40th anniversary of miners strike will be marked in exhibition launching in Chesterfield

The exhibition will open at Chesterfield’s Market Hall Assembly Rooms on March 4 where it will run until March 27 and then travel to venues in a wider area.

Colin Hampton, co-ordinator of Derbyshire Unemployed Workers Centre which is staging the exhibition, said: "We expect many former miners, their partners and widows will come along to have a look at the photos, banners, reflections and recollections. People will be asked to pin up photos of loved ones and family members involved as well as recording their reminscences.

“Outside of the Second World War and the Covid pandemic, the miners strike is possibly the biggest single event involving so many local people. It is for that reason that the 40th anniversary is important for all in our community.”

Colin got the idea of staging the display when visiting the ‘Chesterfield During Lockdown’ exhibition lat the Market Hall ast spring.

He said: “Early last year, Janet Wilson and Kate Alvey contacted me to see if it would be possible to stage something that would fully place on record the incredible efforts of local women in sustaining the miners’ strike in Derbyshire for a whole year.

"Women across North Derbyshire set up 24 strike centres, but they didn't just feed the families, they joined picket lines, they demonstrated, and travelled the length and breadth of the country, raising money and addressing meetings. This exhibition is a tribute to all who took part, but especially the women who gave their all.”

Colin took up his post at the Derbyshire Unempoyed Workers Centre during the strike. He said: “At DUWC we have had to deal with the redundancies at the pits and complimentary industries. Wages have stagnated and for many have plummeted, with opportunities for young people limited, leading to an exodus of talent. Many young people cannot earn the money to leave the family home and mortgages are out of reach without a secure job with a contract.

"The mining community is a proud community and many are not getting all the help that they now need in old-age. People have paid in and we can help them get through these hard times with dignity. Benefits like Attendance Allowance are not means tested but are still massively underclaimed.”

The exhibition will give the perspective of those men and women who took action in defence of their jobs and communities. Film shows, talks, lectures, music and songs will also be included.

Colin added that young people in Derbyshire may never have seen a cobble of coal which would have been unthinkable 40 years ago. He said: “We will be exhibiting a piece of coal that came from the last cut at Markham Colliery in May 1993.”

*The first programme in a three-part Channel 4 series called Miners’ Strike 1984: The Battle For Britain will be screened on Thursday, January 25 at 9pm. The episode will highlight the bitter division between striking and working miners and their families in Shirebrook during the dispute.