2. Into The Fray

Unofficial picketing brings over 140,000 miners out on strike. Miners families in South Wales know there are tough times ahead but is solid: within days none of the pits are functioning.

It’s a tougher choice for men like John Maddock in Nottinghamshire, where most miners are crossing picket lines and going to work.

Women start to organise collections to help sustain their families. Presenter Jonny Owen talks to his mother about what she did during the strike, and why she and his father decided to give a chunk of their wages every week to the strikers.

Jonny also meets a member of Margaret Thatcher’s government at the time – Lord David Hunt – who accuses National Union of Mineworkers leader Arthur Scargill of orchestrating a strike to try and bring down the government.

The argument about the NUM’s decision not to hold a national ballot over strike action won’t go away and the union stands accused of being undemocratic. But at grassroots level, Jonny talks to ex-miners who say the ballot issue was irrelevant: they had to make a stand against a devastating programme of pit closures. They knew their whole future was at stake.

Strike is a Bengo Media Production for BBC Sounds.

Presenter: Jonny Owen

Series Producer: Clare Hudson

Executive Producer: Steve Austins

Assistant Producer: Ffion Clarke

Development Producer: Branwen Davies

Sound Designer: Meic Parry

Sound Editor: Adam Whalley

Composer: Richard Llewellyn

Series Consultant: Dr Ben Curtis

Commissioning Editor: Bridget Curnow