An appeal has been launched to trace Durham’s miners’ support group banners from the 1984-85 strike. Founded and led by women, support groups ran in communities across the coalfield and were critical in sustaining the strike, feeding and clothing people and maintaining morale. Banners were created for many of the groups. An event is planned […]
Author: DMA
Easington MP Grahame Morris has called on the Government to extend the legislation providing pardons for miners wrongly convicted during the 1984-85 strike across the UK. The Scottish Parliament passed the Miners’ Strike (Pardons) Bill last year. In a question to the Leader of the House of Commons, Grahame has called on the UK Government to extend […]
A blue plaque has been unveiled on a house once lived in by one of the founding members of the Durham Miners Association (DMA). It isn’t clear how long John Forman lived at 16 Mowbray Street, though evidence suggests it was from 1882. Census records confirm he certainly lived there from 1891 until his death […]
(Photo Ken Loach: credit Paul Crowther) Ken Loach will speak at the memorial service for the leader of the first miners’ trade union. The acclaimed filmmaker will give the address during the Thomas Hepburn Memorial Service at St Mary’s Church, Heworth on Saturday 14 October. The service begins at 11am. Thomas Hepburn spent his life working to improve the lives of miners and […]
Details of the cathedral service during this year’s Durham Miners Gala have been confirmed. Tens of thousands of people are preparing to gather in Durham City on Saturday 8 July 2023 for the 137th Gala. The hugely popular Miners Festival Service at Durham Cathedral has been part of every Gala since 1897. Three banners will process into Durham Cathedral accompanied by brass and […]
The DMA was represented at the funeral of union and community stalwart Brian Williams today (Tuesday 20 June 2023). Brian was a long-serving official at Horden where he became lodge chairman. He was active during the 1984-85 strike and served his community throughout his life. He was almost a much-loved family man known as passionate […]
The 2023 Durham Miners Gala is dedicated to workers taking industrial action, organisers have announced. The Durham Miners Association (DMA) is also calling on all workers not yet in a union to rise up and join the struggle for a fairer and more equal society. There has been a wave of strikes and other actions […]
Arrangements for the 2023 Durham Miners Gala have been confirmed. The 137th Big Meeting, as the Gala is also known, will take place on Saturday 8 July 2023. Road closures will be in place from 4am to enable preparations for the Gala to parade through the city’s streets. Redevelopment of the city’s bus station means that the Gala cannot […]
The Durham Miners Association (DMA) will continue its programme of community advice surgeries in Tanfield Lea on Friday 16 June 2023. Following the closure of the collieries, the DMA continued its work providing a range of services for its beneficial members, including compensation claims, benefit information, tribunal representation and legal advice. The DMA is now taking advice surgeries into the communities. Officials will be […]
The DMA was represented at the funeral of much loved and respected community and union stalwart Les Simpson. Born in 1939, Les was a miner at Usworth, Washington, from the age of 15 until 1973, when he joined the area drilling team working in collieries across the County Durham, before moving on to work in […]