Durham city has been hosting its 138th Miners' Gala.
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00:00♪♪♪
00:26Hiya!
00:28Ha ha ha ha ha!
00:34Okay, then Jimmy, why did you come down here to Sherham?
00:36Why is it important to support this event?
00:38Tradition. The mining heritage should be kept alive.
00:41Are you from a mining background?
00:43Not really. I'm from a mining village.
00:45A lot of my friends had parents who were miners,
00:47but I'm not from a mining background.
00:49Which village are you from?
00:50Sherham village.
00:52I just think it's important because
00:54it should never be forgotten for what they've done,
00:56and things like that.
00:58I think it's the 40th anniversary of the miners' strikes as well,
01:00so particularly important this year?
01:02Yeah, very important. It'll always be important,
01:04no matter what anniversary it is,
01:06because it's sort of dying off a little bit,
01:08but hopefully it'll keep going for many, many more years.
01:12You're not put off by the weather today?
01:14No, no. I may not have been coming down since I was little.
01:18My daughters have been coming.
01:20I've got my granddaughter here now.
01:22It's just, like I say, it's just tradition,
01:24and it's something that should be withheld.
01:26It's part of Durham, it's part of Durham life.
01:41Kevin Allen, just how significant is the Miners' Gala event,
01:44and why is it important it continues
01:46with the region's traditional history?
01:48The Durham Miners' Gala
01:50is the biggest event of its type,
01:52a gathering of trade unionists
01:54and their supporters,
01:56labour movement supporters,
01:58in the whole of Europe.
02:00It's the biggest in Europe.
02:02The first gala was held in 1871,
02:04when there was numerous pits
02:06in the county of Durham.
02:08Today, we haven't got any.
02:10The last pit in Durham closed in December 1993,
02:12and that was way above the pit I worked at.
02:16The reason why it's that vitally important
02:18is because
02:20it gives us a sense of identity.
02:22It is our identity.
02:24It tells our younger generation,
02:26this is where you come from,
02:28this is your heritage.
02:30Be proud of that heritage,
02:32because the whole country was built
02:34on the back of coal.
02:36Coal fired the industrial revolution
02:38and provided the benefits we enjoy today.
02:40So the gala is relevant
02:42because it's an act of defiance
02:44against those who would oppress us.
02:46It's an event
02:48which signifies
02:50comradeship,
02:52friendship,
02:54peace,
02:56and love.
02:58That's what it's all about.
03:00It's a coming together of people
03:02who want a peaceful world,
03:04who want a decent world.
03:06This gala epitomises that,
03:08and it's vitally important it continues,
03:10and it will continue
03:12long into the future.
03:14You can see it today,
03:16the weather's not the best.
03:18It's damp, it's drizzling, raining,
03:20but there's still thousands and thousands
03:22of people on the streets of Durham
03:24marching with the magnificent banners
03:26and the bands.
03:28That's what it means to the people,
03:30not only in Durham, but around the country
03:32and indeed around the world.
03:34We've got international guests
03:36at the gala every year.
03:38We've got people from around the country
03:40every year. It's the most significant
03:42event in the country.
04:12Miner's Strike 1984,
04:14we knew that, well, what I did
04:16was I said that we needed
04:18to get women involved.
04:20If we didn't get the women involved, I knew the strike wouldn't last.
04:22Because, believe it or not,
04:24in mining communities it's women that ruin,
04:26and they would have forced the men back to work.
04:28So my job was to
04:30go around each of the villages,
04:32try and get support groups together,
04:34get women to do stuff.
04:36And at first those women wanted to provide
04:38males, which was fine.
04:40But eventually it grew,
04:42and they did all manner of things.
04:48At first it was canny,
04:50but as the strike went on,
04:52bills came in,
04:54electric bills, mortgage companies
04:56were at the families
04:58who were going to be evicted.
05:00So we had to
05:02provide food, but we also
05:04became an advice centre,
05:06giving people advice on where they could
05:08go, who could help them,
05:10how they could stop themselves being
05:12evicted. So it
05:14was really hard, because women were trying to
05:16be everything. They were trying to keep
05:18the home together, they were trying to
05:20support the husbands, they were trying to
05:22look after their bairns.
05:24It was really hard.
05:26I know the mines are now closed, but how
05:28important is it that we remember on days like today
05:30our mining heritage, and know
05:32what our privileges grew up on?
05:34We are showing today, like we show every year,
05:36thatcher wanted to wipe
05:38us off the earth. She hasn't done it.
05:40We're growing, we're out there, we're still
05:42fighting. And that's
05:44the importance of today for me, to show
05:46solidarity. All the trade unions, that's
05:48what's good now, it's not only the miners,
05:50it's other trade unions coming together,
05:52we're all supporting each other,
05:54and we're fighting this on the same front.
06:06Thank you.