2. Into The Fray Strike

Unofficial picketing brings over 140,000 miners out on strike. Miners families in South Wales know there are tough times ahead but support 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