Peter Lazenby
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THOUSANDS of courageous women involved in the miners’ strike against pit closures of 1984-85 are to be celebrated with a 40th anniversary event next March.
Women Against Pit Closures (WAPC) was formed in 1984 as it became clear to coalfield communities that the strike was going to be long and bitter.
Tens of thousands of women mobilised during the strike, not only coalfield WAPC groups, but also in non-mining communities and unions to support the miners in their epic struggle.
A WAPC 40th anniversary organising group has been set up and plans to stage the celebration in Durham on March 2 next year.
The group is chaired by Betty Cook, who launched WAPC alongside Anne Scargill and other activists.
Anniversary group member Kate Flannery was 23 when she became active in WAPC in what was then the coal and steel city of Sheffield in South Yorkshire.
Today, the coal mining industry is gone and the steel industry has been hollowed out by successive Tory governments.
Ms Flannery — whose uncle was a miner, father Martin Flannery was a left-Labour MP in Sheffield and mother Blanche was president of Sheffield Trade Union Council during the strike — is now secretary of the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign.
“There were so many women involved. I was one of the youngest at 23,” she said.
“We want to celebrate the massive role of women in not just supporting the strike but in sustaining it.”
Women ran kitchens to feed striking miners and their families, picketed, marched and became accomplished speakers at rallies and solidarity events.
Many took on roles they had never experienced before, changing their lives for ever.
Ms Flannery said: “There were so many women, wonderful women, who have been excluded from history.
“We want to remember all those remarkable women.”
Former National Union of Mineworkers president Arthur Scargill welcomed the plans.
He told the Morning Star: “They were not just picketing. They were turning back lorries and, in some cases, disabling them.
“They were prepared to be arrested because it was a cause worth fighting for.”
