melthebell Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 i used to go down to orgreave at dinner times at school as i went to beaver hill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsDavies2Be Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 I was born in this year but not in march but in november my mum always mentions this, 1984 the miners strikes what a year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazel Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 My son had started work as an apprentice electrician at Brookhouse pit. He was out on strike for a year but kept up with his college work. He was supposed to get some sort of benefit for the time he was off work but the reality was he got nothing. When the Brookhouse miners went back to work at the end of the strike they all met some distance away from the Pit and they marched down the Lane with the brass band playing and with banners and heads held high. I always thought what an event for a 17 year old to be part of. The Pit closed as Arther said it would after they had money spent on improvments they did not need therefore making the Pit uneconomical. At the end of his apprenticeship he had to do another year practical work to make up for the year he missed When his brother did a university degree in Australia, part of his course was the Battle of Orgreave, seems unbelievable that at the time he lived about 5 mins away, so could give a first hand account hazel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuttsie Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 Thatcher and her cohorts did there job they broke the working class and we are now seeing the outcome. Millions out of work due to closing our heavy industries especially in places like Sheffield. The Industries in Question have been relocated abroad so as to take advantage of the cheap labour some times this work is even done by kids. The situation that we are now left with is that working people are turning against each other and forgetting who the real culprits are for the situation that we are now in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willo Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 Thatcher and her cohorts did there job they broke the working class and we are now seeing the outcome. Millions out of work due to closing our heavy industries especially in places like Sheffield. The Industries in Question have been relocated abroad so as to take advantage of the cheap labour some times this work is even done by kids. The situation that we are now left with is that working people are turning against each other and forgetting who the real culprits are for the situation that we are now in. well said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jomarch Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 I think this thread may get very busy, as so many people around South Yorkshire still have vivid and painful memories of the strike. Mining goes back six generations in my family and my older brother was the last family member to work as a miner, he left in the mid 80s and is now a teacher! I have so many memories of that year- including my brother telling me as he waited with me for the train heading back to Sheffield, that there was going to be a strike and that it was going to be 'very big.' My own strongest, personal memory was of going into town to sign on on a day when there was a heavy police presence in the city (as someone said- that was most days!). I got off the bus on Angel Street and walked through the gennel to Campo Lane intending to make my way up to West Street to the dole office. All I could see all the way up Campo Lane were row upon row of mounted police, and at first I did feel intimidated to say the least, there seemed to be no other pedestrians or members of the public around. I could have turned round and gone another way- but,rising to the challenge, I decided that I had every right to walk the streets of my own city, especially in broad daylight, and so I walked through them! The police men were just sitting on their horses, obviously waiting for an order to move and what I would have done if they had started moving I don't know- as it was I walked all the way up Campo Lane being watched by hundreds of mounted police in complete silence. I have never forgotten that experience- feeling both sadness that this was happening in my city, and a certain pride that I hadn't backed down! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cuttsie Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 I think this thread may get very busy, as so many people around South Yorkshire still have vivid and painful memories of the strike. Mining goes back six generations in my family and my older brother was the last family member to work as a miner, he left in the mid 80s and is now a teacher! I have so many memories of that year- including my brother telling me as he waited with me for the train heading back to Sheffield, that there was going to be a strike and that it was going to be 'very big.' My own strongest, personal memory was of going into town to sign on on a day when there was a heavy police presence in the city (as someone said- that was most days!). I got off the bus on Angel Street and walked through the gennel to Campo Lane intending to make my way up to West Street to the dole office. All I could see all the way up Campo Lane were row upon row of mounted police, and at first I did feel intimidated to say the least, there seemed to be no other pedestrians or members of the public around. I could have turned round and gone another way- but,rising to the challenge, I decided that I had every right to walk the streets of my own city, especially in broad daylight, and so I walked through them! The police men were just sitting on their horses, obviously waiting for an order to move and what I would have done if they had started moving I don't know- as it was I walked all the way up Campo Lane being watched by hundreds of mounted police in complete silence. I have never forgotten that experience- feeling both sadness that this was happening in my city, and a certain pride that I hadn't backed down! I know that feeling that you have and it makes me sad as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soft ayperth Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 When the OP talks about THE miners' strike, he is referring to the 1984 one. I've been doing some research of local history for a writing project of mine and there's no doubt that there were several miners' strikes prior to this one. I wonder if anyone remembers the wildcat strikes in 1947 when even the union leaders turned on the workers? Or the one that occurred during the war when Churchill sent the American ambassador to talk the miners into going back? I don't, but I found it interesting when I came across these items. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabitter Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 what a lot of people dont know is men of working age in cars were stopped from leaving sheffield in case they were going to join pickets at other pits. we were turned back twice when we were going to fish on trent and i was a steel worker my mates were turned back in a coach going to a football match and the police were very aggressive never trusted police or tories since and never will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xenia Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 There are few, if any Police inside football grounds these days. If it wasnt for the nutcases who follow football there wouldnt be any need for them outside either. That was the day Britain became a police state and still is and it was the Year I left Britain for Spain and never returned because it still is a police state. You try to go to a football match and not see thousands of control freeks in blue uniforms and riot gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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