WBHH2016
Final day and night time programme for with banners held high.
Downloadable Programme: WBHH2016-interactive
Pit Props
PIT PROPS marks the end of an era in coal mining in the UK and highlights how the incredible year-long struggle by the miners in defence of jobs and communities still resonates today. One section focuses on the vital creative links between music, politics and protest which grew up during the strike. Another tells the amazing story of the flood of international support –money, food, toys, clothes, toiletries as well as holidays abroad – which sustained the miners and their families during that year of struggle.
The book also deals with unfinished business from the strike. The Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign is resolute in its pursuit of a full public inquiry into the role of the police on 18 June 1984, when vicious para-military tactics were deployed against miners at Orgreave, South Yorkshire. The former coal field communities, devastated by the relentless pit closure programme which began after the strike, still struggle today.
The book concludes with an analysis of the privatisation of the electricity supply industry and how the failure to pursue a coherent energy policy has led to swathes of the industry being controlled by foreign, often state-owned, companies. The absurd consequences of this, now and in the future, are a matter of urgent public concern.
HOW TO ORDER
PIT PROPS: Music, International Solidarity and the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike £9.99
ISBN 978-1-898240-08-2
You can buy the book online at www.cpbf.org.uk for £11.99 inc P&P or buy the book (cheque only)
for £11.99 incl p&p from With Banners Held High, 24 Tower Avenue, Upton, near Pontefract, West
Yorks WF9 1EE. Make cheques payable to ‘With Banners Held High’.
1601-ADC-PitProps-A5-Book-AD-4
PRESS-v01-1601-ADC-Pit-Props A4-POSTER
Test Department films at With Banners Held High
Test Dept and their films Fuel to Fight and DS30 will feature prominently in With Banners Held High at Unity+Works Wakefield on Saturday 5 March. A packed day of music, debates, films, poetry and exhibitions will mark the end of an industry, with the closure of Kellingley Colliery last December.
One theme of the day highlights the vital creative links between music, politics and protest which grew up during the miners’ strike.Test Dept produced Shoulder to Shoulder with the South Wales Striking Miners’ Choir during the 1984-85 miners’ strike and organised the Fuel to Fight tour.
Two members of Test Dept – Graham Cunnington and Paul Jamrozy – will take part in a discussion on Music and the Miners’ Strike and introduce the two films Fuel to Fight (1984) and the stunning DS30, made for the 30th anniversary of the miners’ strike. DS30was first shown on Dunston Staiths, a gigantic wooden structure on the Gateshead riverside, built in 1893 to unload coal from railway trucks onto ships for transport around the UK and abroad.
DS30 commemorates the 1984–85 miners’ strike through footage of mining communities culled from national and local archives, set to Test Dept’s own strike-related music.
Granville Williams, chair of With Banners Held High, said, ‘I saw the film at last year’s Durham Miners’ Gala and was bowled over by it. It is very powerful and moving, and I am really pleased that we will be able to show it for the first time in Wakefield.’
Speakers at With Banners Held High also include the former French miners’ union secretary, Daniel Dernancourt, who will talk about the incredible support French workers gave to the striking miners and their families, Tony Garnett, the producer of Kes andCathy Come Home, and ASLEF President Tosh McDonald.
Musicians at the day event include Root and Branch, Grace Petrie and David Rovics.
A new book PIT PROPS: Music, International Solidarity and the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike will be launched at the event.
Doors open for the day-time event at 10.30am. Tickets from: http://www.unityworks.co.uk/event/with-banners-held-high-2016/
There is an evening fundraiser with headline act The Farm with back-up
from Joe Solo and The Hurriers. Compere Attila the Stockbroker.
Tickets from:http://www.unityworks.co.uk/event/the-farm/
Contact With Banners Held High: wbhh@talktalk.net or T 01977 646580
Four new exhibitions open at Unity+Works
Four new exhibitions open at Unity+Works, Wakefield,
Friday 19 February 11.00am
Unity+Works Wakefield will host four new exhibitions from Friday 18 February to Saturday 5 March, as part of the With Banners Held High event taking place on Saturday 5 March:
SOLIDARITY and the 1984/85 MINERS’ STRIKE
Twenty six panels created by the TUC Resources Library.
INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY and the MINERS’ STRIKE
Photos by JOHN STURROCK and STEFANO CAGNONI (Report Digital) and MARTIN JENKINSON.
MUSIC and the MINERS’ STRIKE
An exhibition created by Pierre Bouquet and previously shown at Rock‘n’Coal, an event held in Oignies, at the heart of the former French mining area, in March 2015.
POLITICAL MUSICIANS
Photos by PETE DUNWELL of musicians including Billy Bragg who link their music with politics and protest.
These exhibitions highlight key themes of the With Banners Held High event. One is the inspiring but largely unknown story of the scale and scope of international solidarity and support for the miners in the form of food, money, toiletries, toys and holidays abroad for the children of striking miners. The other is the way musicians supported the miners’ strike. The exhibitions will be complemented on 5 March by workshops and speakers from Europe who were active in this solidarity action.
Granville Williams, who has organised the exhibitions, said, ‘These exhibitions provide new perspectives and insights into the miners’ strike. Some of the photographs will be totally new to people because they were not published at the time of the strike. I came across many of them during my research for the book PIT PROPS. The exhibitions are profoundly moving, giving us real insights into how people from literally around the world responded to the hardships the miners, their families and communities endured during the year-long strike.’
The exhibitions are free and available to view during Unity+Works opening hours.
Tickets for the With Banners Held High daytime event at: http://www.unityworks.co.uk/event/with-banners-held-high-2016/
And for the evening fund-raising event: http://www.unityworks.co.uk/event/the-farm/
Download the posters here:
2016 WBHH A4 poster
2016 WBHH poster
Invisible Britain
http://www.invisiblebritain.com/
Sleaford Mods – Invisible Britain shows the most exciting and uncompromising British band in years sticking two fingers up to the zeitgeist and articulating the rage and desperation of those without a voice in austerity Britain.
The film follows Sleaford Mods on a tour of the UK in the run up to the 2015 General Election, visiting the neglected, broken down and boarded up parts of the country that many would prefer to ignore.
Part band doc, part look at the state of the nation, the documentary features individuals and communities attempting to find hope among the ruins, against a blistering soundtrack provided by Sleaford Mods.
“If you’re angry about the bullying ruling bastards and you give even half a toss, you have to watch this film.” Maxine Peake
A chance to ask questions after to the Director Paul sng Participants Joe Rollin and John Coan Unite the Union Lisa Mckenzie LSE
New Ways of Organising
Pizza Express Campaign Chantal Chegrinec http://www.unitetheunion.org/news/unite-hails-fair-tips-victory-in-pizza-express-campaign/
Sports Direct Campaign David Condliffe
http://www.unitetheunion.org/campaigning/support-sports-direct-workers—sign-our-petition/
Unite Community Joe Rollin
http://www.unitetheunion.org/growing-our-union/communitymembership/
Solidarity from France
“Granville Williams, Chair of With Banners Held High (left), in Arras, France, with Pierre Bouquet of La Berline, who organised the great exhibition on music and the miners’ strike at their event, ‘Rock’n’Coal, in northern France earlier this year. We will be bringing the exhibition to Unity+Works for our WBHH event on 5 March next year, and Pierre will, hopefully, be joining us.”
‘Amazing and inspiring stories’
Mr Williams said: “The degree of international support is an element of the strike that you wouldn’t know about unless you were intimately involved with it at the time.
“There are some amazing and inspiring stories. Denmark, a small country of four million people, sent two shiploads of food, clothing and money for the benefit of the striking miners and their families.
“Ireland, which had strong links with English and Welsh coalfields since the Dublin Lockout of 1913 and 1914 [where 20,000 workers were locked out by 300 employers who wanted to stop the unionisation of labour] provided a great deal of help, as did Italy, where the Chemical Workers’ Union coordinated the collection of money.”
Mr Williams said he would like to make contact with people from Wales who were involved in securing international support for the strike and may have memorabilia from the time, or who may as children have gone on holidays abroad provided by overseas supporters.
‘Crash course in trade union solidarity’
He said: “Striking miners and Women Against Pit Closures went all over the world to explain why they were fighting for their jobs and communities and to get financial and other support. They received a crash course in the nature of trade union international solidarity.
“In November 1984 Alun Ifor Jones and Bernard Maslin from Maerdy flew out to Italy for 15 days. Alun Jones concentrated on the northern industrial cities of Turin, Milan and Bologna while Bernard Maslin went south. Between them they raised £35,000.
“Another delegation went to Perugia in December for a week’s tour – Allan Baker and Don Canniff from Oakdale and Beryl Fury from the Gwent support group.
“Glynis Evans and Eric Price from Maerdy and Carol Price from Nantgarw spent a week in Dutch-speaking Flanders, Belgium and came back with £10,000.
“A delegation in December 1984 to France including Lynne Cheetham and Susan Sutcliffe from North Wales became known as ‘les dames du charbon’ – the coal ladies.”
The exhibition and film will come to Wales at some point next year, and the project will form the basis of a book. Anyone with information can contact Mr Williams by email at granville24@tiscali.co.uk
Here are 3 people who think a film needs to be made about the inspiring story of
INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY AND SUPPORT FOR THE 1984-85 UK MINERS’ STRIKE
Tony Garnett Producer Cathy Come Home, Kes, Days of Hope and The Price of Coal
“Trade Unionism is an international movement. It is important to remind ourselves of the great international
support offered to British miners in their hour of need. It was one example in a long history of solidarity. Socialism knows no boundaries. Internationalism is at its core. This film will celebrate and remind us of this truth.”
Ken Loach Director of 26 films for television and cinema, from Cathy Come Home and Kes to The Wind
that Shakes the Barley
“This project sounds very valuable. When our history is distorted by the right-wing press and commentators it is
important that we set the record straight. I’m sure it will be a success.”
David Peace Author GB84 and The Damned Utd
“Now more than ever, with the erasure of working class history across the world, and the continued, relentless
assaults on any form of trade unionism and communal struggle, both locally and internationally, the true story of the international support and solidarity with the UK miners during the 1984-85 Strike needs to be told and known as an inspiration in the struggle which is upon us now.”
DO YOU WANT TO SEE IT MADE TOO?
For WITH BANNERS HELD HIGH, to be held on 5 March 2016 in Unity+Works Wakefield, we plan to show the film, create an exhibition and produce a book recording the amazing and inspirational global support for the miners in 1984-85.
PLEASE SUPPORT OUR FUNDRAISING APPEAL
For further information email wbhh@talktalk.net
Download the flyer: Film – appeal leaflet
WITH BANNERS HELD HIGH 2016
A day long event remembering the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike.
Saturday 5th March 2016
Unity Works, Wakefield. 11am-11pm.
Music and the Miners’ Strike. International solidarity. Music, drama, debates, poetry and film.
Following the outstanding success of With Banners Held High 2015, we have decided to hold another day long event and Unity Works. Details will be posted here as they are confirmed. If you would like to get involved, please contact us.
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