Strike! Interviews 22 May 2009 Here you can listen to interviews with individuals from the Museum, looking back at a period of unrest that changed the industrial and social landscape of Wales forever. Jeff White - Mechanical Engineer Paul Meredith - Conservation Engineer Ceri Thompson - Curator Peter Walker - Keeper, Big Pit Gavin Rogers - Shaftsman/Guide
The Miners Strike of 1984 12 March 2009 National Coal BoardOn 1 March 1984 the National Coal Board announced that it planned to close 20 coal mines with the loss of 20,000 jobs. The year-long strike that followed changed the political, economic and social history of Wales forever."The miners in south Wales are saying — we are not accepting the dereliction of our mining valleys, we are not allowing our children to go immediately from school into the dole queue — it is time we fought!"Emlyn Williams, President, NUM, South Wales AreaPicketing and demonstrationsThe majority of Welsh miners initially voted against a strike but later played a major part in picketing and demonstrations. Miners' wives rose to the challenge of supporting their men by raising funds and organizing food distribution, but were also active on picket lines and marches.Although Wales did not suffer the picket line violence seen in some other British coalfields, Welsh miners were killed on picket duty and carrying out colliery safety work and a taxi driver was killed as he took a strike-breaker to work."We had to fight the enemy without in the Falklands, but we always have to be aware of the enemy within, which is much more difficult to fight and more dangerous to liberty."Margaret Thatcher, Prime MinisterCollecting storiesThere were rights and wrongs on both sides of the dispute and great pains have been taken to try to collect stories from each side. The passions aroused by the strike have made this a difficult task, for even now some participants are reluctant to allow their stories to be told.This, and the fact that the majority of the stories were collected from Wales, where only a small percentage of the workforce returned to work during the strike, makes it inevitable that one view should seem to predominate. If stories had been collected elsewhere it is quite possible that the opposite view would dominate.An objective and balanced history of the miners strike will one day be written but the pages that follow present the stories of some of the men and women whose lives were touched by what today has simply become known as... The Strike.This article forms part of a booklet in the series 'Glo' produced by Big Pit: National Mining Museum. You can download the booklet here
Working Abroad - Welsh Emigration: Slate 19 September 2008 Griffith Owen-Jones and his wife Kate, who moved from Bethesda, Wales to Granville, New York State
Working Abroad - Welsh Emigration: Metal Mining 19 September 2008 Quarrying stone, Randolph, Wisconsin Welsh people were renowned for their mining expertise. As well as coal, they were experienced at excavating gold, iron, lead and copper ores. As frontiers opened up in developing countries, Welsh miners were often to be found at the forefront. As well as miners, Wales provided some of the most experienced mine managers and engineers in the world. Demand for their skills led to the payment of good wages. Welsh miners were second in number only to Cornishmen in the metal mines of the western USA. Some metal mines in India and South Africa were developed by Welsh lead miners in the late 19th century. Both countries were part of the British Empire at the time and the declining lead industries in Wales meant there were people looking for opportunities in new areas. The widening search for copper ores lead Welsh companies to open new mines in Newfoundland, Canada and Cape Colony, South Africa. Watkin Cynlais Price Price was born in Cwmllynfell around 1839. He emigrated first to Scranton, Pennsylvania as a coal miner but by 1860 he had moved to California and then British Columbia in the gold rush. He was a regular prize winner in goldfield eisteddfodau and conductor of a Welsh choir. Records show he was still seeking gold in 1887.
