Miner Willy Meets The Kong Beast

My Dad is a mechanic to trade, and worked at Hardie`s Garage in Larbert, near Falkirk in Stirlingshire until around the mid-70s. The company still exists (although I`m not too sure if the service and repair garage is still there) in the form of a Peugeot dealership - there`s one in Dunfermline now too.

When I was a wee boy, my Dad would sometimes take me into his work; I loved the smell of the oil and petrol. I can also remember when he would get in at night, his hands would be so covered in oil and grime that he would have to wash his hands with butter and sugar to get it all off. I used to watch this ritual with fascination.

Money was tight for my parents around this time, so my Dad, pissed off at his low wages and being treated like shite by his bosses, jacked it all in for a job at Comrie Colliery in Fife. He did it to earn more money.

Over the years at the pit, my Dad worked a variety of different shifts, but the one he seemed to do most of the time meant that he would leave for work about 7.00am, and return at 8.10pm precisely. I knew that working in the pit was very dangerous, and I used to worry about him not coming home. If my Dad was not in by 8.10pm at the latest, I was shitting myself. Every now and then "John Craven`s Newsround" would lead with a story like "10 men dead in mining accident..." and for a split second my heart would be in my mouth before John would continue with "...in Yorkshire". Yeah so that was okay then. My Dad would be coming home, but somebody else`s wouldn`t.

By the time the 70s turned into the 80s, I found my Dad would occasionally be having the odd day off during the week. Although I never really understood what it meant at the time, it was because the union had called a strike. As time went on, this seemed to happen with increasing regularity.

On 5 March 2004, miners all over Yorkshire walked out when they learned the Cortonwood Colliery was going to be closed down. This, it seemed, was just the tip of the iceberg; the unions found out that Cortonwood was only to be the first of twenty pit closures. Before long, all miners were out, and the rest is history.

In all, the miners were on strike for one year.

My Dad picketed around various Fife pits, but as far as I know, never became embroiled in any of the battles you saw on the news. The scenes between miners and "police" at Orgreave coking plant in June 1984 were by far the worst I can recall. It is alleged Thatcher in her sheer determination to crush the miners (and avoid the same fate Ted Heath suffered in 1974) drafted in the army and dressed them as police officers. That would explain a thing or two.

Times were very hard. How the fuck my Mum and Dad managed during that year, I`ll never know. I am intensely proud of them.

Was it all for nothing ? Well, I suppose that depends on your perspective.

Did it stop the pit closures ? Did it fuck !

Did it show the Tories had a complete disregard for the working class and were willing to use the strongest methods possible to crush them ? No question.

Powerful images at Strike 84 - Images by Martin Shakeshaft .