BANNERS from pit union lodges of the Durham coalfield are being displayed in the splendour of Durham Cathedral in a “Solidarity Forever” exhibition marking the 40th anniversary of the miners’ strike against pit closures of 1984-5.

The cathedral has an association with the coal mining industry dating from the early 1800s.

The exhibition is being staged in collaboration with the Durham Mining Communities Banner Groups Association.

Association spokesperson Patricia Simmons said: “We are encouraging the former mining communities and the younger generation to recognise the importance that these vibrant and colourful banners have in the history of Durham and the stories they portray.”

The group restores or reproduces original banners representing former mining communities which still thrive despite Tory butchery of the industry.

When the coal industry was nationalised in 1947 Durham had 243 coal mines. Today there are none. 

The exhibition of 40 banners includes the banner of Chopwell Lodge which carries the faces of Marx, Lenin and Keir Hardie and the hammer and sickle insignia.

The exhibition runs until November 7.