defended their collieries against attacks from the police with occupation and retailiation, and in their clashes with the anti-riot unit of the Civil Guards (the GSR), the miners have had to develop methods of struggle and create their own weaponry. To protest and block the system groups of miners come down from the hills, quickly build barricades on main roads, set them on fire and retreat back into the woods, from where they wait for the Civil Guards to turn up and then throw flares and pyrotechnic rockets at them with home made rocket launchers. They also occupy and block major roads and motorway with similar tactics. The resistance reminds me of other resistance in the Welsh Mining valleys and elsewhere throughout history.

The striking miners have been marching from their communities since the end of June and everywhere they have stopped they were cheered by crowds of people.

As they neared Madrid the rallies to meet them grew into thousands. Everybody understands how the miners’ struggle against the removal of industry subsidies was “everybody’s struggle”, one moment of the capitalist offensive which must be resisted, and we must support all struggles. 

As the government continues to support the banks at the expense of the people and is continuing to attack the miners and their communities, it has sent riot police to terrorise mining villages. So lets support the Miners resistance and defence of their communities.

The miners’ struggle comes after the anger shown in Spain’s city squares last year, the Occupy movement and a general strike. Their militant defiance is reigniting the worlds working and unemployed classes determination to fight austerity, lets build the fires of discontent. And we look forward to hearing the Spanish Miners at the Durham Miners Gala this saturday.


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## The Black Hand (Jul 12, 2012)

The Durham Miners Gala this year promised to be the largest for decades. Already 100K strong recently, the addition of the Labour leader Ed Miliband was likely to tip the numbers higher still if the weather permitted, but I am not sure now. Its going to be large still certainly, and related events start tomorrow afternoon at the Durham Miners HQ - I will let you know how it goes.
This is the latest article on the situation in Spain and the Miners;

Colossal Support for the Spanish Miners - the symbolic head of the working class
https://www.facebook.com/events/445337982149557/permalink/502222646461090/


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## krink (Jul 12, 2012)

I intend to video much of it and will put a link to youtube when i get it sorted


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## The Black Hand (Jul 12, 2012)

'The big draw: Ed Miliband may add 20,000 people on the Durham Miners’ Gala gate';
http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/local/all-news/the-big-draw-ed-miliband-may-add-20-000-people-on-the-durham-miners-gala-gate-1-4730828


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## krink (Jul 12, 2012)

The Black Hand said:


> 'The big draw: Ed Miliband may add 20,000 people on the Durham Miners’ Gala gate';
> http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/local/all-news/the-big-draw-ed-miliband-may-add-20-000-people-on-the-durham-miners-gala-gate-1-4730828


 

Look at the 8th paragraph


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## audiotech (Jul 16, 2012)




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## krink (Jul 16, 2012)

I'll be putting my pocs and vids up when i get round to it - have to say miliband should be miliBLAND he was the most boring speaker i ever heard, dull as fuck doesn't know how to engage with people. what a joke. i reckon you labour party bods are fucked with that numpty in charge. otherwise was a cracking day - the best one yet for me!


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## treelover (Jul 16, 2012)

looked fantastic, last time I went was in the early 90's, i have relatives there, should have gone...


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## DotCommunist (Jul 16, 2012)

well a Star columnist was full of how Ed was doing the right thing by turning up but on a week where he's brought back blood-on-hands blair to advise I think he's just taking the piss by turning up. Given that he has also as yet been able to have the stones to actually back any strike that has gone on under his 'watch' then surely he should have been piss-bottled of stage


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## treelover (Jul 16, 2012)

oh, I should add it was just after the 1992 miners strike and the tension with the police and youth was palpable,,,


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## bignose1 (Jul 16, 2012)

krink said:


> I'll be putting my pocs and vids up when i get round to it - have to say miliband should be miliBLAND he was the most boring speaker i ever heard, dull as fuck doesn't know how to engage with people. what a joke. i reckon you labour party bods are fucked with that numpty in charge. otherwise was a cracking day - the best one yet for me!


I got up in the end and stayed just outside of Durham nice little b & b everywhere else booked up. Loved it....nothing melancholy about brass bands and old lodge banners they are so inspiring and it gis yer a lump. Met some old faces and made some new friends...talked about the past...wondered about the future...I needed a nostalgia fix. Had some laffs but there was some tears too...spent saturday night in the half moon with some people from easington and italy( who were playing at next weeks durham festival) fuck me a lots going on atm up there. In the wake of all the banking shysterness and bollox elsewhere its great for it to be about ordinary salt of the earth folk. Thats a legacy that will never go. Ive done way too much wandering the streets looking for fash twats that I never did much of this stuff before.


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## krink (Jul 16, 2012)

you're right bignose, it's a great day, the sights the sounds and it didn't rain!!! Took my eldest girl this time and she loved it all and not just spending all her Dad's money in the fair ground!


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## bignose1 (Jul 16, 2012)

krink said:


> you're right bignose, it's a great day, the sights the sounds and it didn't rain!!! Took my eldest girl this time and she loved it all and not just spending all her Dad's money in the fair ground!


The weather was ace and on the sunday I had a few hours to kill so instead of spending all day in the spoons...ok so I had a fat mans roast and watched a car roll down the hill opposite or was that the 'spooky' sorry 'speckly'...dont matter...dont care, I spent a couple of hours watching the fly fishermn just lea of the shopping centre on the river. After sea trout or salmon...didnt see any of them netted but he got a couple of chub who are known to take a 'wettie' Also had some laffs at a baby heron with its ma trying a bit of fishing on the weir. Only thing was the fairground was too near the stage...not a problem with certain speakers though.....cheers


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## krink (Jul 16, 2012)

yeah we were next to the speakers and during one speech all we could hear was some kid shouting "vicky...vicky...vicky" we went back to the fair after about 1 minute of miliband.


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## The Black Hand (Jul 16, 2012)

Having done Galas for a decade I can report this was my best yet Busy as fek all day, there definately was a large turnout, including more dedicated knowledgeable people who were previously disengaged from the movement for whatever reason (apathy probably). Things appear to be moving... Very large numbers of people, the march took even longer to get around Durham - you can ask any contacts you have to confirm this reading if you wish

Krink, we'll have to go for a drink


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## krink (Jul 16, 2012)

aye even by the time when the speakers were on the banners were still coming in. very busy and enough beer supped to fill an ocean I reckon. It's quite a surreal moment when ed miliband is droning on the platform and people are already at the coma stage of alcohol consumption and it's only lunch time.


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## krink (Jul 16, 2012)

The Black Hand said:


> Krink, we'll have to go for a drink


 
Aye, tell N to give me a shout via facebook when you're all next over this way and I'll try me best to pop down for a swift one or four


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## The Black Hand (Jul 16, 2012)

krink said:


> Aye, tell N to give me a shout via facebook when you're all next over this way and I'll try me best to pop down for a swift one or four


 
Good idea, will let you know.


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