Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
‘A police horse ran full-pelt at me’
In the second of two features, ex-miner PAUL KELLY records his experiences at the battle of Orgreave when police mounted an unprecedented attack on striking miners, and what he did in the aftermath of the great strike
Miners keep an eye on the mounted police, deployed in the cornfield behind the Orgreave coking plant, May 31, 1984

I HAVE been to Orgreave on two occasions. I first went on June 18 1984. I was driven over by a friend who was doing his apprenticeship at Forgemasters. We arrived late in the morning. He dropped me off at the top of Orgreave Lane.

It was a fine, hot day. I walked down the lane with some strikers who had come down from Ayrshire Barony pit and we all anticipated that we would be involved in a Saltley Gate and shut down the coking plant at the bottom of the lane.

I headed down to the railway bridge. I stopped at the bridge on the narrow road. A mass of pickets blocked the way. I climbed up onto the bridge. Looking down towards the plant I could see the police in huge numbers behind long shields.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
battle of orgreave
Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign / 10 July 2026
10 July 2026

The public inquiry is the result of more than a decade of determined campaigning. Now, those who fought for justice want the full story of government involvement and police conduct to be told, says KATE FLANNERY

The Eardisley Oak in Herefordshire is believed to be between 800 and 900 years old
Borderlands: A Country Diary / 2 July 2026
2 July 2026

In his fortnightly column MARK SEDDON reflects on the death of Major Oak and why such ancient trees matter to us

News International Print plant at Wapping, East London, January 23, 1986
Workers' Rights / 24 January 2026
24 January 2026

Forty years on, TONY DUBBINS revisits the Wapping dispute to argue that Murdoch’s real aim was union-busting – enabled by Thatcherite laws, police violence, compliant unions and a complicit media