Strike Stories
© Martin Shakeshaft - www.strike84.co.uk
It’s been over forty years since 22,000 Welsh miners downed tools and walked out of pits across Wales in protest at the National Coal Board’s plans to close twenty coal mines across the UK. The 84-85 Miners’ Strike lasted twelve brutal months, fostering unprecedented solidarity and political awakening in Wales. The human cost was immense: families suffered hardship, communities were divided, and the mining industry's decline continued.
Everyone was affected by the strike in one way or another. In this series of Strike Stories we hear the highs and lows of that life changing year through the eyes of miners, families, police officers and politicians as they recall what life was like in 84-85.
The Strike Stories form part of the Streic 84–85 Strike exhibition which is on display at National Musem Cardiff until April 27 2025.