The Miners Strike 1984

Both my grandfathers were miners , one in South Wales and the other in Wigan. They both suffered terribly with dust on their lungs later in life . They received no compensation whatsoever.

Many poignant memories of miners, a tough and dangerous job of course. But those struggles in that awful strike, well, a pity those concerned (both sides) couldn't have had a crystal ball and see that coal would have a very limited future (global warming, etc)?

Many on here have rightly condemned Scargill, the odious little self-publicist, with a finishing education in Moscow. Several experienced pundits have stated that he did more to shut down the mining industry than the equally odious Thatcher.

Maybe some people won't know that in the 2010s the NUM were still trying to shift him from his flat in the Barbican, for which they'd been paying enormous rents and fees for many years. In the 90s, he'd tried to buy that flat under Thatcher's 'Right to Buy' scheme, which even Labour and NUM members have pointed out was a tad hypocritical?! Oh, and that's in London of course, which Scargill had once called a "prostituting place" ("hypocrite - moi"?).

Dear old Arthur has also been widely accused of grabbing funds donated for miner welfare, and has had to repay various amounts over the years, he also got castigated by other union leaders for refusing to condemn the Soviet attacks on the Polish 'Solidarity' movement, or when they shot down the Korean Airlines jet. Perhaps he still gets greetings cards from Putin?

Lived in S Yorkshire mining area for a few years and have great respect for miners and the job they do/did. I moved away before the strike era but have visited the area briefly since then and been saddened at the difference. They deserved a better deal.

Some very moving posts here that reflect my experience of the strike.
The strike months were desperate but the aftermath of the mines closing worse and continues

My late partner (died two months ago) started in the mines in Yorkshire as a 14 year old straight out of school. He wanted to be a banker and had a job offered but had to wait 2 months before could commence. His mother said no, we need money on the table now and sent him down the mines. he worked his way up the different grades and ended up as chief buyer staying with the coal board until they closed all the mines. He was near sixty by then. Being office based they made them cross the picket lines to do the necessary work, people were spitting at them, throwing stuff at them and in general giving them hell wherever they were. He did not want to work, but had no choice he said if he wanted to keep his job. He declined one transfer and was punished for years with no promotions/upgrading during that time. Despite studying constantly at evening school and eventually obtaining his masters. He had a family with two small children and a MIL to support. Awful times for most. It ruined hard working peoples lives and total villages. The stories he used to tell were simply unimaginable. There is old ex-miner on FB who writes the most brilliant poems about the period.

DH was in the police force, stationed in a mining area and he certainly didn't brag about earning a lot of money. He knew a lot of the striking miners and had family members in the mines, as did I. I was in Social Work. It was awful, the level of support available was almost non existent. I can recall grants given for prescription costs, loans were given for other circumstances but can't recall anything else. Applications to charities on behalf on some of the families for items such as heaters, (free coal had ceased) washing machines, fridges, were almost a full time job.

Nothing but miners where I was raised. Father sustainedxa broken back when roof collapsed on him. Brother in law had a leg caught in a machine (no guard on it). My father recovered but mother said I was terrified when he came home from hospital after a year as he had a body plaster on and walked like a zombie. I was 3 years old.
Brother in law had years of surgery to save his leg. NCB gave him a non manual job but he was constantly needing further surgery. Fortunately, both my brothers did not go the mines.

Yes, born and bed in Yorkshire - I left there to go to college in 1980, and remember when I came back in the holidays that the town became visibly depressed - litter everywhere, people wandering around the town centre looking lost, there as no energy there anymore somehow, Thatcher decimated the place ... then because they couldn't find jobs, as there weren't any, they became sick and depressed. It wasn't until many, may years later that the jobs came back through the building of call centres and warehousing, and then there seemed to be an explosion of leisure and entertainment to do - a lot of which nobody could afford to go to! It was very sad watching the decline ...

JANH thank you for mentioning the steelworkers strike, it seems to have been erased from history (although granted, it was nowhere near as long as the miners’ strike). That too caused real hardship in many of the same communities as the subsequent miners’ strike. It is very personal to me.

It was Thatcher’s practice run using her henchman McGregor, to test what she could get away with before taking on the miners. She had a clear strategy, she was determined to finish the unions and teach the working classes a lesson. Unfortunately Scargill played into her hands. But we would have been finished anyway, the workers never hold the power, even less so today. She was a wicked, vindictive woman.

My partner was a rep in that area during the strike. He said it was awful. I won’t say what his fathers job was at the time ( it wasn’t with a union) but he had a terrible argument with Nigel Lawson because he knew what his plans were for the mines and he’s convinced the stress brought about his fathers early death soon afterwards. Those areas have still never recovered because nothing was put back into them to regenerate new industry and create new jobs.

More coal mines were closed under Labour government post war.

Our office collected food for the miners this wasn't a mining area
But in the past members of my family worked (and died) in the pits

Yes. Lived in an ex mining village near Wigan. Dreadful time. We had collections for soup kitchens for miners & their families. There was a lot of ill feeling towards Thatcherites who wouldn’t help.

My mining community suffer from betrayal by Labour Government and Tory Government

I was teaching at the time and z colleague was married to a police officer! She would brag at how much overtime he got and the money he earned because of the strike! I stopped speaking to her !!
My mum and I collected food parcels plus money! I can never fidget or forgive the torrid for decimating communities! Many never recovered!

My husband was an electrician in the mines. He went underground on the day of his 16th birthday. His brother and father were both miners, who worked throughout the strike as they were members of NACODS. We had a 3 year old and 4 year old, when the strike started. It was an awful time. I went to the hall every week to pack up food parcels. Some women came in crying as they couldn't feed their children. We had loads of jumble sales where we bought clothes for the family. Families of striking miners were brought to their knees and families were divided. Communities around here have never recovered. There's been no investment at all in this area, since the mines closed and some men haven't worked since.

We owe so much to the Miners. It was a truly horrific time and we must never forget how they were abandoned. The government of the time ought to have been prosecuted for the lives and communities ruined. In the SE of England it was played down but in the mining communities there was true hunger and the government of the time were ruthless.
We don’t talk politics here such a pity we can’t have a conviction now - the person responsible in No 10 at the time is no longer here physically but their policies live on.
Thank you Miners and you will never be forgotten. 🙏

I had a friend, now sadly deceased, whose policeman husband was on duty at the miners strike.
She used to make up packets of sandwiches for him to share with the miners.
Other policeman used to share their sandwiches.
We never seem to hear about those things.

In 1984 I was a single parent living in East Anglia with no TV and going through a divorce, so the miner’s strike didn’t touch my life and wasn’t something that I even really formed an opinion of at the time, except in one regard: There was some general talk of police brutality toward the miners which I simply didn’t believe could be the case. I still had a rosy view of the police a la Dixon of Dock Green.

Just a couple of years later I witnessed with my own eyes the police use horses to bear down on innocent marchers and watched as they used their batons indiscriminately. I still remember the absolute shock and fear I felt as I dragged my then 16 year old daughter away from the police to a place of safety.

I have close family and friends who are police officers so I know there are good and bad, but I have since educated myself about the miner’s strike and I believe the police were in the grip of some kind of politically induced ‘groupthink’ that enabled them to leave their good consciences behind as they ‘carried out orders’.

I remember feeling so glad we didn’t live in the UK in that dreadful Thatcher reign. I couldn’t believe the cruelty of the woman. We left at the time of the 3 day electricity business under Ted Heath, another horror.

I remember it well living in a miner village in the north east my uncle was one of those miners lots of neighbours that weren’t miners would help out with food etc it was a really hard time. My uncle used to take me to the club when they were having meetings etc then send me home before they would march it’s something I will never forget

Much led up to the miners strike of 1984 , the winter of discontent, rats in the streets, dead not buried , Callaghan made the daftest comment about it , ‘what crisis’ , gave Thatcher victory, Scargill chose to follow Gormley and didn’t
hold a national ballot

MBM. Those mining villages near Leigh were devastated by the strike and closure of the pits. I agree it was awful damaging work, so was the loss of pride and income that followed 💙

I was Born and Brought up in a Mining Village in Leigh Lancashire .
Most of the men worked in the mine as did my Grandad & Dad.
I used to look out of my bedroom window and watch the Pit Headgear wind up coal to the surface .
Both my Grandad & Dad died a dreadful death through Mining disease .
Seeing someone you love gasping for Air is something l will never Forget.
I saw the Miners Strikes and how the Miners and Our family were treated , it separated so many families .
Thatcher had so much to answer for
Men and their family’s had so little to live on,
I will Never Forget how the Police treated the Miners,
I understand they were ordered to do a job but as a Young child seeing men beaten with Batons in front of you is something l will Never Forget.
These Men gave their everything for this Country and were treated like Animals .

Yes my Dad was a miner. He went down to Nottingham from County Durham when the mines there closed.
I was born in the back bedroom of the pit house we lived in.
I remember the miners strike very well - although my Dad was no longer a miner then. I remember going to Scarborough for the weekend and on the drive there, we came across a road full of protesting miners and police - it wasnt very pleasant at all.