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‘This year’s Gala is a celebration of the workers who kept this country going through the pandemic’
Durham Miners’ Association secretary ALAN MARDGHUM speaks to Ben Chacko about the themes of the Gala this year, a collapsing Tory government and the need to champion the culture and cause of the working class

DURHAM Miners’ Association secretary Alan Mardghum says there is one theme to this year’s Big Meeting: celebrating the key workers whose sacrifices got us through the pandemic.
“It’s about saying thanks for the dangers workers faced, for the work they put in. We’re giving them the biggest platform in the working-class calendar.”
For the first time in its 152-year history, there will be no politicians addressing the Gala field nor on the balcony saluting the silver bands as they march past.
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