5 Star

An Unbreakable Bond.

There have been many a strike in the past in Britain, but the one that sticks in the recent memory is the miner’s strike of 1984-85. It was splashed all over the broadsheets and tabloids alike, as well as headline news on the television, as we saw picket line after picket line up and down the country as the Tory government tried to destroy an industry. Communities lost their income, and this is the story of how the women of those communities rose up to support their men and the communities. Written and directed by Daniel Draper (Liverpool Story, Almost Liverpool 8), but the story is in the women’s words. Forty years later and these women still have the vim and vigour they had then and carry it forth to the new generations of women, here and across the world.

Women had always supported their families and communities during the short strikes of 1972 and 74 where the strong unions managed to improve wages and conditions for its members. The Tory leader Ted Heath lost the general election, and his successor blamed the mining unions for that defeat, as they had too much power.

By the end of the 1970s and the start of the 1980s, the rumours of shutdown and the decimation of communities up and down the country led to the mass walkout and strikes of 1984.

With no money coming in and the main unions funds frozen by the courts, the miners had no way to pay bills, or buy food etc. The women up and down the country in these mining communities came together as ‘Women Against Pit Closures’.

If the police had guns that day, they would have shot us.

These communities and women are:-

South Yorkshire

 

 

 

Aggie Currie, Lorraine Stansbie, Kate Flannery, Betty Cook.

Staffordshire 

Maxine Penkethman, Linda Allbutt, Rose Hunter.

Derbyshire 

Kate Alvey, Janet Wilson-Cunningham.

South Wales

Christine Powell, Kay Case.

Nottinghamshire

Sally Higgins, Sue Piotrowski.

Fife

Carol Ross, Linda Erskine.

Kent

 

 

 

Liz French, Kay Sutcliffe.

County Durham

Lynn Gibson, Julianna Heron, Heather Wood.

 The women were the glue to the strike. We don’t want praise, we just want to be recognised.

Depending on where you lived, you will have a different opinion on the days of 84-85 as it was a contentious subject, and it remains one today, but here in this documentary you hear it from the women that held their communities together and went on to bring the story to the younger communities. This story was not told at the time, but now you can see it in full detail, from the ladies and those harrowing archive footage of some of the events during the strike.

The closures have left tall ghosts, that pay tribute to the industry that fuelled the country.

Iron Ladies will be in UK Cinemas from 10th October