by On 18 June 1984, miners from all over the country came to South Yorkshire to picket the Orgreave coke works. The day started peacefully. The weather was good, and miners were sitting in the sun or playing football.
Suddenly, the police in full riot gear started cutting off in small groups. The violence quickly escalated. “There were short shielded units and mounted officers everywhere, wielding their batons,” says photographer John Harris. He remembers climbing up a wall to get a better view and being punched in the back by an officer in uniform. Gathering his equipment, Harris went back into the crack, and as he shot, saw Lesley Boulton, a member of Women Against Pit Closures, helping an injured picket. She was shouting for an ambulance when a policeman turned on his horse and charged, swinging a truncheon at her head.
The battle of Orgreave was one of the most violent displays of police brutality in British industrial history. Harris’ image became iconic, appearing on badges, banners and posters. The photograph is included in a new exhibition at the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol, marking the 40th anniversary of the miners’ strike. It features work by photographers such as Chris Killip, Brenda Prince, John Sturrock and Philip Winnard, himself a striking miner. Alongside the photographs are posters, vinyl records and other ephemera including an Arthur Scargill mask, Thatcher’s dog toy and a selection of commemorative plates.
Prince, a feminist, working-class photographer who spent 18 months in Nottinghamshire. “I wanted to show the strike through women’s eyes,” she says. Most of the women she had met before were working as housewives. Suddenly, they were traveling around Britain, fundraising, picketing and meeting unions.
“They all said they became more aware and more political,” says Prince. “They had incredible courage and determination, and they gained a lot of confidence in what they had done. Many of the women said: ‘I will never be the same again.'”
Philip Winnard was 25 when the strikes were called. He was working at Houghton Main Colliery, a deep mine near Barnsley, South Yorkshire. “Photography was just a hobby. I was a miner, I was on strike, and I had a camera. It didn’t get much deeper than that,” he says. The people in his images are not just miners; they are his friends, his relatives, his own community.
The strikes lasted a year, ending in a crushing defeat for the miners. When the lock closed in 1993, Winnard retrained in plastering and started his own business. Some of his friends also re-elected. One of them went on to work as an NHS nurse, others became plumbers and electricians. “But a lot of people never worked again,” says Winnard. “They went on to long-term unemployment and sickness benefits.”
The effects of the strikes are still reverberating through Britain today. These photographs show the historic fight of the miners, as well as the power of images to record history, create new representations and shed light on injustice. For John Sturrock, who covered the entire strike for the trade union press and the labor movement, the images look back at “a moment in recent history”, testifying to a “significant change in the way society was functioning”.
Striking images: photos of pickets and police
Women’s picket at Bevercotes Mill, Nottingham, 1985
Brenda Prince: “It was freezing cold that night, but these women were determined to picket. Many cars carrying scabs were driving past. This is the only picture I found without a car in it. The women were very angry; they couldn’t believe the number of miners who were going back to work.”
Bilston Glen, Scotland, 1984 (main picture)
John Sturrock: “I was working mainly in South Yorkshire in 1984, when I heard that a mass picket was planned at Bilston Glen, the biggest hole in Scotland. I managed to get there in time to see this confrontation. Many of these men were arrested and held in prison until they were charged.”
Police attacking Lesley Boulton at Orgreave, Sheffield, 1984
John Harris: “Lesley called: ‘Get an ambulance!’ to the police. The horses swinging around and charging. ‘You’ll have me too, ships,’ shouted one officer as he swung at her head. I shot two frames as a miner pulled her back by her belt and missed the shot. It could break her skull.”
Dot Hickling at a miners’ strike kitchen in Nottingham, c 1984
Brenda Prince: “Women played a vital role in the strikes, not only working to keep their homes safe but also fundraising, picketing and managing food distribution. They had nothing at first – a few quid and some potatoes. Gradually, they received donations of food and set up a very good kitchen for striking miners.”
Darfield Main Mill, Barnsley, 1984
Philip Winnard: “This was taken not far from where I worked, at the beginning of the strikes. We knew what was coming, but we didn’t know how long it would last. No one thought it would go on for a year. We thought it would last a week, a month, maybe a little longer. None of us were prepared.”
A year! Martin Parr has photographs from the 1984/85 Miners’ Strike Foundation, Bristol, 18 January until March 31.
