Greetings card: the banner of the Yorkshire Area of the NUM

The banner was made in early 2014 by Chippenham Designs, painted in acrylic paint on polycotton fabric and is 200 cm wide and 245 cm high. The front depicts some key features of the history and culture of the union. The rear shows the Miners’ Offices at Barnsley and the Memorial with the inscription “In memory of those who have lost their lives in supporting their union in times of struggle”.

It was designed by Chris Skidmore (Yorkshire Area Chairman) with advice from George Robson (Durham Miners Association), Keith Hartshorne (Yorkshire Area Vice Chairman) and Chris Kitchen (General Secretary, National Union of Mineworkers).

It was first used on 28th June 2014 in Barnsley at the reunion for the 30th anniversary of the Miners’ Strike. It is stored at the Miners’ Offices in Barnsley. There does not appear to have been an earlier banner.

Thanks to Ian Oxley (ex-Frickley NUM) for assistance and Chris Skidmore (Chairman, Yorkshire Area) and Jane Murphy (Chippenham Designs) for information.

Thanks to the Yorkshire Area of the National Union of Mineworkers for permission to photograph and reproduce this banner. Image copyright NUM.

If you have any information about this or any other banner please tell the NUM or Past Pixels.

The Miners’ Strike of 1984/5

The Miners’ Strike of 1984/5 was in defence of the coal industry, to protect jobs and communities.

By the end of the strike in March 1985, 200 mineworkers served time in prison or custody, 20,000 people had been injured and 966 mineworkers had been sacked by the NCB.  Two members of the National Union of Mineworkers were killed on picket lines; David Jones on the 15th March 1984 and Joe Green on the 15th June 1984. Three people died digging for coal during the winter.

The National Justice for Mineworkers Campaign

The National Justice for Mineworkers Campaign was formed at the 1985 Labour Conference and was launched at the Albert Hall, London, in October 1986.
The objectives of the campaign are to keep the issue of those victimised miners to the forefront of the labour and trade union movement and to raise money to alleviate hardship among the families of the victimised men.

The 966 men were originally sacked for no more than honouring picket lines, defending their jobs and pit communities, their class and the future of their children. Only a small number had been dismissed for offences against the person or damage to property. Many miners subsequently cleared by the courts were not re-instated and neither were many more who successfully won their cases for unfair dismissal at Industrial Tribunals. Many were even blacklisted from getting any work outside the coal industry.

The Justice Campaign is supported by the NUM, Labour Party, TUC conferences and many national & regional unions.

National Justice for Mineworkers Campaign
103 Cliff Road
Hornsea
HU18 1JB

Web: www.justiceformineworkers.org.uk
Phone: 01964 532954 & 07816 030236

A minimum of 10p of the purchase price of this card is donated to the NJMC.

Photography by Martin Shakeshaft.

Photography, design and print by unionised labour.
www.martinshakeshaft.com    www.kavitagraphics.co.uk     www.russellpress.com