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Recollections of the Miners’ Strike: roadblocks and arrests
In the first of four extracts from her new memoir, former NUM headquarters staff HILARY CAVE recalls challenging police intimidation during the miners’ strike, exposing how the full machinery of state was deployed against the working class
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FORTY years on Hilary Cave offers her recollections of the 1984 miners’ strike from her vantage point as a member of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) headquarters staff. Her official responsibilities as head of education vanished as she assumed all manner of organisational tasks including the organisation of mass rallies and demonstrations throughout the country.
The opening chapter recounts a confrontation between the author, accompanied by NUM chief executive Roger Windsor, on the way to a meeting with a police operations chief, and a police roadblock intent on stopping miners from moving around the county.
Characteristically she refused to bow to police intimidation, or let them know she was on her way to meet their boss, challenged them to arrest her and forced them to abandon their pretence and let her pass.
More from this author
In the last of four extracts from her new memoir, former NUM headquarters staffer HILARY CAVE recalls the 1985 campaign in the Nottinghamshire coalfield against the breakaway unions who went on to sabotage the great strike
In the third extract from her new memoir, former NUM headquarters staffer HILARY CAVE recounts how women throughout the striking coalfields showed their mettle when the going got tough
In the second extract from her new memoir, former NUM headquarters staffer HILARY CAVE recounts the bitter struggle to provide sustenance for strikers’ families, and the invidious role of David Willetts – now in the House of Lords
