# The Miners Strikes in Photos



## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)

It would be great if people uploaded their own or others they have found on the net. I love this kind of stuff.

I lifted these from the Orgreave Truth & Justice Facebook group. Thought they deserve a wider audience.


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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)

Armthope Colliery, 1984


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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)

Kevin Baron, Labour

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Barron


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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)




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## ymu (Mar 26, 2013)

@orgreavejustice for those on Twitter.


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## Libertad (Mar 26, 2013)

Great bit of collation there Firkle. Thanks.


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## ddraig (Mar 26, 2013)

but thanks still


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## Sprocket. (Mar 26, 2013)

Thanks for posting these.
One day the truth will out.
So many images of a past some of us will never forget.
The attempted destruction of workers protests against a wicked system that is now on it's deathbed.
To all those who joined in the valiant struggle. Thank you.


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## coley (Mar 26, 2013)

Aye, fetched a lot of memories back, very few of them happy


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## ymu (Mar 26, 2013)

Lot of momentum since Hillsborough. I think the Orgreave Truth & Justice Campaign are hooked in with the families of the 96.

Could do with some social media action to up the followers, for those who are into that kind of thing.


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## butchersapron (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Sprocket. (Mar 26, 2013)

''South Yorkshire Constabulary. Got a reputation as the hardest firm in the country'' Real Football Factories
In my experience I would say they like dishing it out!


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## Sprocket. (Mar 26, 2013)

butchersapron said:


>


 
So then they attacked the printer's unions. Is there a pattern or am I just imagining it?


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## butchersapron (Mar 26, 2013)

This is from the David Jones Commemoration march (he was killed picketing at Ollerton in march 84 and this was the anniversary).


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## Sprocket. (Mar 26, 2013)

butchersapron said:


> This is from the David Jones Commemoration march (he was killed picketing at Ollerton in march 84 and this was the anniversary).


Never forgotten, along with Joe Green who was crushed by a lorry while picketing Ferrybridge powerstation 15th June 1984.


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## butchersapron (Mar 26, 2013)

Sprocket. said:


> Never forgotten, along with Joe Green who was crushed by a lorry while picketing Ferrybridge powerstation 15th June 1984.


 
Indeed, they held the annual memorial weekend before last think.


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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)

butchersapron said:


>


 
Brilliant!

I like the Sun one too.


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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)

Not from the Miners strike but a great collection of photos from a mining community, credit to Mik Critchlow. I know I have posted these before but they have a particular sentimental value to me. Get a bit of a lump in my throat looking at them.

http://www8.clikpic.com/mikcritchlow/

"Working as a photographer in the North East of England since 1977, Mik Critchlow has firmly established his work within documentary photography practice. Critchlow's work upholds the British Documentary Tradition"

I'll only post a couple of my favourites as his website is worth a visit in it's self. 




















Hirst Progressive Social Club 1985
My father on his redundancy day


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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)

Seacoalers are coming back, I now a couple of lads who now spend a few days each week picking up seacoal and bagging it. This is down to fuel poverty, benefit cuts and simply to make a bit cash in hand money. Not all the coal is sold, a lot of it is given away for free to the elderly and people unable to afford to pay for it.


_SEACOALERS_​​_The Community of Seacoal gatherers at Lynemouth, Northumberland._​_"I took these photographs between 1981 and 1983. My cousin Trevor Critchlow was working as a seacoaler and he told me that the rights to the beach had been sold to a private contractor, who was blocking the route the seacoalers had traditionally taken with concrete blocks. I went down to Lynemouth with Trevor to photograph the concrete blocks as evidence against the private contractor. I had a firm relationship with the seacoalers from then on. I was taking photographs in and around the camp as my relationship with the seacoalers developed. In many ways as a photographer I was in a privileged position because anyone else with a camera down there would be chased off the beach, the seacoalers were suspicious that anyone with a camera was gathering evidence against them for the Social Security. I was given total freedom and allowed to photograph as and when I required. I visited the seacoalers camp two or three times a year for over two years."_​
http://www8.clikpic.com/mikcritchlow/section284514_485594.html

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## Sprocket. (Mar 26, 2013)

Community, says it all. Makes me smile whenever a tory spouts on about society and communities. They were thriving and they destroyed them!
Also as we are sitting on top of the biggest coal fields in Europe is there something basically wrong that we are the third largest importers of coal in Europe?
I have spent a lot of time working with engineers who worked at the clean coal establishment at Grimethorpe. They told me they had cracked the problem and could burn 95% emission free coal.
That government that killed the industry in this country sold the technology to the West German government! 
One day it will all come out. Not in our lifetime I guess.


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## SikhWarrioR (Mar 26, 2013)

This is history in the making if you have decent cameras and lenses record it I got some great black and white photos of J18, MAY2K etc and not only that your photos could be crucial evidence if someone gets beaten up by plod


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## coley (Mar 26, 2013)

Sprocket. said:


> Community, says it all. Makes me smile whenever a tory spouts on about society and communities. They were thriving and they destroyed them!
> Also as we are sitting on top of the biggest coal fields in Europe is there something basically wrong that we are the third largest importers of coal in Europe?
> I have spent a lot of time working with engineers who worked at the clean coal establishment at Grimethorpe. They told me they had cracked the problem and could burn 95% emission free coal.
> That government that killed the industry in this country sold the technology to the West German government!
> One day it will all come out. Not in our lifetime I guess.



The R&D. Dept at point of Ayr had this technology developed in the 80s,fluidized bed combustion also they reckoned they were within 2 years of developing the technology that would produce oil from coal on a competitive basis, 
Point of Ayr R&D. Was one of the first places axed by thatcher after the strike.


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## coley (Mar 26, 2013)

SikhWarrioR said:


> This is history in the making if you have decent cameras and lenses record it I got some great black and white photos of J18, MAY2K etc and not only that your photos could be crucial evidence if someone gets beaten up by plod


Christ the gallery we would have had if phone cameras had been around during the strike


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## Sprocket. (Mar 26, 2013)

coley said:


> Christ the gallery we would have had if phone cameras had been around during the strike


 
I have no doubt a law would have been passed to confiscate them.
And all those tabloids that have been banging on about freedom of the press for the last month would have supported it like a shot!


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## The39thStep (Mar 26, 2013)

Here's the banner we made :


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## Sprocket. (Mar 26, 2013)

Thanks for the pics Firky some belters there, also thanks for the link. Enjoyed through the misty eyes of an old rebel!


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## The39thStep (Mar 26, 2013)

This diary of the strike is a great read http://normanstrike.wordpress.com/about/


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## ddraig (Mar 26, 2013)

> Protest march in the Garw Valley in 1985.
> Even the children were well aware of the impact the closures would have on their lives. Here they have a banner with a message for the Prime Minister.


http://www.diggingupthepast.org.uk

wot no pits





and 


> Ffaldau Colliery winding house demolition 1985.
> The contractor who bought the pit for scrap told me that he paid about £4000 for the site. By the end of demolition I was told he had made about £38,000.


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## coley (Mar 26, 2013)

And now we are importing, very expensive,coals to Newcastle


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## dennisr (Mar 26, 2013)




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## dennisr (Mar 26, 2013)




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## dennisr (Mar 26, 2013)

I was at that one (south wales miners hq being occupied when the state came for their money) - and a few others i've posted here - never forget, never forgive


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## ddraig (Mar 26, 2013)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/museumwales/4051901265/sizes/o/in/photostream/


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## dennisr (Mar 26, 2013)

all the cartoons i posted are by alan hardman from bradford - could of been a rich guy with his talent - worked as a printer in the Militant print shop


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## dennisr (Mar 26, 2013)

was on that one - some folk on these boards will remember a few faces on it


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## dennisr (Mar 26, 2013)




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## dennisr (Mar 26, 2013)




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## dennisr (Mar 26, 2013)

miners support group - think this was in leicester (the things you had to do for a free curry, ehh)


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## dennisr (Mar 26, 2013)

know this fella (this was at Orgreave)


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## dennisr (Mar 26, 2013)




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## dennisr (Mar 26, 2013)

met my good friend gary at this demo - striking miner - lived up with him for a while - Bold NUM, flying picket. Funnily enough just got back in contact with the fella after all these years a week ago - still in a band and as sound as ever


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## Minnie_the_Minx (Mar 26, 2013)

A lot of good pictures there, but sad and depressing at the same time

Makes you wonder what all the younger ones are doing nowadays


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## dennisr (Mar 26, 2013)




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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2013)

The39thStep said:


> Here's the banner we made :


 
I think we discussed this years ago, I'm from a family of Dulais valley miners and you met some of my family


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## dennisr (Mar 26, 2013)




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## dennisr (Mar 26, 2013)




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## dennisr (Mar 26, 2013)

kinnokio looking shifty...


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## Citizen66 (Mar 26, 2013)

Good thread idea.



Firky said:


>



What was with the 80s and moustaches? I'm pleased their only revival has been consigned to people begging for cash on facebook.


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## cesare (Mar 26, 2013)

> The V&A prints are mostly from the unhappy 1970s. The harsh, strike-ridden years of Edward Heath, Harold Wilson, James Callaghan and the early days of Margaret Thatcher. First brought together in 1982, to mark New Society's 20th anniversary, the photographs went on show at the National Theatre. Theatre carpenters then built two hefty wooden boxes for them, and the collection toured country-wide.





http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...ures/unhappy-days-are-here-again-1994896.html


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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)

dennisr said:


>


 
Do you know where this one is taken, dennsir,  it looks familiar?


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## coley (Mar 26, 2013)

dennisr said:


>



But with a few honourable exceptions we were let down


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## dessiato (Mar 26, 2013)

I don't recall many threads on Urb that have made me feel so sad as this one does. I mourn for the way the UK has become. People needing to go seacoaling due to poverty, redundancy, the undermining of the working man's right to respect...What is my country coming to?

Thanks for the pics firky.


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## dennisr (Mar 26, 2013)

Firky said:


> Do you know where this one is taken, dennsir, it looks familiar?


I'll get the details for you - the fellas at past pixels have actually just produced a series of huge A0 size posters including this one - really powerful
(in support of the justice campaign)see:  www.pastpixels.co.uk


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## dennisr (Mar 26, 2013)

dessiato said:


> I don't recall many threads on Urb that have made me feel so sad as this one does. I mourn for the way the UK has become. People needing to go seacoaling due to poverty, redundancy, the undermining of the working man's right to respect...What is my country coming to?
> 
> Thanks for the pics firky.


Me too - lot of memories from that year. Some of the best - and some of the worst


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## butchersapron (Mar 26, 2013)

Firky said:


> Do you know where this one is taken, dennsir, it looks familiar?





dennisr said:


> I'll get the details for you - the fellas at past pixels have actually just produced a series of huge A0 size posters including this one - really powerful
> (in support of the justice campaign)see: www.pastpixels.co.uk


That's Josie Smith arrested for threatening scabs in Easington.


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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)

cesare said:


> http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...ures/unhappy-days-are-here-again-1994896.html


 
From that article:




> Everyone who sees this picture smiles. Ernest Hemingway wrote that "a serious writer may be a hawk or a buzzard or even a popinjay, but a solemn writer is always a bloody owl". The same goes for photographers. Social concern should never mean forgetting the persuasive power of a good joke.


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## cesare (Mar 26, 2013)

Belushi said:


> I think we discussed this years ago, I'm from a family of Dulais valley miners and you met some of my family


Got loads of family buried at Pontardulais


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## dennisr (Mar 26, 2013)

coley said:


> But with a few honourable exceptions we were let down


a lot of people stood up it was the fucks at the top not ordinary folk - I used to collect thousands every month - many, many people without a pot to piss in emptied their pockets into the buckets - I will never forget that solidarity either - they only need to make one mistake - just one


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## dennisr (Mar 26, 2013)

butchersapron said:


> That's Josie Smith arrested for threatening scabs in Easington.


thats it, thats it


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## dessiato (Mar 26, 2013)

dennisr said:


> Me too - lot of memories from that year. Some of the best - and some of the worst


At the time I was spending a lot of time with the police. To be fair, most of them where being manipulated, and most were relishing the fights. I lost a lot of respect for the police then.
One of my friends had a farm near one of the mining villages. They would often get people asking for work, unfortunately they didn't really have any. But they turned a blind eye to the poaching and rustling. It was always small amounts of stuff being taken, and they knew it was for people desperate to eat and feed their family.


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## ddraig (Mar 26, 2013)

e2a to cesare think it is prob a different Dulais, propbably Aber


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## coley (Mar 26, 2013)

T





dennisr said:


> a lot of people stood up - I will never forget that solidarity either - they only need to make one mistake - just one



Too many people believed the Tories lies, that coal steel and shipbuilding were outmoded,dead industries, now we are importing it all.


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## harpo (Mar 26, 2013)

dessiato said:


> At the time I was spending a lot of time with the police. To be fair, most of them where being manipulated, and most were relishing the fights. I lost a lot of respect for the police then.


Yeah the feller next door to us was a copper.  He used to gloat about the overtime he was raking in.  My parents fell out with him and his wife badly over it.


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## dennisr (Mar 26, 2013)

coley said:


> T
> 
> Too many people believed the Tories lies, that coal steel and shipbuilding were outmoded,dead industries, now we are importing it all.


millions didn't - and many never will again. taught me all i need to know about the class struggle - even the defeat. I come from a tory voting, self-employed builder family - changed my view of the world completely.


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## dessiato (Mar 26, 2013)

coley said:


> T
> 
> Too many people believed the Tories lies, that coal steel and shipbuilding were outmoded,dead industries, now we are importing it all.


As I've said before, I was a member of the Tory party in those days. Seeing what Thatcher was doing to the country I left. I have never been able to come to terms with what the Tories have become since those days. They have, and continue to, destroyed too much of the country. It is with shame that I admit to having voted for them.


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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)

dessiato said:


> I don't recall many threads on Urb that have made me feel so sad as this one does. I mourn for the way the UK has become. People needing to go seacoaling due to poverty, redundancy, the undermining of the working man's right to respect...What is my country coming to?
> 
> Thanks for the pics firky.


 


dennisr said:


> I'll get the details for you - the fellas at past pixels have actually just produced a series of huge A0 size posters including this one - really powerful
> (in support of the justice campaign)see: www.pastpixels.co.uk


 
Excellent thanks, if this thread is successful I am thinking about putting together an online gallery with all these photos on and more. Credit will be given to the photographers obviously and their permission sort where possible.

I believe photographs are extremely powerful in making a point


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## coley (Mar 26, 2013)

dennisr said:


> millions didn't - and many never will again. taught me all i need to know about the class struggle - even the defeat.



The damage is done though, the union movement has been shrivelling since the strike,  84 was the last chance for a united defence and most of the Unions bottled it.


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## cesare (Mar 26, 2013)

ddraig said:


> e2a to cesare think it is prob a different Dulais, propbably Aber


And I meant Pontrydyfen anyway


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## dennisr (Mar 26, 2013)




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## dennisr (Mar 26, 2013)

this one is a south wales pit - can't remember which one - just before the beginning of the strike


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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)

butchersapron said:


> That's Josie Smith arrested for threatening scabs in Easington.


 
County Durham, cheers. I know I have seen that photograph before, maybe at a local exhibition or something. Easington was apparently one of the hardest mines in the country to work, they were so far out under the sea that there was very few machines available so the work had to be done by hand.

On that note heres the East Durham choir.


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## coley (Mar 26, 2013)

dennisr said:


>


Christ,I loved that job.


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## Firky (Mar 26, 2013)

coley said:


> Christ,I loved that job.


 
If you have any photographs, know anyone who has - you know where I live! Really want to see this get off the ground.


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## coley (Mar 26, 2013)

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=n...hl=en&client=safari#biv=i|0;d|l3nTjzF1FHVg9M:
Woodhorn colliery, where I used to work gets a few features on here, now a mining museum.


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## junglevip (Mar 26, 2013)

I can say with total honesty, I was there


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## The39thStep (Mar 26, 2013)

Belushi said:


> I think we discussed this years ago, I'm from a family of Dulais valley miners and you met some of my family


 
We did and it was a pleasure.I remember how graciously we were treated as guests. The first night the miners took us for a drink and then suggested we went to the Con Club. we were horrified and this lad said 'don't worry all the staff are striking miners' so we went and when we tried to pay for drinks we were rebuffed until we devised a method of putting our money behind the bar . They complained and said 'you have fed us the least we can do is buy you a pint.' But we won in the end.

The next day I went to the allotments with our host and overheard him ask a plot holder for a cabbage because he was having those who supported the strike for Sunday dinner.When I said we would buy the dinner he was horrified and insisted that we were his guests. We went round someone's house to meet someone who explained sheepishly that he had had to sell his front room furniture . They showed us the mines and we spoke to the health and safety staff who had been given exemptions, and asked were they not scabbing but the miners said no when they had won the strike they would go back to work and that the mines had to be kept in a condition so that they could do so.

In the evening we went to see a striking miners choir.The tenors sang like it was an opera, their voices incredibly beautiful and confident.We met miners wives who had formed their own groups who had feisty but respectful arguments with feminists, we saw miners openly embrace Gay Miner Support Group members who had collected money for them and who had gone on pickets lines. It was incredibly humbling to be there. Some of the came to Skegness ( the SWP Easter piss up and education weekend) and came back to London came on anti fascist demo and actions.

We had similar links to Durham ( through Norman Strike who gate crashed the Redskins debut on The Tube).

The thing I can't forget and was inspired by was the profound dignity and insight of those who we met . It wasn't a game or some political debate or a one day strike it was collective support, resistance and survival , fighting for communities, all of which to be quite frank put all the theoretical trivia of how we think the class struggle should go to utter shame. Heart breaking , inspiring but above all proud to have had the opportunity to shake their hands and support people who we could honestly refer to as brothers and sister workers.


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## The39thStep (Mar 26, 2013)

They sang this


and later when we saw Test Department we bought this


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## The39thStep (Mar 26, 2013)

and whilst I am back from the pub , the first two thirds of this are great , the second third is ok if you like people bashing metal , but you can't knock Test Department in that all proceeds from the album went to the strike.


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## equationgirl (Mar 27, 2013)

It's not just coal mining and shipbuilding that were decimated, the steel mills were wiped out too - I think there's maybe two left in the UK and I'm not sure they're still owned by UK owners anymore. I think they are both owned by Tata Steel (Indian) albeit through a UK subsidiary. Lanarkshire has never recovered from the combined losses of the pits and Ravenscraig, never mind the other parts of the UK.


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## oryx (Mar 27, 2013)

The39thStep said:


> Here's the banner we made :


 
The London council Nalgo branch I worked for in 1984/5 was twinned with a pit in S Yorks. I remember it all so well.

This is a great thread but also very sad. It just reminds me of how union activism and membership has dwindled.


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## nogojones (Mar 27, 2013)

equationgirl said:


> It's not just coal mining and shipbuilding that were decimated, the steel mills were wiped out too - I think there's maybe two left in the UK and I'm not sure they're still owned by UK owners anymore. I think they are both owned by Tata Steel (Indian) albeit through a UK subsidiary. Lanarkshire has never recovered from the combined losses of the pits and Ravenscraig, never mind the other parts of the UK.


 
Celsa are still producing in Cardiff, but paying 2/3rds of the wage we used to be on when we were ASW


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## equationgirl (Mar 27, 2013)

nogojones said:


> Celsa are still producing in Cardiff, but paying 2/3rds of the wage we used to be on when we were ASW


Cheers (not good news about the wages though, sorry to hear that)


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## nogojones (Mar 27, 2013)

equationgirl said:


> Cheers (not good news about the wages though, sorry to hear that)


 
About half the workforce that they had 10 years back rolling more steel per shift, Plus none of us who were on the union got jobs surprisingly after the sell off


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## equationgirl (Mar 27, 2013)

nogojones said:


> About half the workforce that they had 10 years back rolling more steel per shift, Plus none of us who were on the union got jobs surprisingly after the sell off


 
 that can't be a coincidence.


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## Fedayn (Mar 27, 2013)

dennisr said:


> all the cartoons i posted are by alan hardman from bradford - could of been a rich guy with his talent - worked as a printer in the Militant print shop


 
Still got one of his books somewhere.


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## phildwyer (Mar 27, 2013)

dennisr said:


> kinnokio looking shifty...


 
What a total bastard he turned out to be.

More than any other single figure, he was responsible for losing the strike, and later he screwed up the Labour Party just for good measure.

In the 70s he used to burn around Ebbw Vale playing the Strawbs' "Part of the Union" out of his loudspeakers.


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## Red Storm (Mar 27, 2013)

The cartoons are magnificent


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## Ming (Mar 27, 2013)

harpo said:


> Yeah the feller next door to us was a copper. He used to gloat about the overtime he was raking in. My parents fell out with him and his wife badly over it.


My cousin's husband was a policeman at the time. He told us with a grin about his ASPOM T-shirt (Avon and Somerset Police Operation Miners or Arthur Scargill Payed Our Mortgages).


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## dennisr (Mar 27, 2013)

The39thStep said:


> The thing I can't forget and was inspired by was the profound dignity and insight of those who we met . It wasn't a game or some political debate or a one day strike it was collective support, resistance and survival , fighting for communities, all of which to be quite frank put all the theoretical trivia of how we think the class struggle should go to utter shame. Heart breaking , inspiring but above all proud to have had the opportunity to shake their hands and support people who we could honestly refer to as brothers and sister workers.



*wipes tear away*


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## dennisr (Mar 27, 2013)

printer's union - practical solidarity


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## dennisr (Mar 27, 2013)




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## dennisr (Mar 27, 2013)




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## dennisr (Mar 27, 2013)

appealing to fantasy 'aspiration' and 'property owning democracy' - how many times have we heard that one?


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## dennisr (Mar 27, 2013)




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## dennisr (Mar 27, 2013)

st john's, south wales (from the north end)


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## dennisr (Mar 27, 2013)

official strike collection permit - south wales


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## dennisr (Mar 27, 2013)

St John's NUM - Strike pin


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## dennisr (Mar 27, 2013)

everyone will remember this one - Orgreave, 18 June 1984. Lesley Boulton from the Sheffield miners’ support group shouts for an ambulance for an injured miner. A mounted policeman swears at her and hits out with his truncheon and she can only raise her hand for protection. Pic by John Harris

Search for *Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign* on faceache


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## gawkrodger (Mar 27, 2013)

http://www.facebook.com/OrgreaveTruthAndJusticeCampaign?fref=ts


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## nogojones (Mar 27, 2013)

phildwyer said:


> More than any other single figure, he was responsible for losing the strike,


 
Norman Willis tried his hardest as well


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## Firky (Mar 27, 2013)

Here's the police (serving) showing their ignorance regarding the history of the "I've met the MET" stickers.

http://www.policespecials.com/forum...et-the-met-sticker-stuck-on-welsh-police-van/

Also quite revealing how they think it is a bit of a game and a joke.


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## poului (Mar 27, 2013)

The39thStep said:


> and whilst I am back from the pub , the first two thirds of this are great , the second third is ok if you like people bashing metal , but you can't knock Test Department in that all proceeds from the album went to the strike.




One of the most unique records I've ever heard, this.


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## The39thStep (Mar 27, 2013)

poului said:


> One of the most unique records I've ever heard, this.


 
It was very bold , some of it worked , some of it didn't. It was quite ironic and I guess fitting that some art house industrial noise band whose stage act tried to replicate physical labour and the industrial enviroment end up recording with those whose everyday life was excatly that. The re worked version of Comrade in Arms would be in my top thirty/fifty tracks ever


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## Nice one (Mar 27, 2013)

dennisr said:


> Search for *Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign* on faceache


 
supposed to be doing a banner for these, going to end up something like this when it's done


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## ddraig (Mar 27, 2013)

The39thStep said:


> It was very bold , some of it worked , some of it didn't. It was quite ironic and I guess fitting that some art house industrial noise band whose stage act tried to replicate physical labour and the industrial enviroment end up recording with those whose everyday life was excatly that. The re worked version of Comrade in Arms would be in my top thirty/fifty tracks ever


know anywhere i can buy it where the money would go to a good cause still?
none on their site obviously and found one for sale in france online last night


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## Sprocket. (Mar 27, 2013)

Nice one said:


> supposed to be doing a banner for these, going to end up something like this when it's done


 
Have I dreamt it or are these available as windscreen stickers?


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## Crispy (Mar 27, 2013)

Am I the only one who keeps seeing this thread title and thinking that there are some greek miners striking on an island called Photos?


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## Fozzie Bear (Mar 27, 2013)

The39thStep said:


> It was very bold , some of it worked , some of it didn't. It was quite ironic and I guess fitting that some art house industrial noise band whose stage act tried to replicate physical labour and the industrial enviroment end up recording with those whose everyday life was excatly that. The re worked version of Comrade in Arms would be in my top thirty/fifty tracks ever


 
It's an amazing album - there is a Test Dept book coming out this year apparently.

Their next album "The Unacceptable Face of Freedom" included a track with an account of police brutality on the picket lines by Alan Sutcliffe of Kent NUM.


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## ddraig (Mar 27, 2013)

Crispy said:


> Am I the only one who keeps seeing this thread title and thinking that there are some greek miners striking on an island called Photos?


just you!


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## 8ball (Mar 27, 2013)

Crispy said:


> Am I the only one who keeps seeing this thread title and thinking that there are some greek miners striking on an island called Photos?


 
Is this somewhere you went on holiday?

Some great photos here - is bringing back some memories...


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## Firky (Mar 27, 2013)

Sprocket. said:


> Have I dreamt it or are these available as windscreen stickers?


 
I know the badges are in the pipe line and will cost £2 each. I think they plan on doing some stickers too.


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## The39thStep (Mar 27, 2013)

ddraig said:


> know anywhere i can buy it where the money would go to a good cause still?
> none on their site obviously and found one for sale in france online last night


 
I don't, sorry.

PM on way .


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## Firky (Mar 27, 2013)




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## Fozzie Bear (Mar 27, 2013)

ddraig said:


> know anywhere i can buy it where the money would go to a good cause still?
> none on their site obviously and found one for sale in france online last night


 
The album is long out of print (I had to buy it second hand 25 years ago...)

So I'd get one second hand and/or download it - then perhaps make a donation to a worthy cause too.

It's conceivable Test Dept will re-release this stuff at some point, but I wouldn't hold your breath.


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## ddraig (Mar 27, 2013)

thanks both
will be making a donation and keep a look out for a vinyl copy


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## Sprocket. (Mar 27, 2013)

Firky said:


> I know the badges are in the pipe line and will cost £2 each. I think they plan on doing some stickers too.


Thanks. Will purchase as soon as.


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## Firky (Mar 27, 2013)

Sprocket. said:


> Thanks. Will purchase as soon as.


 
I'll give the thread a heads up, I know not everyone likes twitter / facebook.


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## Firky (Mar 27, 2013)

I have a hunch the Guardian may pick up on this thread which would be good. They've done it once before with another thread of documentary photos I posted up.


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## Sprocket. (Mar 27, 2013)

Firky said:


> I'll give the thread a heads up, I know not everyone likes twitter / facebook.


 
Some folk like to keep a lower profile


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## not-bono-ever (Mar 27, 2013)




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## ddraig (Mar 27, 2013)

i have had a look about for a donate link to the OTJC and can't find one! even logged in to faceache and still can't find one.
probably me being thick  does anyone know of one please?
thanks


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## not-bono-ever (Mar 27, 2013)




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## not-bono-ever (Mar 27, 2013)




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## not-bono-ever (Mar 27, 2013)




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## not-bono-ever (Mar 27, 2013)

not miners strike, but....


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## gunneradt (Mar 28, 2013)

good picture on this page too

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/16/newsid_2512000/2512469.stm


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## ddraig (Mar 28, 2013)

well done prick, well done
*slow handclap
gives you a little smirk in your stained smelly pants does it?
pathetic


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## ddraig (Mar 28, 2013)

gunneradt said:


> good picture on this page too
> 
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/16/newsid_2512000/2512469.stm


 and do you like that pic then? 
you must be some kind of sicko


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## butchersapron (Mar 28, 2013)

Just ignore him mate or you'll give him what he wants.


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## killer b (Mar 28, 2013)

edie sent me a card with this on it last year.


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## cesare (Mar 28, 2013)

"Being a dick on the miner's thread"


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## ddraig (Mar 28, 2013)

yes, ignore from now on, best strategy to not feed it


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## Lazy Llama (Mar 28, 2013)




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## killer b (Mar 28, 2013)

in that case...


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## dynamicbaddog (Mar 28, 2013)

the photos bought the memories flooding back. Funny that this thread has appeared on the week I've started writing my extended project (5000 word essay that I have to complete to get onto a history foundation course at uni) as I'm writing it  about the strike. Been looking at the role of support groups today and found this short film about the Lesbian and Gay Miners Support Group on youtube...


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## FridgeMagnet (Mar 28, 2013)

gunneradt said:


> good picture on this page too
> 
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/16/newsid_2512000/2512469.stm


Leave it out please.


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## Belushi (Mar 28, 2013)

dynamicbaddog said:


> the photos bought the memories flooding back. Funny that this thread has appeared on the week I've started writing my extended project (5000 word essay that I have to complete to get onto a history foundation course at uni) as I'm writing it about the strike. Been looking at the role of support groups today and found this short film about the Lesbian and Gay Miners Support Group on youtube...




I know some of the people in that 

They did really good work, raised a lot of money for the striking families.


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## gunneradt (Mar 28, 2013)

FridgeMagnet said:


> Leave it out please.


 
Merely some balance in the over glorification of a strike which saw that murder


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## coley (Mar 28, 2013)

gunneradt said:


> Merely some balance in the over glorification of a strike which saw that murder


Balance? Mounted, armoured police against unarmed pickets? It was tragic but considering the violence directed against unarmed pickets it was a wonder that it was an isolated incident.
Oh aye, fuck off with your gloating.


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## Firky (Mar 28, 2013)

Just ignore him, coley. He's not even a troll just a sad bastard.



Belushi said:


> I know some of the people in that
> 
> They did really good work, raised a lot of money for the striking families.


 
The Pits & The Perverts


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## Sprocket. (Mar 28, 2013)

To be honest I am amazed that some fatalities to scabs did not occur in the following years after the strike.
The anger, passion and hatred that was directed toward the scabs it felt only a matter of time until scores were settled.
Thatch and her minions sat pissing their pants. The wedges in our communities were driven in by connivance and conspiracy.
Yes it's sad a taxi driver died, the police knew the risk and they, not a taxi driver trying to put food on the table should have been driving the blacklegs in.
They should have foreseen what might happen and they could have prevented the death of the driver.


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## FridgeMagnet (Mar 28, 2013)

gunneradt said:


> Merely some balance in the over glorification of a strike which saw that murder


No. Really.


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## coley (Mar 28, 2013)

Sprocket. said:


> To be honest I am amazed that some fatalities to scabs did not occur in the following years after the strike.
> The anger, passion and hatred that was directed toward the scabs it felt only a matter of time until scores were settled.
> Thatch and her minions sat pissing their pants. The wedges in our communities were driven in by connivance and conspiracy.
> Yes it's sad a taxi driver died, the police knew the risk and they, not a taxi driver trying to put food on the table should have been driving the blacklegs in.
> They should have foreseen what might happen and they could have prevented the death of the driver.



The hatred and resentment lives on, though around here you have a "hierarchy of scabs" FFS, it's permissible not to hate those who went back to work after Christmas, the ones who went back just before Christmas are just on this side of forgivable etc and the ones who started trickling back at the back end of summer are forever in the seventh pit' pun intended


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## Sprocket. (Mar 28, 2013)

coley said:


> The hatred and resentment lives on, though around here you have a "hierarchy of scabs" FFS, it's permissible not to hate those who went back to work after Christmas, the ones who went back just before Christmas are just on this side of forgivable etc and the ones who started trickling back at the back end of summer are forever in the seventh pit' pun intended


 
After the closures most of the fitters and electricians around here found it hard to be accepted by other industries into their workplaces. But I have worked in two places were scabs were employed on the shop floor without hesitation, possibly because they are almost revered by managers and owners. In both places I ended up having to get involved with my union head on to get one electrician and one fitter reinstated after they were dismissed for thumping the scabs at work in response to taunts by the scabs. Luckily in both cases the management accepted that it was because of the taunts that the lads reacted like they did. Or maybe it was the thought of going to court. I'm not sure! But the hatred lives on. They split from their brothers, they sided with our oppressors and they deserve the lifelong shame they have brought on themselves.
Yes, they were starving, so was everyone else. Christmas 84, my nephew and his wife decided to take the last internal door down in their house and burn it for warmth for a Christmas treat for the bairns!


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## Firky (Mar 28, 2013)

All this stuff, the experiences, personal accounts, photos, flyers and placards needs to be properly documented because AFAIK there's no such thing on the internet.

A big project but I am sure that with a bit help...


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## gunneradt (Mar 28, 2013)

coley said:


> Balance? Mounted, armoured police against unarmed pickets? It was tragic but considering the violence directed against unarmed pickets it was a wonder that it was an isolated incident.
> Oh aye, fuck off with your gloating.


 
Of course.  pre-meditated murder is always a swine.  I wonder where these two fine gentlemen are now!!


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## FridgeMagnet (Mar 28, 2013)

Long weekend ban.


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## coley (Mar 28, 2013)

gunneradt said:


> Of course.  pre-meditated murder is always a swine.  I wonder where these two fine gentlemen are now!!


It was manslaughter, it was tragic, but desperate people make mistakes, does your concern extend to the miners who lost their homes, marriages and in some cases their lives as a result of one of thatchers biggest cock ups?


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## Mrs Magpie (Mar 28, 2013)

FridgeMagnet said:


> Long weekend ban.


Not even near harsh. Lucky for him you got in first.


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## FridgeMagnet (Mar 28, 2013)

Mrs Magpie said:


> Not even near harsh. Lucky for him you got in first.


There's always a next time.


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## coley (Mar 29, 2013)

FridgeMagnet said:


> Long weekend ban.



Bugger, thought that was me

Slight lack of warning though?


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## FridgeMagnet (Mar 29, 2013)

coley said:


> Bugger, thought that was me
> 
> Slight lack of warning though?


I think two warnings was enough tbh.


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## weltweit (Mar 29, 2013)

I was a student in Yorkshire during the strike, I was engulfed in my studies and not very knowledgable. Anyhow a guy came on campus to hire night time security guards for the pits. The money would have helped but there was no way I was going to get involved like that!


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## Firky (Mar 29, 2013)

weltweit said:


> I was a student in Yorkshire during the strike, I was engulfed in my studies and not very knowledgable. Anyhow a guy came on campus to hire night time security guards for the pits. The money would have helped but there was no way I was going to get involved like that!


 
What kind of reception did he get from the students?


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## weltweit (Mar 29, 2013)

Firky said:


> What kind of reception did he get from the students?


As far as I could tell he struck a complete blank.


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## audiotech (Mar 31, 2013)

Our contribution. I was guitarist in 'Conspiracy of Equals'.






DIY silk screen poster


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## Sprocket. (Mar 31, 2013)

audiotech said:


> Our contribution. I was the guitarist in 'Conspiracy of Equals'.


Nice one fella. Massive thumbs up!


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## audiotech (Mar 31, 2013)

I had to request that the Three Johns cut their set whilst they were actually in mid performance, as the old bill were on their way!


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## Sprocket. (Mar 31, 2013)

audiotech said:


> I had to request that the Three Johns cut their set whilst they were actually in mid performance, as the old bill were on their way!


I am right in thinking they re emerged later as It's Immaterial about 1986?
Chumbuwamba always up for the cause.
You should be proud of what you did.


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## audiotech (Mar 31, 2013)

Then there's Durham miner, Norman Strike, who had his microphone cut off on The Tube:


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## audiotech (Mar 31, 2013)

Sprocket. said:


> I am right in thinking they re emerged later as It's Immaterial about 1986?
> Chumbuwamba always up for the cause.
> You should be proud of what you did.


 
I'm still in touch with Brenny, the bass player in the Johns and they're about to re-release their back catalogue and record and release a new album. Roger Daltry of The Who is letting them use his studio free gratis. You heard it here first.


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## audiotech (Mar 31, 2013)

New site has just been launched btw: The World of the Workers is Wild.

And can be found on facebook: *3 Junk - The Three Johns Appreciation Society*


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## Firky (Apr 2, 2013)

British Pathe has some stuff on the strikes in the 20s but you have to pay for it. Frustrating.


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## treelover (Apr 2, 2013)

I was told that on my campus off Eccleshall's Road in Sheff, during the strike students would throw bricks over the wall as the police vehicles drove by, wasn't anything like that by the time I got there...

I put on two parties at my house to raise money for children from the pits in Wales...


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## treelover (Apr 2, 2013)

dynamicbaddog said:


> the photos bought the memories flooding back. Funny that this thread has appeared on the week I've started writing my extended project (*5000 word essay that I have to complete to get onto a history foundation course at uni*) as I'm writing it about the strike. Been looking at the role of support groups today and found this short film about the Lesbian and Gay Miners Support Group on youtube...




are you having to pay the full 4,000 pounds cost?, incredible, it used to be free..


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## dynamicbaddog (Apr 2, 2013)

treelover said:


> are you having to pay the full 4,000 pounds cost?, incredible, it used to be free..


I'm not sure about the money side of thing atm, it's  all  a bit daunting but  I'll be  getting help from the open book project  with applying for loans/maintenance grants etc.


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## SpineyNorman (Apr 5, 2013)

dynamicbaddog said:


> I'm not sure about the money side of thing atm, it's all a bit daunting but I'll be getting help from the open book project  with applying for loans/maintenance grants etc.


 
I recently had to write a review of a documentary about the strike and I downloaded quite a few bits and pieces from academic journals and the like, with quite a lot of stuff on support groups and NUM politics among other things - if you think they might be helpful send me a PM with your email and I'll send them over for you. They're dead interesting anyway.


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## malatesta32 (Apr 10, 2013)

coley said:


> Christ the gallery we would have had if phone cameras had been around during the strike


yeah and the amount of arrests! brilliant photos tho firky!


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## malatesta32 (Apr 10, 2013)

Fozzie Bear said:


> It's an amazing album - there is a Test Dept book coming out this year apparently.
> 
> Their next album "The Unacceptable Face of Freedom" included a track with an account of police brutality on the picket lines by Alan Sutcliffe of Kent NUM.


 
yeah is that the one with miner saying 'we've had a lot of food come, we had a lot of clothes come but what we need is people on the picketline!' ? (going from memory).


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## malatesta32 (Apr 10, 2013)

audiotech said:


> New site has just been launched btw: The World of the Workers is Wild.
> 
> And can be found on facebook: *3 Junk - The Three Johns Appreciation Society*


i fucken loved the 3 johns. a really cracking live band. along with the redskins 1 of the best gigs i saw in 84 or 85. the johns were funny as well on stage. langfords in chicago doing country now!


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## malatesta32 (Apr 10, 2013)

one for the old uns!


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## ymu (Apr 10, 2013)

weltweit said:


> As far as I could tell he struck a complete blank.


Good! My mate used to join the picket lines before her lectures:

Miner: What are you doing a poncy medical degree for then? 
Mate: I want to be socially useful come the revolution, comrade! 
Miner: Fair dos!


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## Tankus (Apr 10, 2013)




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## coley (Apr 10, 2013)

Save a space on here for Thatchers funeral, though tipping her down an abandoned mine shaft would be rather fitting, we could have a mike rigged up so we could all hear the splat


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## Firky (Apr 11, 2013)




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## Casually Red (Apr 11, 2013)

weltweit said:


> As far as I could tell he struck a complete blank.


 
he should have been struck with a plank


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## DRINK? (Apr 11, 2013)

is this article incorrect? forget the personal opinion contained therein, though the numbers etc?

http://www.thecommentator.com/artic...e_the_spite_of_sheffield_s_sons_and_daughters


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## coley (Apr 11, 2013)

DRINK? said:


> is this article incorrect? forget the personal opinion contained therein, though the numbers etc?
> 
> http://www.thecommentator.com/artic...e_the_spite_of_sheffield_s_sons_and_daughters


Totally, it dances around with facts and fits them into a narrow ideological straitjacket, the same sort of guff That the likes of JC swallows hook line and sinker.


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## DRINK? (Apr 11, 2013)

so thatcher did close more mines than preceding labour goverments?


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## killer b (Apr 11, 2013)

malatesta32 said:


> i fucken loved the 3 johns. a really cracking live band. along with the redskins 1 of the best gigs i saw in 84 or 85. the johns were funny as well on stage. langfords in chicago doing country now!


they did a tour last year, and are still bloody brilliant...


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## coley (Apr 11, 2013)

DRINK? said:


> so thatcher did close more mines than preceding labour goverments?



So, labour closed a lot of what were known as 'Tettie pits, worked out with no viable reserves, thatcher decimated the mining industry in order to make privatisation of the electricity industry more profitable for her mates


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## ibilly99 (Apr 12, 2013)

Great thread and great photos - inspired me to put them in a vid ..


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## ddraig (Apr 15, 2013)

South Wales again
*Des Dutfield emerges from the pit at Lewis Merthyr Colliery to speak to the press in 1983*






couple more here but warning - more of maggie
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/margaret-thatcher-memories-welsh-coalfield-2593166


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## Firky (Apr 19, 2013)

Taken today. Do you recognise it coley ?


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## Firky (Apr 19, 2013)

ibilly99 said:


> Great thread and great photos - inspired me to put them in a vid ..


 
Good stuff!


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## coley (Apr 19, 2013)

Firky said:


> Taken today. Do you recognise it coley ?


Aye,we are trying to get it insured afore the local metal recyclers lift it
Did you take it?


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## Firky (Apr 19, 2013)

If they nick it you can blame Maggie - forced into crime by unemployment!


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## coley (Apr 20, 2013)

Firky said:


> If they nick it you can blame Maggie - forced into crime by unemployment!


No, the same entrepreneurs were at it 40 years ago, but the targets were the storage areas of the local heavy industry, they would have sneered at the idea of pinching bits and pieces from people's yards and back gardens, hard times indeed


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## Firky (Jul 25, 2013)

> After the death of striking miner, Davy Jones, on the Ollerton picket line in March '84, the scab Working Miners' Committee sent his parents a letter of condolence and a cheque for £250.00 (a significant sum then).
> This is his parent's reply...


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## SpineyNorman (Jul 27, 2013)

Firky said:


>


 
Mind if I nick that for facebook Firky? Got mates who'd really like to see it.


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## Firky (Jul 27, 2013)

SpineyNorman said:


> Mind if I nick that for facebook Firky? Got mates who'd really like to see it.


 

Not at all, I stuck it up on my own FB and it got a lot of likes and shares.


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## equationgirl (Jul 27, 2013)

coley said:


> No, the same entrepreneurs were at it 40 years ago, but the targets were the storage areas of the local heavy industry, they would have sneered at the idea of pinching bits and pieces from people's yards and back gardens, hard times indeed


 
Round here it's still the local heavy industry metal stores that are targeted, along with the roof of the nearby cancer centre (it's lead), Caused thousands of damage.


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## trampie (Jul 29, 2013)

Those photos bring lots of memories back for me, i'm proud to be associated with and from South Wales mining stock, i had family members that would not allow Churchill's name to be mentioned in the house after he sent the army into the Rhondda valleys against the miners, this more modern strike further underlined the solidarity of South Wales miners, not everywhere in the UK was so solid, but the South Wales miners were solid, my observations were at the end of the strike that the Labour party had deserted the working man, all the main stream press had deserted the working man and that the national trade union miners leaders had betrayed their men. 

Maggie won, lots say she would have been out of office within a year of the strike if Scargill had called for a national strike ballot and/or if Kinnock had publicly called for a national strike ballot, apparently Kinnock has now said that he will regret that he didn't publicly act until his dying day, the politics of greed won, the post war consensus was gone, large parts of the UK became a right wing haven, the legacy is now the working man is beaten, not defeated i would like to think but beaten.

I've just been reading about the high degree of solidarity behind the South Wales miners, due the ideology of equalitarianism and even the religious background of Methodism, all factors i recognise.

The hopes of social justice for the working class died along with the miners strike, will we ever have a caring sharing society in this country in this capitalist world of ours ?,i wonder.

The photos are modern history and a story that is rarely told outside of the coalfield communities.


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