GOING back into education at 35 years of age to do an access course was never going to be easy, especially when I have two small children to look after.

So, when I was accepted as a mature student at Durham University last year, I was ecstatic and very proud of my achievements.

Of course, I had heard that Durham was one of the more elitist universities and was often asked by friends if I — a mature student from a working-class background — was sure that I’d fit in.

But I took that chance and, at the end of the day, I am there to get my degree. How bad could it be?

Initially, although a very different environment to anything I had experienced previously, I have started to fit in and find my feet.

Yes, it is apparent that a high percentage of students are from a more privileged background than I. But I’ve always maintained that I can work alongside others regardless of class, and of course there are some students from local working-class backgrounds, but we certainly are a minority.

When I saw the event on Facebook for a miners-themed social, organised by a Durham University college rugby club encouraging a re-enacted battle between Thatcher’s Tory Party and the miners who fought bravely for their right to work during the miners’ strike, I was understandably mortified.

"We want flat caps, filth... a few working-class-beating-bobbies wouldn't go amiss,” the post said. “Think pickaxes. Think headlamps. Think 12 per cent unemployment in 1984.”

My immediate response was shame, shame that I was part of an institution where fellow students had organised such an event.

From there I really started to doubt my decision to choose Durham University. But more than anything I felt anger.  

This for me really exposes the lack of appreciation and knowledge that incoming students have when they come to study at Durham.

How dare anyone who has been welcomed into the Durham community show such a lack of respect for the hardships and struggles the local people have suffered?

I can honestly say that it has made me feel very uneasy on campus, wondering if the people I’m sitting with were involved, the people I’m in a group project with. It really does make you feel very isolated and lonely.

It is an awful feeling that people are looking at you and judging you based entirely on your class and upbringing, even more so when they are the newcomers.

I must be honest. My immediate reaction is that those involved should be kicked out of the university. They have no place in Durham when they openly display such arrogance towards the heritage of the city.

I am very pleased to see that the university is taking this matter seriously and has taken swift action with the indefinite suspension of the rugby club.

However, the more I see this in the news and think about the nature of the event, it is apparent that more needs to be done to educate those involved.

Will expelling them from the university solve the issue? I don’t think it will. There is nothing to stop the same mistakes being made year after year.

I would like to believe that the students involved have such a dearth of knowledge on this subject that, had they been aware of the facts, this would never have happened.

In my opinion, Durham University needs to take more responsibility for educating students in the working-class history that Durham is steeped in.

A compulsory lecture on the miners’ strike and how it affected the Durham communities during freshers’ week would be a start.

I am very pleased to read that the university is meeting the Durham Miners Association (DMA) to discuss how they can move forward together on this.

Students need to be made aware that this sort of behaviour is totally unacceptable, both by the university and the community in Durham.

Punishment? I think some restorative justice would be apt in this situation and I’m sure that the DMA could use some volunteers at the Gala this year! 

Chelsea Lowdon, a resident student at Durham University said: “The ignorance of these students to trivialise the struggles and police violence experienced by the miners in the ’80s is shocking.

“The miners and their families who fought and are still fighting for justice should be admired, not mocked. This event illustrates the abhorrent classism which still exists at this university.

“As a local, working-class student, it’s alienating to know that there are groups of individuals in this institution who have made no attempt to familiarise themselves with the proud, mining history of the city which welcomes them for the duration of their course.”

Norman Strike, a striking miner and former student of Durham University, said: “I can't say that the disgraceful and disrespectful actions by students in Durham surprises me.

“Tory students exist but their stupid actions have to be attacked every time they raise their heads with their provocative behaviour.

“I am extremely proud of the part Durham’s striking miners and their families played in the strike and no amount of such disrespectful behaviour by silly kids, who weren't even born when we were fighting. will never even dent our part in the struggle.”