Heritage Doncaster

March of 2024 marks the 40^th anniversary of the start of the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike. The miners’ strike was one of the largest examples of industrial action in British history. Mine workers from all across the country refused to work to protest against the closing of the mines and the job loss and damage to local economies and communities that these closures caused. Coal mining was one of Doncaster’s key industries, and thousands of miners from the area joined these strikes at their own personal cost. This exhibition, created by a group of Doncaster residents and ex-miners who lived through this important event, tells the story of the strike.

Object 1 – Miner’s lamp

This pit lamp belonged to Granville Crabtree, who worked as a winder at Askern Colliery. His father Ellis Senior Crabtree, and two brothers Ellis Junior and Sidney Crabtree also worked at Askern; between the four of them they worked at the pit from 1923-1983. It was common for families to have several members and generations working in the same mine, with sons following in their father’s footsteps.

This lamp is an Eccles Protecter Lamp Type 6. It is a type of safety lamp, so-called because it has several safety features. It is lockable, to prevent it from being opened underground where the flame could then be exposed to dangerous flammable gases. It also contains an internal flint so that it can be relit underground without the need to open the protective glass case.

These badges belonged to a member of the National Union of Mineworkers, also known as the NUM. A trade union is an organisation made up of members who are employees in a particular industry or service. Its aim is to protect and advance the interests of its members in the workplace. It negotiates pay and conditions on behalf of its members with employers.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) was formed during January 1945 in Nottingham prior to the nationalisation of the British coal industry in 1947. The union took part in three national miners’ strikes during 1972, 1974 and 1984-85.

At the time of 1984-85 Miners Strike, the NUM had over 170,00 members working at 180 collieries across England, Scotland, and Wales. There were 25 collieries employing 28,100 members in South Yorkshire.

The 1984-85 strike was not about pay. The union, miners, and their communities sought to defend an industry and their way of life from the threat of a massive pit closure programme.

These pieces of coal were taken from Cadeby pit by Stephen Hamilton, a miner who worked there. Coal is a mineral, composed mainly of carbon, formed when dead plant matter is crushed and heated by the earth over hundreds of millions of years. Over time, the plant matter transforms into a black sedimentary rock. Miners would travel long distances deep underground to extract the coal, either with machines or just with an axe, and then bring it back to the surface. Coal is highly flammable and therefore useful, as it can be burned to generate heat and light. It is also used as fuel in power stations that produce electricity.

Stephen collected these pieces of coal in the months before he resigned. Sadly, his friend and colleague was crushed to death down the pit following a roof collapse; Stephen witnessed his friend’s body being recovered from the shaft on a stretcher, covered in a sheet. He felt increasingly uneasy at work, and decided that he had to leave. Unfortunately, many miners died in the mines – 234 in Cadeby alone. Coal may have been cheap to buy, but many miners paid a heavy price for it.

The 1984-85 miners’ strike wasn’t the first of its kind. These objects relate to several periods of industrial action between 1972-74, when miners either went on strike or refused to work overtime to protest against the fact that their wages were not rising with inflation. ‘Going on strike’ is when workers down tools and refuse to work as a form of protest.

In the 1970s, the majority of UK electricity was generated in coal-burning power stations. The industrial action meant that the coal stocks were depleted, so less electricity could be produced. This led to blackouts, power cuts, and businesses being forced to reduce their working hours; from January-March 1974, TV stations had to stop broadcasting by 10:30pm to conserve power. This torch and leaflet are the kind of thing that might be found in a house in the 1970s when power cuts were common.

The picture, taken by Stephen Hamilton during a strike from January 9^th until February 28^th 1972, shows a miner outside Cadeby colliery, on what is known as a picket line. This is where strikers stand outside their place of work, to try and prevent or dissuade their colleagues from working.

These items relate to two of the biggest personalities of the 1984-85 miners’ strike: Margaret Thatcher and Arthur Scargill. Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister of the UK from 1979-1990. She believed that trade unions were harmful and undemocratic, and wanted to reduce their power. She was also a strong believer in privatisation, and wanted to privatise the coalmining industry and close pits that were unprofitable

Arthur Scargill, born near Barnsley, was the president of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1982-2002. He believed that the government wanted to destroy the coal industry, so when the government announced the closure of 20 pits on March 6^th, 1984 he called for miners to strike in protest. This was controversial, as he refused to hold an official ballet on the issue.

Thatcher and Scargill were both divisive figures; many saw Thatcher as an enemy of working class people (the postcard, produced by the NUM, is not flattering) and hailed Scargill as a hero. However, other people believed that Thatcher was simply doing what had to be done, as the mines were becoming increasingly unprofitable. They thought that Scargill was stubbornly trying to prevent the inevitable, whilst causing damage and social unrest.

Object 1 – image of flying pickets

Picket lines were a common form of protest during the strikes. Miners and supporters would stand outside the collieries, trying to stop others from getting to work and breaking the strike. This photo, taken by a striking miner called Patrick O’Neill, shows striking miners from Doncaster who travelled to Linby Colliery in Nottinghamshire. These miners were known as flying pickets – they were people who would travel to different collieries to join picket lines there. Many miners in Nottinghamshire didn’t join the strikes, so miners from Yorkshire would travel to there to picket.

This newspaper article tells the story of a group of miners who were arrested on the picket lines. Brian, one of these men, told his story: “I was arrested at Coal House Doncaster on June 26^th 1984. We were sent there to show solidarity with the striking men on the picket lines there, as the majority had continued to work. The police corralled the workers down an alley next to the police station and then allowed them to walk to the Coal House. As more pickets arrived, I was pushed into a line of police officers. I was dragged through the line with one police officer having me in a neck hold, another with my arm up my back. I was then kicked from behind and punched in the head by another policeman.

Along with 14 other picketers, I was arrested and charged with Unlawful Assembly. At a later court hearing, a charge of Riot was added, which carries a sentence of up to life imprisonment. Almost a year later, the trial took place at Sheffield Crown Court for 8 weeks. The jury found us all not guilty on both charges. The year of waiting was a terrible worry for me and my family”.

These posters and stickers were distributed by women’s support groups, such as Hatfield Main Women’s Support Group who are shown in the picture. Many women started running soup kitchens and welfare organisations during the strikes, but by the end were active protesters. They sent letters to other trade unions, went to meetings with local businesses, spoke at fundraisers, and joined protests and picket lines. They played an essential role in supporting the strikes and ensuring they could continue.

Women took the streets with their homemade banners, and attended rallies giving out posters and stickers to onlookers. Many joined the picket lines, and some were arrested for their activism. Their drive and determination never wavered, and through it all they continued to feed striking miners and their families.

This bag of sugar was donated by Italian trade unionists. Food was sent by trade unionists and supporters from all across Europe to help to feed the miners.

Martin Henshaw was a striking miner at Cadeby Main Colliery. On one occasion he received a food parcel containing a bag of pasta at Denaby & Cadeby Miners Welfare, courtesy of French trade unionists. Nobody knew how to cook pasta, and all the cooking instructions for these items were in French. At the weekend Martin’s brother in law took the bus to Doncaster, armed with pen and paper, to find out how to cook pasta. At Sainsbury’s in Frenchgate he located the pasta and proceeded to write down the cooking instructions.

Today many families in Conisbrough and Denaby Main enjoy at least one pasta dish every week. In 1984, the only pasta-type food was Heinz macaroni cheese out of a tin. It was another culinary world.

Trade unionists from all over the world showed their support for the striking British miners. This poster from Sri Lanka demonstrates just how much international solidarity there was. It is written in Sinhala, one of the official languages of Sri Lanka. It is advertising a talk on November 15^th, 1984, to be given by Mark Thornton, an NUM representative from Askern, Doncaster. He was invited all the way to Colombo, Sri Lanka, to speak to trade unionists about the plight of the striking miners, and gather further international support.

Here, we have a redundancy letter which was sent by the National Coal Board to a miner offering voluntary redundancy following the end of the strike. Redundancy is when a person loses their job because there is no more work available for that job in which they are employed.

The closure of mines resulted in many redundancies and job losses, both in the pits and in related industries. Mining Supplies Ltd based in Doncaster and Gullick Dobson in Wigan are examples of companies which supplied mining machinery and associated equipment.

Redundancy payments offered to miners were substantial amounts of money which were larger sums than many of them had ever dealt with during their working lives. Investment advice was made available by the Coal Board but this was not always financially sound and, in some cases, miners lost money as a consequence.

Pit closures increased after the strikes ended, making both miners and machinery redundant. When Cadeby Main Colliery closed in 1986 there were three railway shunters based at the pit. During November 1986 their brass names and number plates were removed.

Dick No 55, the longest serving diesel, and David No 22 (known as David No 58 whilst it was at Cadeby) were Hudswell Clarke locos built in Leeds. From 24^th April to 7^th May 1987 both were cut up on site by Eric and Chris Thornton from Sheffield.

The third loco Ken No 67, the Sentinel, was taken by low loader on 8^th May 1987 to work at Maltby Colliery. The panel was a replacement name and number made in the workshops at Cadeby Main Colliery for Ken No 67 but never fitted. 

On 20^th May 1990 Ken No 67 was saved from the cutters torch and was moved to South Yorkshire Railway at Meadowhall. When that site closed it was based at Peak Rail at Rowsley, Derbyshire. It changed its name to Tom and is painted green replacing its NCB yellow.

Ken No 67 is the only standard gauge diesel loco in existence that worked at Cadeby Main Colliery.

This is a Denaby United FC match programme from the 1984-85 season. The club had been formed in 1895 and played at a high level of non-league football until its last season in the Northern Counties East League in 2001-02.

In colliery communities the miners had voluntary deductions from their wages to support sports facilities such as football grounds, cricket grounds, tennis courts and athletics tracks. These facilities, available for use by everyone in the local community, were an important factor in forming community cohesion and creating a sense of togetherness.

When collieries closed these sports facilities had to seek alternative sources in order to raise the money required to maintain and continue to provide them, and many were forced to close. The loss of clubs such as Denaby United had a significant negative impact on the sporting life of a local community. 

Despite the last Doncaster mine, Hatfield Main, closing in 2015, mining and the miners’ strike continue to influence mining communities and beyond. The miners’ strike inspired art, music, films, and TV. Films such as Billy Elliot, Pride, and Brassed Off tell the stories of the strikes and their legacies. Many artists, both local and national, have used the strikes as inspiration. This painting is by Stephen C. Hamilton, a local artist and an ex-Cadeby miner, who shares his memories of mining and the strikes through his artwork.

These badges belong to Erica Syson and her granddaughter Eimear White. The badges on the purple panel (left) were Erica’s. Erica (left of front row in the photograph) became an activist during the miners’ strike, and collected these badges from around the country during the many campaigns that she participated in during and after the strikes. The strikes took Erica out of her comfort zone, exposing her to other people, places and causes, and after the strikes ended she did not want to return to her old life; she has been an activist ever since.

The badges on the pink panel (right) belong to Eimear, Erica’s granddaughter. Inspired by her Nana, Eimear has become an activist artist in her own right. In Eimear’s words: “As a woman in the LGBTQ+ community, my work is focused on marginalised communities who are often underrepresented or portrayed negatively. I enjoy creating art that highlights the struggle and reality of gender inequality and heteronormativity. The conversations with my Nana were what inspired me to use my voice confidently and be the person I am today. She suggested that I set up my Instagram account to document my journey”.