THE Durham Miners’ Gala has been cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The cancellation is the first since 1984, when Durham mining communities were under attack and siege by police during the miners’ strike against pit closures.
The gala is Britain’s biggest celebration of the labour and trade-union movement, attended by 200,000 people.
The Home Secretary’s recent letter suggests the Labour government may finally deliver on its nine-year manifesto commitment, writes KATE FLANNERY, but we must move quickly: as recently as 2024 Northumbria police destroyed miners’ strike documents
Durham Miners’ Association general secretary ALAN MARDGHUM speaks to Ben Chacko ahead of Gala Day 2025
MOLLIE BROWN reports on this year’s festival in honour of the ‘seven men of Jarrow’ deported to Australia for union activity 193 years ago


