The Durham Miners Association will commemorate the great Thomas Hepburn, leader of the first miners’ trade union. The annual Thomas Hepburn Memorial Service will take place at St Mary’s Church, Heworth Saturday 12 October 2024 beginning at 11am. Thomas Hepburn spent his life working to improve the lives of miners and their families, and founded […]
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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 13 July 2024 for the 138th Gala. The hugely popular Miners Festival Service at Durham Cathedral has been part of every Gala since 1897. Two new banners will process and into the cathedral accompanied by […]
A beautiful, hand made limited edition art print marking 40 years since the Miners Strike has been specially produced for the 2024 Durham Miners Gala. Solidarity Forever’ by the artist Theresa Easton takes inspiration from the iconography of the strike – handmade placards, bold simple text, and big powerful slogans. It ties in with the ‘Solidarity Forever!’ theme of this year’s Gala, […]
Singer songwriter Joe Solo will perform at the 2024 Durham Miners Gala. The musician and activist will sing for the Gala crowds after first marching through the city with Yorkshire’s Hatfield Brigade. https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FZ73DP2GW5Y0%3Fwmode%3Dtransparent%26feature%3Doembed&wmode=transparent&display_name=YouTube&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DZ73DP2GW5Y0&image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FZ73DP2GW5Y0%2Fhqdefault.jpg&key=e23856ccc1f011e0b5e44040d3dc5c07&type=text%2Fhtml&schema=youtube Among his songs of hope and defiance will be ‘The Last Miner’, written and recorded this year in celebration of The Big Meeting. The song […]
The 2024 Durham Miners Gala will mark the 40th anniversary of the Miners Strike, organisers have said. The Durham Miners Association (DMA) has also announced its line up of platform speakers for the 138th Big Meeting. The year-long strike began in March 1984 as miners and their families across the country fought to preserve their jobs, their industry […]
Former mineworkers are invited to attend for free Ashington AFC’s home game this Saturday, April 13.The club is making the offer to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1984-85 Miners Strike. The opposition is Grantham Town. Those who worked in coal mining are simply asked to arrive at the game and state that they were a mineworkers. […]
Everyone at the DMA was saddened to learn of the passing of Dave Lewis. Dave was a founder of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM), campaigning and raising funds throughout and beyond the 1984-85 strike. The work of LGSM provided much-needed material and moral support for miners and their families and built friendships and […]
In early October, a wreath was laid on behalf of the Durham Miners Association (DMA) by Graeme Atkinson in Rethymno on the Greek island of Crete in memory of the martyred US miners’ leader, Louis Tikas, who was born there in 1886. Tikas was a miner who became an organiser for the United Mineworkers of America […]
The official film of the 2023 Durham Miners Gala will premiere online on Monday 20 November at 7pm. The 15-minute official film (see trailer above) will premiere live on the Gala’s Facebook and YouTube channels on the anniversary of the founding of the Durham Miners Association (DMA) in 1869. The DMA dedicated this Gala to […]
There was standing room only as people remembered Thomas Hepburn, founder of the first miners trade union on Saturday (October 14). And filmmaker Ken Loach received a standing ovation for his address drawing learning and inspiration from Tommy’s life. More than a dozen banners were in attendance at St Mary’s Church, Heworth on Saturday, including […]