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London and the 1984-5 Miners’ Strike
Edited by David Featherstone and Diarmaid Kelliher
THIS fascinating and well-edited collection of oral histories focuses on the role London and Londoners played in solidarity efforts to support striking communities in the 1984-5 miners’ strike.
Trade unionists, council workers, political activists, Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) and many others all came out in support and this rather eclectic mix made for some novel experiences — George Binette recalls the "culture shock" for some visiting London for the first time, while Mike Jackson of LGSM remembers the initial "trepidation" of bringing Geordie lads to a warehouse party.
But, as David Donovan claims, "Without London, the strike could not have been sustained — period." Meetings and collections were held, pickets joined, even Christmas presents and holidays for families were organised, which built on previous networks of solidarity — the support "did not come from nowhere," according to the book's editors David Featherstone and Diarmaid Kelliher.
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