A documentary in which ten men and women from across England and Scotland talk about their experiences growing up as children or teenagers during 1984-85 Miners' Strike. They each talk about life before the strike, what it was like having a father on the picket lines and how they and their respective town and villages dealt with the hardships. They discuss the end of the strike and eventual closure of the mines and how this affected not just them, but also their communities. [B&W] A...

A documentary in which ten men and women from across England and Scotland talk about their experiences growing up as children or teenagers during 1984-85 Miners' Strike. They each talk about life before the strike, what it was like having a father on the picket lines and how they and their respective town and villages dealt with the hardships. They discuss the end of the strike and eventual closure of the mines and how this affected not just them, but also their communities. [B&W] A girl sings in a back alley of a terraced street. Title: In March 1984, 142,000 mine workers went on strike in one of the most bitter disputes in British industrial history Title: These are the stories of the children who lived through that strike During a Durham Miners Gala, large crowds, many carrying banners, march along New Elvet past the County Hotel. Title: My Dad’s at Orgreave [Colour] Six participants in this film each describe their childhoods and life in their respective towns and villages before the strike. Chriss Bennett from Ashington in Northumberland says that as a teenager he didn’t want to go down the pit. Danny Cafferkey talks about the start of the strike, the media coverage and seeing pit buses with cages on the windows. Other talk about the lack of money coming and seeing their fathers who would normally be done the mine being at home more. Over Billy Bragg’s ‘Never Cross the Picket Line’ a black and white photograph showing police and pickets clashing. They each to talk about their fathers on the picket lines and how their initial fear changed as they ‘hardened up’, more still images are interspersed to help illustrate points being made both her and throughout the rest of the film. Some talk about their fathers who were at Orgreaves in June 1984 and knowing they had been arrested. They begin to talk about the police, how before the strike they would be seen as ‘beat bobbies’ which people respected. However, during the strike police from other areas were brought in and people no longer felt safe in their communities. They talk about feelings of intimidation being stopped by a policeman as children, how they treated the women as brutally as the men. Many now hate the police and have no respect for those in authority because of what happened to them and their families during the strike. Next, they talk about the experience of knowing men who went back to work as ‘scab’ labour. They remember that the children of scab miner weren’t blamed or had anything taken out on them. Some talk about their father's fear of being seen as possibly coming off the picket lines and needing to make sure people know they were still on strike. They continue to talk about the animosity some still feels towards those people who went back to work. [B&W] A padlocked steel gate behind which an empty space where once was a colliery. [Colour] Everyone begin to talk about the hardships of live during the strike, the cold winter and stealing or foraging for coal. They talk about the lack of food and the ingenuity of what they could do with what they had to make it last. They talk about food parcels from Europe, the soul kitchens run by miners’ wives and the generosity of local people and shopkeepers. Christmas 1984 was very hard as many had low expectations of an presents due to lack of money. However, everyone had something, and they were all grateful and many appreciate things now because of these experiences. [B&W] Phantom car ride down a terraced street with some of the window and doors boarded up. [Colour] Everyone talks about how the end of the strike and the closures of their respective pits affected them both personally as well as their local communities. Without the structure of work alcohol and drugs became an issue which led to a rise in crime and the breakdown of many families. As they talk the remains of a primary school with boarded up or broken windows. [B&W] Overlooking rows of terraced houses the remains of a shed or Pigeon Cree following a fire. [Colour] Diane Green from Ashington in Northumberland laments the lack of industry in the town to replace the closed mines. She sees Ashington now as a commuter town with Diane herself having to work in nearby Newcastle. As she talks the sculpture of a miner called ‘Marra’ in the village of Horden in County Durham. The statue has a hole where his heart would have been. Other talk about how their communities have changed since the strike with shops closing due to the lack of money from residents. Phantom car ride past shuttered up shops in Easington Colliery in County Durham. As another participant talks a lone tower surrounded by grass, all that remains of Easington Colliery itself. The film comes to an end with some of the participant reiterating what Diane said previous about how a lack of a plan to replace the mines with new industry has destroyed that community and many of those who lived there. They won’t forget the strike, and many remain proud to be children of striking miners. Over Billy Bragg’s ‘Which Side are You On’ miners banners being paraded through Durham as part of the miner’s gala. The final banner turns from black and white to colour and reads ‘Justice for Mineworkers 1984-1985. Victimised Sacked Imprisoned’. Title: Thanks to the participants: Chris Bennett [Ashington, Northumberland], Danny Cafferkey [Cumnock, Ayreshire], Gary Clarke [Grimethorpe, South Yorkshire], Chris Finney [Armthorpe, South Yorkshire], Diane Green [Ashington Northumberland], John Houston [Cumnock Ayreshire], Sharon Johnson [South Kirby, West Yorkshire], Steven Metcalfe [Chesterfield, Derbyshire], Keith Saint [Ashington, Northumberland], Billy Walker [Edinbugh] Credits: “Which Side Are You On & Never Cross a Picket Line” by kind permission of Billy Bragg Other Music George Milburn Photographs Martin Shakeshaft Thanks also to: Beverley Trounce, Jaene Davis, Chris Kelsey, Heather Wood, Lynn Gibson, Ross Forbes of the Durham Miners Association, Steve Rowntree Produced and Directed by Howard Dickenson and Tom Johnson Faze3films. All rights reserved © 2018. www.faze3films.uk