With its track record of leveraging cultural power for US gain and barely concealed promotion of coup attempts, the US Agency for International Development will not be mourned among the US’s southern neighbours, write JOHN PERRY and ROGER D HARRIS
Women militants of the great strike reunite
As hundreds of women gather in Durham today to celebrate their role in fighting pit closures 40 years ago, HEATHER WOOD reflects on experiences in her own mining community, Easington in County Durham
![](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/9%20-%20Easington%20annual%20gala%202019%20.jpg.webp?itok=YeFXBjpH)
SITTING here thinking, my mind goes back to 1984. What was I doing, what was going on?
I have always been involved in my community, a close-knit mining village on the north-east coast, Easington.
My mam and dad, good colliery folk, were not afraid of hard work, in fact, there weren’t many in our village who didn’t work.
More from this author
![](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/father%20xmas.jpg.webp?itok=IVa0Ozz0)
HEATHER WOOD tells the story of how she led the women of her mining community to tackle Christmas 1984 with militant working-class organisation and dedication, from cataloguing each family to collecting and distributing presents
![](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/mg_6564.jpg.webp?itok=rPzXviPc)
Women have been celebrating the 40th anniversary of the miners’ strike against pit closures, and there’s more to come writes HEATHER WOOD
![](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/9%20-%20Kinnock%20the%20radical.jpg.webp?itok=1qV19FgP)
Leaving after 50 years in the Labour Party, national secretary of Women Against Pit Closures HEATHER WOOD says Reeves’ and Starmer’s winter fuel allowance cuts are a red line crossed — and calls for widespread union resistance
![](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/miners_wives_webpic.jpg.webp?itok=iOdmCrc_)
HEATHER WOOD, national secretary of Women Against Pit Closures charts her journey and the journey mining community women like her, from 1984 to Durham Gala 2024, explaining why this day remains vital for families decades after closures
Similar stories
![](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/father%20xmas.jpg.webp?itok=IVa0Ozz0)
HEATHER WOOD tells the story of how she led the women of her mining community to tackle Christmas 1984 with militant working-class organisation and dedication, from cataloguing each family to collecting and distributing presents
![](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/mg_6564.jpg.webp?itok=rPzXviPc)
Women have been celebrating the 40th anniversary of the miners’ strike against pit closures, and there’s more to come writes HEATHER WOOD
![](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/8%20-%20National%20Women%20Against%20Pit%20Closured%20secretary%20Heather%20Wood%20and%20veteran%20campaigner%20Betty%20Cook%20at%20the%20head%20of%20the%20march.jpg.webp?itok=r9jq9ZXc)
Women gathered in Durham on Saturday March 2 to celebrate their role in the miners’ strike of 1984-5 – and what a celebration it was, writes Morning Star northern reporter PETER LAZENBY
![](https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/cortonwood.jpg.webp?itok=LKicS2JZ)
Banners will be raised in Durham on Saturday to celebrate the Women Against Pit Closures movement. PETER LAZENBY reports