WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.159 --> 00:00:03.480 Hi, and welcome back to part two of our double 2 00:00:03.520 --> 00:00:06.160 episode on women in the Minus Strike of nineteen eighty 3 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:09.279 four or five. If you haven't listened to part one yet, 4 00:00:09.400 --> 00:00:21.239 I'd go back and listen to that first. As a reminder, 5 00:00:21.239 --> 00:00:24.000 our podcast is brought to you by our Patreon supporters. 6 00:00:24.440 --> 00:00:27.239 Our supporters found our work and in return get exclusive 7 00:00:27.320 --> 00:00:31.239 early access to podcast episodes without ads, bonus episodes every month, 8 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:34.719 free and discounted merchandise and other content. So if you 9 00:00:34.759 --> 00:00:37.600 can please join our community and help keep our collective 10 00:00:37.640 --> 00:00:40.920 history of struggle alive. You can learn more and sign 11 00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:44.920 up at patreon dot com slash working Class history link 12 00:00:45.079 --> 00:00:53.520 in the show notes. As the strike progressed, many picket 13 00:00:53.560 --> 00:00:58.000 lines became increasingly violent, including at Easington in the northeast 14 00:00:58.000 --> 00:00:58.520 of England. 15 00:01:01.320 --> 00:01:03.719 At one point there was a police car turned over 16 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:07.239 and there were some windows put out at the yet 17 00:01:07.319 --> 00:01:11.200 cogiery officers, but it wasn't anything on the lines of Augreave. 18 00:01:11.239 --> 00:01:13.599 I mean, my god, Augreave was just horrendous. 19 00:01:14.280 --> 00:01:16.959 As a reminder, this is Heather Wood, chair of the 20 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:21.000 Easington Women's support group. Orgreave was a coching plant at 21 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:24.400 which there were extremely violent clashes between police and pickets, 22 00:01:24.799 --> 00:01:26.840 which we're going to talk more about in our forthcoming 23 00:01:26.920 --> 00:01:28.719 series with striking miners. 24 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:34.439 After those cars had been turned over the way, people 25 00:01:34.439 --> 00:01:36.560 were picked up on the streets and taken to court, 26 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:39.560 and even if it just happened to be passing them, 27 00:01:39.560 --> 00:01:44.319 were arrested. I mean, I know one young lad who 28 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:46.959 had been taking his girlfriend home that picked him up 29 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:50.040 as somebody involved in that. He was taken to court 30 00:01:50.079 --> 00:01:53.400 and the judge just said, I'm not listening to individual stories. 31 00:01:53.400 --> 00:01:56.319 I'm treating all the same. You're going to prison. He 32 00:01:56.400 --> 00:02:00.680 went to prison, and it happened was a relative of 33 00:02:00.760 --> 00:02:04.239 mine and it was still as formally parents. While his 34 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:06.760 parents were on holiday. The governor of the prison rang 35 00:02:06.920 --> 00:02:10.280 my mother and said, it's quite clear that this lad 36 00:02:10.360 --> 00:02:13.319 shouldn't be here and if you are prepared to access 37 00:02:13.319 --> 00:02:16.560 responsibility and make sure he gets back, and prepared to 38 00:02:16.599 --> 00:02:20.919 release them to cities exams at college, and that happened. 39 00:02:21.280 --> 00:02:23.560 Now that was the enemy withins or you know what 40 00:02:23.639 --> 00:02:27.000 I mean. It's just incredible what the state could do. 41 00:02:28.120 --> 00:02:31.280 In July nineteen eighty four, Women's strike supporters organized a 42 00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:35.520 conference at which they discussed establishing a national organization and 43 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:39.759 a national women's protest in London. This was established formerly 44 00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:44.919 in August as Women Against Pit Closures WAPC. Amongst the 45 00:02:44.919 --> 00:02:47.360 women who came together to support the strike, there were 46 00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:51.199 conflicts around what the goals of WAPC should be, whether 47 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:53.680 they should be narrowly in support of the strike or 48 00:02:53.719 --> 00:02:56.400 whether they should have wider goals related to things like 49 00:02:56.439 --> 00:03:01.280 women's liberation in general. Also, many members of WAPC plainly 50 00:03:01.319 --> 00:03:04.800 stated that they were not feminists, but especially as time 51 00:03:04.840 --> 00:03:08.120 went on, many members came into contact with the feminist movement, 52 00:03:08.599 --> 00:03:12.560 particularly through the Greenham Common Peace Camp. These tensions resulted 53 00:03:12.599 --> 00:03:15.439 in a decision that one hundred percent of the WAPC 54 00:03:15.599 --> 00:03:18.759 leadership would have to be women related to miners, such 55 00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:22.800 as wives, mothers, sisters and so on, and that seventy 56 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:25.719 five percent of any member group also had to be 57 00:03:25.800 --> 00:03:28.680 minor related women. This was in order to restrict the 58 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:32.479 focus of the group to the strike itself. So while 59 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:35.639 many women's groups did join the national organization, a good 60 00:03:35.719 --> 00:03:39.479 number of others didn't, like the Barnsley Miners Wives Action Group, 61 00:03:39.719 --> 00:03:43.319 which remained independent. The women decided that their group should 62 00:03:43.319 --> 00:03:45.879 be women only and that it would have a close 63 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:49.840 relationship with but would be autonomous from the National Union 64 00:03:49.879 --> 00:03:53.400 of Mineworkers in UM. On the eleventh of August nineteen 65 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:56.280 eighty four, up to twenty five thousand women marched in 66 00:03:56.319 --> 00:03:59.599 London in support of the striking miners. But as the 67 00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:02.840 strike dragged on, the employers were able to get increasing 68 00:04:02.919 --> 00:04:04.759 numbers of scabs back to work. 69 00:04:05.439 --> 00:04:07.520 I'm proud to say that an Ease and Currant, we 70 00:04:07.639 --> 00:04:10.599 had the least scams, we had the least go back 71 00:04:10.599 --> 00:04:13.280 to work before the official day of return, and I 72 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:16.600 can't remember the numbers brough with hand for rather than 73 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:19.319 a lot as the government would have you know that 74 00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:23.319 the returning to work in droves before the vote, there 75 00:04:23.360 --> 00:04:24.319 certainly weren't here. 76 00:04:25.120 --> 00:04:28.480 Many mining communities are still divided today along lines of 77 00:04:28.519 --> 00:04:30.399 who scabbed and who didn't. 78 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:32.879 For me and for a lot of other people, it's 79 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:36.360 still the same when you talk about certain people, you're 80 00:04:36.360 --> 00:04:38.879 always in the conversation with, well, you know he was 81 00:04:38.920 --> 00:04:43.639 a scab. There's a photograph taken by Keith Patterson inside 82 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:45.839 of the clergy club when the meals are being served 83 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:49.399 and one of the women who is has that plate 84 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:52.839 in the hand getting a meal. Her husband went back 85 00:04:52.839 --> 00:04:55.439 to work and I remember still the press he was 86 00:04:55.480 --> 00:04:57.839 going back to work because they received no help from 87 00:04:57.879 --> 00:05:00.439 anybody unless she was in the clergy club get the 88 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:03.879 meal and our children were getting meals. Well, what were 89 00:05:03.920 --> 00:05:05.240 the help did you want? 90 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:07.839 You know? It was just a blatantly it was an 91 00:05:07.879 --> 00:05:10.480 excuse for going back. But they'll not be forgotten. 92 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:14.639 No, we might even speak now, might say hello, but 93 00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:16.040 never be forgotten. 94 00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:21.240 In Nottinghamshire, where strikers were outnumbered by scabs, strikers had 95 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:25.040 a very difficult time and while the media frequently covered 96 00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:28.800 tales of violence by strikers against scabs, they didn't cover 97 00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:32.839 violence by scabs against strikers. On one occasion, for example, 98 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:36.240 when the car and garage of Peter and Janie Neelan 99 00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:40.360 was set ablaze and their house vandalized. Itn rushed a 100 00:05:40.439 --> 00:05:42.920 news crew to the home to report on it, but 101 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:45.560 when they learned that Peter was a striker and the 102 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:49.480 arsonists were scabs, they apparently packed up their equipment and 103 00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:50.079 went home. 104 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:57.759 We actually went to Olloton, Nothinghamshire, because nothing had very 105 00:05:57.839 --> 00:06:01.199 few people who were on strike. Most scabbed and that's 106 00:06:01.240 --> 00:06:05.680 where they from the breakaway union. But we knew that 107 00:06:05.879 --> 00:06:09.040 the people in Alton who were on strike had very 108 00:06:09.079 --> 00:06:11.040 little because they didn't have the support of the local 109 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:14.199 shops and everything that we had. So we actually got 110 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:15.920 a mini bus and took food down for them at 111 00:06:15.959 --> 00:06:20.720 Oland and we stayed with them and it was just 112 00:06:20.839 --> 00:06:24.879 so hard for them. I mean the year were worse 113 00:06:24.920 --> 00:06:28.319 off than we were because the numbers were totally different. 114 00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:33.839 There was more scabs going in than there were people 115 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:36.839 on strike, so it must have been really really hard 116 00:06:36.920 --> 00:06:39.360 for them, and they were getting the treatment that the 117 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:43.199 scabs were saying that they were on the end of, 118 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:47.000 you know, people putting the windows in. That was the 119 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:51.399 Nottingham strikers had their windows put in, had their people threatened, 120 00:06:52.519 --> 00:06:57.040 and like I said, Florence Anderson was arrested and Scargill 121 00:06:57.319 --> 00:07:01.879 was arrested Betty Cook and they were in the Yorkshire 122 00:07:01.879 --> 00:07:05.279 area then. But we were all doing very similar things, 123 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:08.160 working around the clock really seven days a week for 124 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:11.360 a year, because while you weren't making meals, you were 125 00:07:11.800 --> 00:07:14.600 trying to organize, or you were trying to fundraise, or 126 00:07:14.920 --> 00:07:17.639 you're trying to picket, or you were trying to write stories. 127 00:07:17.879 --> 00:07:21.720 So you know, there was something all the time every 128 00:07:21.879 --> 00:07:23.439 day as well as. 129 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:27.040 The employers, the government and the police. The press was 130 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:28.839 almost unified against the strike. 131 00:07:29.480 --> 00:07:31.000 Yes, it was very much so. 132 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:33.800 Like I said, it was always something the pickets have 133 00:07:34.519 --> 00:07:38.279 been smashed, this place up and in lots of cases 134 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:41.759 it wasn't true. And look at all grief. They discovered 135 00:07:41.800 --> 00:07:44.879 how many years later that the film had been screened 136 00:07:44.920 --> 00:07:48.360 the wrong way around. It actually was the. 137 00:07:48.560 --> 00:07:49.920 Police going at the miners. 138 00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:53.160 And yet now we're asking for an inquiry the government 139 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:53.839 to refuse in it. 140 00:07:54.600 --> 00:07:58.240 Indeed, the state broadcast of the BBC showed footage of 141 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:02.079 miners throwing missiles at police, followed by a violent police 142 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:05.959 charge against the miners. In reality, it later transpired that 143 00:08:06.040 --> 00:08:09.959 the police attack happened first and miners responded by trying 144 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:11.920 to defend themselves by throwing objects. 145 00:08:12.519 --> 00:08:15.959 It's discussing we need justice the way they're trett us 146 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:21.399 and the press, the capitalist press, were against us. At 147 00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:24.639 one point the mirror went in general, the mirror was 148 00:08:24.680 --> 00:08:28.959 with us, but it was always the headlines the enemy within. Well, 149 00:08:29.079 --> 00:08:30.600 I mean, at the end we got to be quite 150 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:34.120 proud that we were in But like I said, behind 151 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:38.639 the scenes, the journalists unions raised a lot of money 152 00:08:38.679 --> 00:08:41.080 to help us. They were doing their job, and they 153 00:08:41.120 --> 00:08:43.039 were throwing to their job. If we would all just 154 00:08:43.080 --> 00:08:45.960 stick together, it would be wonderful, wouldn't all outstrike? 155 00:08:47.080 --> 00:08:50.240 But an all out strike was not forthcoming. We'll talk 156 00:08:50.320 --> 00:08:53.519 more about that in our forthcoming miniseries. In addition to 157 00:08:53.600 --> 00:08:56.159 the trade union movement as a whole, the Labor Party, 158 00:08:56.240 --> 00:08:58.720 which was set up and funded by the unions, and 159 00:08:58.840 --> 00:09:02.120 its leader Neil Kinner were criticized for failing to support 160 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:02.600 the strike. 161 00:09:03.159 --> 00:09:03.919 Let us down. 162 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:09.200 They let us down badly, very badly when you think. 163 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:11.320 I mentioned at the beginning of the interview that Neil 164 00:09:11.399 --> 00:09:14.799 Kenneth came to our village just the year before the strike, 165 00:09:15.240 --> 00:09:16.720 and he was all in support. 166 00:09:16.919 --> 00:09:18.600 His grandfather was a. 167 00:09:18.759 --> 00:09:21.960 Miner and all this, and then all of a sudden 168 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:25.720 there was nothing. We were just left were the enemy within, 169 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:30.200 and the likes of Kinnec were frightened off because the 170 00:09:30.279 --> 00:09:34.480 press all against us. And again I mean the reporters 171 00:09:34.519 --> 00:09:36.600 weren't against us because we were getting loads of money 172 00:09:36.600 --> 00:09:41.039 from their unions with the owners of the newspapers that 173 00:09:41.080 --> 00:09:45.039 were against us. But Kinnick and his ilk slotted in 174 00:09:45.240 --> 00:09:48.240 with that because they were frightened of their own future. No, 175 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:51.639 it wasn't about the strike, it was about their future. 176 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:54.159 They were looking after themselves, very much the same as. 177 00:09:54.120 --> 00:09:54.679 The Hour today. 178 00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:58.919 In November nineteen eighty four, many women members of Lesbians 179 00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:01.879 and Gays Support the Mind as a queer minors support group, 180 00:10:02.360 --> 00:10:06.240 split off from the organization to form Lesbians Against Pit Closures, 181 00:10:06.600 --> 00:10:10.559 an explicitly lesbian women's group which joined Minus Picket Lions 182 00:10:10.799 --> 00:10:14.200 and helped fundraising activities in support of the strike. You 183 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:16.759 can learn more about these groups in episodes twenty seven 184 00:10:16.799 --> 00:10:20.000 to twenty nine of our podcast. As the winter of 185 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:23.279 nineteen eighty four to five continued, it became clear to 186 00:10:23.399 --> 00:10:27.000 Heather and other strike supporters but most likely the government 187 00:10:27.159 --> 00:10:29.639 was going to succeed in starving the miners. 188 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:29.919 Back to work. 189 00:10:30.679 --> 00:10:33.600 In all of our hearts of hearts, I think we knew, 190 00:10:34.200 --> 00:10:36.440 I really do. We never talked about it out loud, 191 00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:38.559 and certainly when I was talking to. 192 00:10:38.559 --> 00:10:41.480 The women, it was always we can still do it, 193 00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:42.000 we can. 194 00:10:41.960 --> 00:10:45.480 Still win, we can do it. And I remember one 195 00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:51.519 year we've been to Middlesbrough to a rally and Hugh Binnan, 196 00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:54.759 who was elected Joe Muni at that time and raised 197 00:10:54.759 --> 00:10:57.159 a lot of money for us. He was there and 198 00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:01.159 he isn't. Women were walking up ahead after the rally 199 00:11:01.720 --> 00:11:04.039 and we'd just been sent and we can still do 200 00:11:04.360 --> 00:11:06.919 we can. I think that was about the January we 201 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:09.399 can still do what we can do it And then 202 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:12.440 Hugh and I just looked at each other and both 203 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:14.480 had teas and our wives because we can knew we 204 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:15.320 weren't going to do it. 205 00:11:15.559 --> 00:11:19.519 But you have to have faith. You have to you 206 00:11:19.639 --> 00:11:21.000 never know. It might have worked. 207 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:24.240 But at the end of the day, I always say, 208 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:27.480 we didn't lose. Okay, we took our communities and everything, 209 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:29.879 but they didn't take our self respect because we stood 210 00:11:30.720 --> 00:11:31.320 and we thought. 211 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:35.399 Eventually, in early March nineteen eighty five, just shy of 212 00:11:35.480 --> 00:11:38.600 a year after the strike began, miners held meetings to 213 00:11:38.679 --> 00:11:42.120 vote on ending the strike, which the majority ended up doing. 214 00:11:42.639 --> 00:11:47.320 It was absolutely horrendous. I remember the day. I don't 215 00:11:47.320 --> 00:11:50.320 remember the date, but I remember the day we had. 216 00:11:51.240 --> 00:11:55.039 There was a big meeting in Easington Welfare Hall and 217 00:11:56.440 --> 00:12:01.840 the hall was packed and spoke the lease jobs that spoke. 218 00:12:01.960 --> 00:12:04.679 They were union officials and I've been asked to speak, 219 00:12:05.320 --> 00:12:08.840 and I can picture it now. I had my speech 220 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:10.840 in my pocket, I'd written it and I went to 221 00:12:10.919 --> 00:12:13.440 get the alphaby pocket and I put it back and. 222 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:14.320 I just spoke. 223 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:19.039 It was just it was quite hard, and you're looking 224 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:22.240 around to say a Basis paid Blue four for a year, 225 00:12:23.080 --> 00:12:27.919 and it's just sad. The felt defeated, and it took 226 00:12:27.960 --> 00:12:31.320 a long time for people, and still some people haven't 227 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:36.480 realized we were braving what we did. We didn't win 228 00:12:36.600 --> 00:12:39.639 the end game, but we were braving what we did. 229 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:43.000 As the strike ended, Heather made a speech at a 230 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:46.200 rally in Easington, which features in the film Can't Beat 231 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:48.879 It Alone by Amber Films, to whom we're thankful for 232 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:50.840 sharing this contemporary recording with us. 233 00:12:52.279 --> 00:12:57.639 Well, I think over the last twelve months, I've made 234 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:00.440 some speeches, but I think this is the most racking 235 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:02.720 one of the lot, because really I don't know what 236 00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:03.639 to say to it all. 237 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:08.879 I'm choked up because words can't say what I feel. 238 00:13:09.639 --> 00:13:14.720 You've been the greatest people I think that could ever exist, 239 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:19.879 and I think people that this country, contrary to what 240 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:23.480 missus Thatcher says, we should be proud of, because I'm 241 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:27.120 certainly proud to be part of this community. I think 242 00:13:27.639 --> 00:13:29.399 there's been a hell of a lot of suffering over 243 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:33.360 the last few months, last twelve months anyway. But what 244 00:13:33.440 --> 00:13:36.000 we've got to remember is we've gained a lot from 245 00:13:36.039 --> 00:13:40.519 that suffering all sections of our community. We've all come together. 246 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:43.480 We weren't like that before the strike. I know we 247 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:47.000 were to a certain extent, but we've never worked together 248 00:13:47.120 --> 00:13:49.639 like we have the last twelve months. We've got to 249 00:13:49.720 --> 00:13:53.360 continue it. Don't be downhearted, because I'm not. There was 250 00:13:53.399 --> 00:13:56.039 a young lad asked me in the welfare hall just 251 00:13:56.159 --> 00:13:59.559 as the strike was over. He said, Heather, you know 252 00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:02.159 to get I think it was worth it what we've done, 253 00:14:03.720 --> 00:14:05.919 and I've answered them sharp. You might have thought I 254 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:09.519 was a bit too sharp, but I certainly don't think 255 00:14:09.559 --> 00:14:12.320 it's over. It won't be over until we get Margaret 256 00:14:12.399 --> 00:14:14.960 Thatcher out, and until we win the case for Call, 257 00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:18.399 and until we win a good working class society for 258 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:21.360 us all. And again, from the bottom of my heart, 259 00:14:21.720 --> 00:14:24.720 all of you is thanks very much for Sean. What 260 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:27.600 good people are. I only wish the press had put it. 261 00:14:27.639 --> 00:14:30.960 Over, while striking miners simply wouldn't have been able to 262 00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:33.159 hold out as long as they did without the support 263 00:14:33.240 --> 00:14:36.480 from their wives and women's support groups. The crucial role 264 00:14:36.600 --> 00:14:40.159 played by women in the dispute hadn't received adequate recognition 265 00:14:40.720 --> 00:14:41.919 until relatively recently. 266 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:46.559 I would say the last ten years people have started 267 00:14:46.600 --> 00:14:49.600 to look at and to record more what the women 268 00:14:49.720 --> 00:14:54.799 did and the worst women in that strike. I mean 269 00:14:55.120 --> 00:14:57.159 every year since the strike, I've had at least two 270 00:14:57.240 --> 00:15:01.360 students from universities all over the country who were doing 271 00:15:01.440 --> 00:15:02.960 invitations on the. 272 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:04.519 Women's groups in the strike. 273 00:15:05.039 --> 00:15:09.919 But in more recent years you've got a Maximum Peaks 274 00:15:10.120 --> 00:15:13.200 just written a play about the women's support groups in 275 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:17.039 the strike. I think that's one in Manchester. Now you've 276 00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:22.080 got Lucy Brownie's doing a piece for the Durham Book 277 00:15:22.159 --> 00:15:27.799 Festival on me, my mother and my two grandmothers and 278 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:31.399 that it's about strong women in mine and communities and 279 00:15:31.799 --> 00:15:34.159 that leading up to the strike. The is what I 280 00:15:34.279 --> 00:15:37.759 was saying earlier. Women just over the years have just 281 00:15:37.919 --> 00:15:40.320 got on the gone out twenty six did the soup 282 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:43.600 kitchens in twenty six, went back, came out, the wanted 283 00:15:43.639 --> 00:15:46.639 bat in the suite, the protestors who went back, we 284 00:15:46.840 --> 00:15:50.080 just did it. This time we're saying we would recognize 285 00:15:50.120 --> 00:15:53.159 them in history. That needs to be there, what women 286 00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:56.759 have done. And I don't know whether you saw the 287 00:15:56.879 --> 00:16:01.440 work that the Women's Family Group did in Durham over this. 288 00:16:01.559 --> 00:16:03.080 Last nine months. 289 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:07.360 But it was a group formed to get a women's 290 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:12.960 banner ready for the Durham Big Meeting and we asked 291 00:16:13.639 --> 00:16:17.879 women throughout the county to depict what they do in 292 00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:23.919 patchwork and we put a patchwork banner together with the 293 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:27.240 help of Mary Turner who's a Durham quiza, and that 294 00:16:27.559 --> 00:16:31.480 was paraded at Durham's Big meetant and it was blessed. 295 00:16:31.519 --> 00:16:34.320 It's the first women's banner to be blessed in Durame 296 00:16:34.360 --> 00:16:36.639 Cathedral on Big Meat and Day with the other banners, 297 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:41.240 and it's the first women's banner to be accepted into 298 00:16:41.320 --> 00:16:45.759 the Durham Miners Banner Group. So all this is going on, 299 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:49.759 there's so much happening at the minute. People want to 300 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:52.960 know about women and the work that women have done 301 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:56.679 in our communities. It's amazing. So to me, I'll try 302 00:16:56.720 --> 00:16:59.919 to talk to everybody because it needs to be recorded, 303 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:05.880 needs to be written down because otherwise the Tories, the capitalists, 304 00:17:05.960 --> 00:17:09.000 they're right it their way and history will be changed. 305 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:12.839 Despite the loss of the strike itself, participation in it 306 00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:16.519 changed the lives of many women, especially in mining communities. 307 00:17:17.079 --> 00:17:19.440 I think the good thing, one of the good things 308 00:17:20.359 --> 00:17:26.119 was that women recognized that politics was for them and 309 00:17:27.079 --> 00:17:29.359 they could get involved and they did have a voice, 310 00:17:30.039 --> 00:17:35.480 and they could organize and they could do things outside 311 00:17:35.519 --> 00:17:37.000 the home or work. 312 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:38.759 That was the biggest thing. 313 00:17:39.279 --> 00:17:41.680 One of the biggest learning curve for all of us 314 00:17:41.920 --> 00:17:45.720 was how the state can operate against you, what can 315 00:17:45.799 --> 00:17:48.920 do the constraints that can put on you. The people 316 00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:52.240 that can be locked up for no reason, learned us. 317 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:56.000 I think I learned a lot of women about capitalists 318 00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:58.319 and haven't thought about it, and they hadn't thought how 319 00:17:58.440 --> 00:18:02.559 politics are set did their lives. And I mean that 320 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:04.759 went for some men as well, because I can remember 321 00:18:04.839 --> 00:18:08.519 saying to one man, have you looked at the political aspects? 322 00:18:08.519 --> 00:18:11.519 And he said, oh, politics, I'm not involved in politics. 323 00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:13.960 And I said, do you see that time to be? 324 00:18:14.839 --> 00:18:18.559 He said, yeah, what as the tax that's on that 325 00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:20.759 that goes to government, so that time to be it 326 00:18:20.920 --> 00:18:23.680 is political. You are coming in a political act. 327 00:18:23.960 --> 00:18:24.079 Oh. 328 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:25.119 I never thought about that. 329 00:18:25.960 --> 00:18:29.559 So it was opening people's eyes. So I think that 330 00:18:29.720 --> 00:18:32.079 was one of the good things. I just hope we 331 00:18:32.119 --> 00:18:34.880 don't forget it again because the one about the states, 332 00:18:35.000 --> 00:18:38.799 because we were all surprised when the police landed in 333 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:39.680 asn't in the way. 334 00:18:39.599 --> 00:18:39.960 The day is. 335 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:43.839 But we shouldn't have been because look at Peter Leo, 336 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:48.920 look at nineteen twenty six strike. You know the government 337 00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:52.000 have always gone out against us, so we shouldn't have 338 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:54.759 been surprised. So it's important that things like this had done. 339 00:18:55.440 --> 00:18:58.799 Recordings like this are made so that people do remember 340 00:18:59.240 --> 00:18:59.799 what's going on. 341 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:03.319 Large numbers of women involved in the strike continued to 342 00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:06.799 be politically active afterwards in many ways, for example, in 343 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:10.440 the movement against apartheid in South Africa, in struggles against 344 00:19:10.519 --> 00:19:14.440 further picitclosures in the nineteen nineties and more. Lots of 345 00:19:14.480 --> 00:19:17.519 the women also decided to resume their formal education to 346 00:19:17.599 --> 00:19:22.119 improve their own opportunities, going to collegies and universities. One 347 00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:24.839 woman was quoted in Jill Miller's book You Can't Kill 348 00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:28.279 the Spirit Women in a Welsh mining Valley as saying 349 00:19:28.319 --> 00:19:31.799 the following quote, The strike was worth millions to me. 350 00:19:32.680 --> 00:19:35.599 Our women's group will continue to flourish, it will go on. 351 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:39.039 We suddenly found out that there was life after marriage. 352 00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:42.079 We've taken a political step forward in a year and 353 00:19:42.240 --> 00:19:45.279 formed friendships that most women would take a lifetime to achieve, 354 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:48.319 and we don't intend to go back into the background. 355 00:19:49.079 --> 00:19:52.200 Our husbands don't want us to either, even though some 356 00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:54.599 of them have been heard to cry, please give us 357 00:19:54.599 --> 00:19:57.279 back our wives. We have made a mark in this town. 358 00:19:57.640 --> 00:20:00.240 We've made a space for ourselves in this world, and 359 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:03.480 we fully intend to keep it. As a matter of fact, 360 00:20:03.839 --> 00:20:05.920 we're going to try and make an even bigger space 361 00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:10.559 or go down trying end quote. Looking back. One incident 362 00:20:10.599 --> 00:20:13.559 of solidarity, which occurred during the strike in particular, stuck 363 00:20:13.640 --> 00:20:15.640 with Heather even decades later. 364 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:20.480 One day when the first Easington scalp was gone back, 365 00:20:20.880 --> 00:20:23.119 the Hall of Easington turned out and I'm moon the 366 00:20:23.160 --> 00:20:27.200 Hall of Easington and the police were there and Jossy Smith, 367 00:20:28.039 --> 00:20:31.119 who lived just near the pit, he'd just been in 368 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:34.480 hospital for a stomach operation and him and his wife 369 00:20:34.519 --> 00:20:36.880 had heard the commotion at the top of the street 370 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:39.119 and they went up to see what was going on, 371 00:20:39.720 --> 00:20:42.559 and before he even really got there. 372 00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:44.039 He was picked up by a policeman. 373 00:20:44.440 --> 00:20:48.880 There's photographic evidence of it, and he's been taken man 374 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:52.839 handled to a van by the police and his wife 375 00:20:53.160 --> 00:20:55.680 is shouting, I want me ma'am, I want me, madam, 376 00:20:55.720 --> 00:20:57.559 what you're doing to So the picked her up and 377 00:20:57.640 --> 00:21:02.519 took her to the van, and the crowd erupted at that, 378 00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:07.440 so that the police took Jossy and his wife back 379 00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:09.960 home and told them if they came out again and 380 00:21:09.960 --> 00:21:13.920 would definitely be arrested. So it's things like that but 381 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:16.839 stick in my mind, oh because not half an hour 382 00:21:16.920 --> 00:21:18.799 later the police came back to Jossy and asked him 383 00:21:18.799 --> 00:21:20.359 if he would go out and quiet in the crowd down, 384 00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:25.319 you know, and these these are so amazing things that 385 00:21:25.480 --> 00:21:29.400 it things can't happen in your village. You know, who 386 00:21:29.480 --> 00:21:34.640 were JOSSI arrested like that? They rang me or somebody 387 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:36.119 around me that night and said can. 388 00:21:36.079 --> 00:21:38.480 You go down and see Jossy and his wife because 389 00:21:38.519 --> 00:21:40.200 they're in such a space. You know. 390 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:42.759 The other family that we were called to go to, 391 00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:46.440 their son was up and there was some rumpus about 392 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:50.400 it had a counterfeit fifty pound note. It turned out 393 00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:53.759 it wasn't counterfeit, but but searched his parents' house, ran factors, 394 00:21:54.480 --> 00:21:57.720 contacted his employer in London. He was a chef and 395 00:21:58.400 --> 00:22:01.359 Rare did his flat in London and all known that 396 00:22:01.440 --> 00:22:04.680 had seen the fifty pound note. It was okay, and 397 00:22:04.839 --> 00:22:07.400 that's the lad. I had to get Jack Dormond to 398 00:22:07.519 --> 00:22:10.559 go and get released from the PlayStation. I went down 399 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:13.759 to that lad's parents' house. The night had happened, and 400 00:22:14.680 --> 00:22:20.039 his mother was sad, and she was riddled with arthritis. 401 00:22:20.119 --> 00:22:22.599