Decades on from the miners' strike, former Nottinghamshire colliery workers are suffering
This year marks 40 years since the beginning of the 1984-1985 miners' strike, a protracted dispute that changed the face of coalfield communities throughout Britain forever. With this important anniversary falling on March 6, Nottinghamshire Live has been examining the impact of the coal industry's demise on our county. We have already seen how this historic industry's legacy is being preserved, but we now hear from the miners and their families who lived through that time.
Mr Newton, now 60 and living in Daybrook, was the last in a long line of mine workers in his family and had only recently joined the industry at Thoresby Colliery when the strike was called. Speaking about his early days in the pits, Mr Newton said: "Throughout 1979 and the early 80s, it was all about mass unemployment and jobs were few and far to come by."Steelworks were closing down, a lot of traditional industries were being sacrificed off the back of so-called economics.
That "unusual" position in Nottinghamshire is why the county ended up being the centre of much of the unrest during the 1984-85 strike. Speaking about the time is also incredibly difficult for those who took the decision to work during it. Despite the animosity of that period, when asked about the atmosphere at the end of the strike when all miners returned, one of the former Bilsthorpe miners said: "Bilsthorpe was a friendly place and we didn't hold grudges. We just went back to work."
Having become a Labour councillor in Nottinghamshire in later life, Mr Newton has long campaigned for reforms to an area which also continues to have a detrimental effect on the lives of ex-miners - their pensions. "Miners are still fighting for their existence", Mr Newton said.
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