Socialist Appeal supporters in South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire joined together with the National Justice for Mineworkers with support from North Derbyshire NUM to organise a week long programme of  political discussions and educational events at Wortley Hall near Sheffield.  Wortley Hall was once owned by Baron Wharncliffe but was restored (and now owned) by the Labour and trade union movement.

  
The discussions were set against the background of a magnificent art exhibition, Ashes and Diamonds, created by young artist Darren Coffield.  Darren’s inspiration for his paintings and drawings was the 1984 national miners’ strike and the struggles on the picket lines led by figures such as Arthur Scargill, Peter Heathfield and Mick McGahey.  The exhibition creates in superb artistic terms, the stark reality of the dramatic struggle by the miners to save jobs and preserve their communities in face of a determined battle by the Thatcher led Tory government who used all the might of the state against the miners and their families, including mounted police and armed forces. The Tories saw the strike as a battle they had to win in order to smash the most powerful union in Britain at that time, the National Union of Mineworkers. 

The exhibition was opened by the leader of that strike, Arthur Scargill whose address and speech those packed into the library in the Hall felt was reminiscent of Arthur at his very best during the strike itself. He started off by asserting his credentials as a socialist and said that there was no other way now but to create a socialist society.  “Capitalism is finished” he roared to applause from the audience.   Arthur pulled no punches in his condemnation of the policies of the Thatcher Government in its steeled determination to effectively close down the mining industry. He highlighted the bravery and courage of the miners and their families and the many local leaders who were fighting a cause for every worker across the country at that time. He paid tribute to the great heroes of the strike and emphasised the role of strong leadership from the top when the going gets tough.

We got the real facts of the strike, the role of the press and the Labour leadership including Neil Kinnock who was as much afraid of the miners as the Tories were . Scargill pointed out that the lessons of Saltley Gates  in  the 1972  miners strike showed that when unions were united and solid behind the strike, victory was in the grasp of the workers. Arthur maintained that if that if that level of solidarity had remained throughout the later strike and the Labour leaders had got fully behind the miners then victory could have been achieved and the situation now would have much different.

The audience including young students from Sheffield University and ex-miners from the surrounding former coalfield admitted that Arthur’s contribution to the opening of the exhibition was inspiring at a time when the fight back against capitalism was growing daily across the whole world.  “Just like the old days” was how one ex NUM stalwart described the meeting. We all left the Hall that night determined to continue the great example of the miners in 1984-85 so eloquently described by Arthur and this time we will win!