In saw about 20 mins but had to go out and didn't get back until late.
Remember mate, I was 6 years old and living only 500 yards from the entrance to Cortonwood mine where it all began.
For weeks I couldn't get to sleep because of the aggro. We had no money for months. My earliest memory is the picketers outside the mine entrance huddled around a fire surrounded by banners. My uncle was arrested at the Battle of Orgreave. My dad was stopped from coming home after a night shift by the bastards in blue, known as the London Metropolitan Police force (WTF they were doing in Yorkshire) who dragged him out of the car when he rightly told them to '**** off and let me get back to my family'. My best mate's father owned a haulage firm and had to protect his trucks from picketers using shotguns. I know all the history.
I was going over this the other night with my dad. Did you know the Metropolitan police force, there to uphold the law in a neutral way, stuck stickers up all around the town with 'You've met the Met' on them? My dad insists there was army involvement against the miners - he said they were just something about them. They weren't like normal coppers.
When Maggie Thatcher finally buys the farm, I, along with a large part of the people around here, will taking a day off work and celebrating. She was quite prepared to put 180,000 men out of work with no money for re-training, no thought for the communities afterward. The community spirit in the towns and villages is gone. Forever. Replaced by high unemployment, County Court Judgements and repossessed houses. And drugs. Well done Maggie.
BTW, she shut Cortonwood in revenge for the strike - it was the first one to go despite its huge reserves, while keeping open mines that were more expensive to run. By then, my dad was working at Smithy Wood coking plant (15 miles from Cortonwood), and they then had to get their coal from Newcastle 110 miles away at greater cost.
There, that's just about all I have to say about that.
