The Cambridge Miners' Support Group
The Cambridge Miners' Support Group was born on 18 April 1984, at a meeting chaired by Tony Carter (TGWU), when the Cambridge Trades Council resolved to set up a support group after a talk by a miner from the Snowdown Colliery in Kent.
The original committee members were Peter Aldrich (GMBATU), Chris Bailey (AUEW), Lucy Munby (NUT) and Alison New (NUT). Ethel Shepherd was appointed Secretary.
This committee broadened out into an open discussion forum in which dozens of people took part, meeting every week in the local Labour Party headquarters, the Alex Wood Hall in Norfolk Street, to talk about the strike and practical ways of raising money.
A broad spectrum of support
Support went far beyond the traditional labour movement to include many academics, sympathetic members of church congregations, and groups of pensioners and school children. Local artists, printers and musicians also offered their skills.
Hardly a week went by without a new initiative for the miners, whether a cake sale, a public meeting, a trip to London to join a demonstration, or a performance at the Arts Theatre with Equity members donating their wage packets.
Supporters Stephanie Maceck, Librarian, Social and Political Sciences Library, daughter Alice, and Bethan Rees, third-year student at New Hall College.
Forging friendships
The pit villages of Blidworth and Rainworth were ‘adopted’ and close relationships were quickly established with the miners and their families. Cambridge activists have particularly warm memories of being made to feel welcome at Saturday night social events in both communities. Many well-attended social events and benefits also took place in Cambridge, often at the Geldhart Public House, raising hundreds of pounds. Nottinghamshire miners and their families were invited to stay in Cambridge for holidays and rest breaks whenever they needed them.
Fundraising and food runs
Volunteer drivers undertook the weekly food runs with a cheque for £150-£200 and groceries to each of the villages, always lingering to talk to families about their needs. Trips across the country at short notice to offer practical support wherever and whenever it was needed became routine. Workplace collections, many impromptu and informal, took place at venues large and small. There were regular ‘whip-rounds’ at the weekly meetings of academics involved with The Cambridge Journal of Economics as well as among groups of council employees such as the refuse collectors.
Loading the car for the weekly deliveries to Nottinghamshire: Ethel Shepherd (Treasurer), Anna Frankel (PhD student), Lucy Munby (Secretary), Cambridge Miners' Support Group.
Jon Lawrence, then a student beginning his Phd in History at King’s College in Cambridge, remembers having a long list of weekly subscribers and that his own college provided the largest of all the college funds.
Student support across the university was organised through the broad-left University Left grouping, and by two students at Selwyn College in particular. Tobin Aldrich remembers that early in the strike, a group of academics organised a standing order scheme that raised over £3,000 a week for the strike fund. The Saturday bucket collections in Cambridge's market place were organised by Peter Aldridge, who attended virtually every week. These took place in rain, sunshine and snow and were always the main source of income, raising a total of just under £10,000. Anne Campbell, later MP for Cambridge, attended whenever she could. The Gwent miners who were in Cambridge on weekdays also raised around £10,000.
From August 1984, the Queen Edith’s branch of the Labour Party supported Selby in Yorkshire, sending baby clothes and money; from November, the Cambridge group also helped Selby, splitting money between Gwent and Selby after the needs of Blidworth and Rainworth had been met, collecting £1,365. Sue Kington and the Woodcraft Folk organised holidays for six miners’ children in Norfolk ('They sent us six little boys without night clothes. They said their dads didn’t wear pyjamas.').
Lighter moments
The strike had its lighter moments. Bemused Welsh miners found themselves sleeping on a water bed proudly acquired by Nicki Glegg as well as on the floors of sympathetic students in central Cambridge colleges. Arjuna in Mill Road generously provided a regular supply of rice, pulses and other wholefoods but the Nottinghamshire miners did not eat lentils and unbeknown to their donors, regularly sold such produce to vegetarians in order to buy ‘proper food’. One supporter recollects keeping wads of banknotes overnight in a twin tub washing machine and her momentary panic when she thought it had been switched on accidentally.
The highlight of the year for many Cambridge residents was the arrival of two coachloads of Nottinghamshire miners and their families, who were entertained at Strawberry Fair, swam at the city's Parkside Pool, enjoyed visits to Cambridge colleges provided by the Fellows, and ‘scrumptious’ teas and lunches provided by the Co-op and the YMCA.
The group disbands
In 1985 the miners’ support group dispersed after one final fundraising meeting. A public poetry recital in King’s College addressed by the Beat poet, Allen Ginsberg, raised £267 for miners.
Chronology
The Cambridge Miners’ Support Group is set up by Trades Council.
Public meeting at the Alex Wood Hall in Norfolk Street, Cambridge, raises £509.
Miners from Maerdy in the Rhondda valley arrive at the Labour Party Hall.
Lore Burgess replies to a letter in The Guardian from Wynona Reeson, Phyllis Bradley, Betty Gascoyne and Zoe Cooper in Chesterfield and starts organising support for women’s action groups in Derbyshire.
Two coachloads of striking miners and their families come from Blidworth to Cambridge and spend the day at Strawberry Fair, touring the colleges, swimming at Parkside Pool or sight-seeing. Lunch, with food provided by the Co-op, is at the Alex Wood Hall and tea at the YMCA.
Striking miners with their banners join a procession and collect money for the strike fund at the fair.
A ceilidh is held in the evening at the Alex Wood Hall with £110 profit. A fundraising social is held soon afterwards at The Man in the Moon pub.
Mining families needing a holiday are invited to Cambridge with fares or petrol paid plus £10 per head spending money. Thirteen families (with two or more children) visit Cambridge.
Six places are provided for Blidworth and Rainworth children at the Woodcraft Folk holiday camp in Norfolk, two paid for by Queen Edith’s Ward Labour Party.
Peter Aldrich organises a fundraising social at the Geldhart pub sponsored by the GMBATU. Cambridge City Council provides free tickets so that the Unemployed Workers’ Union can run a stall for the miners at the Cambridge Folk Festival, with the help of Richard Friedman, who prints most of the group’s leaflets during the campaign.
People travel from Blidworth to Cambridge to join a march and rally in support of the strike. Tony Carter is quoted in the local paper.
Eight women from Cambridge and their children join the women from Blidworth and take part in their picket line. The Cambridge women clean, cook and serve meals for the miners and their dependants in the communal kitchen.
Queen Edith’s ward of the Labour Party starts supporting Selby.
Nicky Glegg of the Cambridge Miners' Support Group returns to the Blidworth picket line and is arrested for ‘behaviour likely to cause a breach of the peace’. She is found guilty and made to pay a small fine.
Maerdy miners lobby a NALGO meeting to renew their support for the strike. The Mayor of Cambridge invites the miners into his parlour for a drink.
A fundraising jumble sale is held at the Alex Wood Hall.
Merthyr miners replace Maerdy miners and speak at local trade union meetings. Miners from the Six Bells pit in Gwent start visiting Cambridge regularly.
Cambridge University sets up its own miners’ support group.
A collection at a large public meeting in the Guildhall raises £1,048 despite the fact that the key speaker, Peter Heathfield, NUM General Secretary, is unable to come. Alison New, one of the original committee members of the Cambridge Miners' Support Group, is presented with a commemorative plate of appreciation by Pauline Radford of the Blidworth Action Group. A ceilidh is held for miners.
A lunchtime meeting (women-only) is held in the Cambridge Women’s Resources Centre.
A benefit concert is held in the Alex Wood Hall.
A letter from Sue Maddock is published in The Guardian.
Each child in Rainworth and Blidworth receives a named, gift-wrapped toy or other Christmas present and a stocking filler. The overall value of the gifts is £2,000. Lore Burgess organises the presents for Rainworth.
Two academics from Frankfurt University visit Cambridge bringing £1,000 for the miners.
Cambridge Support Group members remain busy. £120 profit is made from the sale of t-shirts specially printed by Rick Leggat. Derek Purdue sets up collecting boxes in Arjuna on Mill Road and other sympathetic shops. Morag Shiach organises Friday night pub collections.
£537 is received from a school in West Berlin.
A meeting in support of sacked and imprisoned miners is held in Cambridge's Carpenter Hall.
The raffle of a miners’ lamp organised by Mary Joannou raises £150.
A large contingent from Cambridge attends a big demonstration in Hyde Park, London.
Fundraising continues, with a poetry reading held at Pembroke College with Mick Gowar, John James, Wendy Mulford and others. A sale of art, pottery and handicrafts in Fisher Hall is organised by Nicky Glegg and raises £1,535. A jazz night at the Alex Wood Hall with Kevin Flanagan and other musicians raises £100.
A public meeting is organised at St Philips School in Vinery Road. Ian MacGregor calls off plans to speak in Cambridge University.
The Miners' Strike ends. The Maerdy miners’ procession back to the pithead is viewed on cinema and television screens across the world.
A poetry reading by Beat poet Allen Ginsberg in King’s College, Cambridge, raises £267 for imprisoned miners.
£100 is raised for sacked and victimised miners at a Witness Evening event, attended by 85 people and held at ARU, in response to an appeal from the floor by Lucy Munby – a former member of the Cambridge Miner's Support Group.