Miners strike stalwarts discuss epic struggle 40 years on

The day-long event, organised by Chorley Trades Union Council was held at Coppull Royal British Legion, with over 70 people attending including strikers and their supporters from the time. They shared experiences about their role in sustaining the year long struggle, the hardships they endured and pride they felt at being part of the historic struggle.

The audience heard how miners locally had refused to cross picket lines at Parkside in Wigan and Sutton Manor and Bold collieries in the St Helens area, set up by striking miners from Yorkshire. They were resisting the threatened closure of pits and consequent devastation of local communities.

Some 90 members of the National Union of Mineworkers, the majority living in the Coppull and Chorley area, respected picket lines and remained loyal to the National Union of Mineworkers to the end.

Amongst them was life-long Coppull resident Arthur Lowe, who at the time was working as a shunter on the pit top at Parkside colliery. He told the meeting: “I was born into a mining family, my Dad was a miner and he always drummed it into me the golden rule never to cross a picket line.

“So on day one when pickets were on the gate, I turned back. Parkside was solid at first, but hardship started to kick in the longer we stayed out. But I had the support of my wife Ann and we knew we had to get involved or children would suffer. So that was how we started, collecting money and food, going to meetings to speak to other union members.”

As the strike entered its third month nationally, trade unionists and Labour Party women in Chorley initiated a support group which raised funds locally and helped sustain strikers’ families with regular, weekly food parcels.

Dave Beale from Chorley TUC recalled how despite increasing hardship as miners’ families struggled to survive on a wife or partners’ – often part-time – income, Chorley Borough Council at the time had refused to allow a licence for street collections.

“It was a shameful act, but it just spurred us on to work harder for the miners and the future they were fighting for. In all, the support group raised £26,000 to buy much needed food and stave off hunger which was a key factor driving men reluctantly back to work.”

A focal point locally became the open cast coal mine on Wigan Lane near Coppull where workers were not in a union and carried on coal extraction. Miners and their supporters established a regular picket line and had an early success in turning away lorries delivering fuel oil.

Arthur Lowe said: “We tried to stop more wagons but the police were preventing us from picketing properly, there would be more of them than us sometimes. Vehicles were allowed to drive dangerously, straight at us.

“Our picket hut was also burnt out but we stood firm. We were joined by miners from South Wales where all the pits were out and solid so they came up to support the picket line and we put them up at our houses in the village.”

Attendees enjoyed a buffet lunch and then heard from John Harris, a professional photographer who, with the support of the National Union of Mineworkers, documented the strike extensively. His pictures included some of the most famous images from during the 12 months, including from Orgreave coking plant where many miners were arrested and injured in mass pickets during the summer of 1984.

The meeting paid tribute to the unstinting support which was given to the men by their wives and partners during the strike, including the late Rita Aspinall from Coppull, who became a leading figure in Lancashire Women Against Pit Closures (WAPC).

Heather Wood from the national WAPC said: “Mrs Thatcher called us ‘the enemy within’ and that became a badge of pride for us. When they start to label you like that, it’s because they are scared of you. The Tories were frightened not just of the miners but what the trade union movement together could do.”

Julie Anderton said: “As a women's group we went to a picket line at Bold colliery and we got chased by police on horseback. To this day I still don’t know how we escaped that field.”

Ann Lowe remembered: “We used to get donations of tinned goods from unions overseas and we had to laugh because it always seemed to be meatballs! So we had to get used to that. But we managed, no matter what we were not going to give in. We had so many Christmas presents sent over, the kids couldn’t believe it.”

A discussion about the importance of the miners’ struggle for today drew the event to a close. Many spoke of their enduring pride at their part in fighting for future generations to have jobs with decent pay and trade union rights.

Paul Kelly, an NUM striker from Agecroft colliery in Salford said: “We were fighting for people before profit. The hallmark of a civilised society is one that puts spending money on our health and education before weapons of mass destruction.”

Arthur Lowe added: “It was sink or swim for us. We were in the fight of our lives, we didn’t choose it in a way but we had to do what was right, that’s what trade union principles are.”

Ginny Jones, NHS trade unionist and a long time campaigner for Chorley Hospital said: “It was a privilege to be a part of it and I would not change anything. We just didn’t get enough support from the Labour Party and trade unions nationally. For us the fight goes on.”

Meanwhile there are plans for a website, funded by Lancashire UNITE Community branch, which will host an archive of photographs, newspaper cuttings and posters from the time.