[Roy Huggins]

Hi Guys,

Apologies not posting for a while, I've been busy working on our mew GCSE module on the Miners' Strike.

Anyway, to cut a long story short I've been given a lot of help by the NUM, the local community, artists, the arts council, Ben Walsh and many folks on www.schoolhistory.co.uk and have finally got together a massive resource bank of video clips, worksheets, SOWs etc that can be adapted for KS3. KS4 and KS5. There is still a lot of work to do, but if anyone is interested in getting involved or sharing what I've created and gathered together so far, then please do get in touch.

In many respects, my department has hit a back gold mine of local oral history and its been quiet humbling to see how both the kids and the local community have responded. Its now been 26 years since the Miners' Strike. In has become a silent forgotten history. If you live in a community that was affected or even want to get your kids passionate about the changes that have taken place in our recent history, then please consider covering it as a topic. It really is a great subject with heros and villians. At the heart of the struggle is a group of working class men and women trying to fight to protect their communities and jobs. They may have lost, but were they ultimately right? Its a classic tale of collectivism and community spirit verses the rise of self fish individualism.


Kind Regards

Roy
PS Don't sign a contract with Virgin Broadband, its truely awful!

[john bassett]

PS Don't sign a contract with Virgin Broadband, its truely awful!
[/quote]


Really, mine's better than it was with Tisacli!

Good to have you back, slim!

[Dafydd Humphreys]

Cool, Roy, I would love to do a module on the Miners Strike. However I'm not in charge of the subject any more. Still love to have a gawp at some of your resources mind.

[Roy Huggins]

Hi Dafydd,

Cool - I can post my SOW / First edition worksheets and resource packs, but the multmedia and oral history resources are priceless - hard drive time afraid!

I've been working closely with Dave Douglass who in charge of the Flying Pickets in Doncaster. His pit was ground zero for some of the toughest confrontations. He has also even me access to a lot of VHS material which I'm in the process of digitalizing. I'll hopefully have finished the first rip over Christmas so it depends upon how urgently you would like to get your hands on the resources.

In terms of delivering the Miners Strike, you could easily adapt my SOW as a KS3 unit or as a coursework module for either the OCR Pilot on local history or the controlled conditions of the MWH coursework. Failing that you could deliver it as either an A Level Module or use the materials for your A2 students to use for their personal study. It can fit anywhere, even into the citizenship curriculum! However, its about time that we pushed back the walls of silence and make folks take note of the terrible price that coal mining communities up and down the land have paid over the past 26 years. They couldn't defeat the miners so they took away their pits and through a thousand cuts destroyed their communities. It was a civil war fought of the streets of England and every bit as bitter as Nothern Ireland. Did you know that the government spent three times as much defeating the miners than it paid for the Falkland War?

If you teach in a school like mine and you want to enagage your students and the local community, then the history of Great Miners Strike of 1984 has great potential. I personally think that the MWH Syllabus should be updated to include the 1980s. When I first started taeching we used to get the kids to interview veterans from the FWW and SWW. Now we bring in both men and women involved in the strike. We've got the kids going around the school interviewing the cleaners and the canteen ladies. Everyone is on board, its great!

Kind Regards

Roy

This post has been edited by Roy Huggins: 14 December 2009 - 12:53 AM

[brian mccluskey]

Roy Huggins, on 13 December 2009 - 11:24 PM, said:

Hi Dafydd,

Cool - I can post my SOW / First edition worksheets and resource packs, but the multmedia and oral history resources are priceless - hard drive time afraid!

I've been working closely with Dave Douglass who in charge of the Flying Pickets in Doncaster. His pit was ground zero for some of the toughest confrontations. He has also even me access to a lot of VHS material which I'm in the process of digitalizing. I'll hopefully have finished the first rip over Christmas so it depends upon how urgently you would like to get your hands on the resources.

In terms of delivering the Miners Strike, you could easily adapt my SOW as a KS3 unit or as a coursework module for either the OCR Pilot on local history or the controlled conditions of the MWH coursework. Failing that you could deliver it as either an A Level Module or use the materials for your A2 students to use for their personal study. It can fit anywhere, even into the citizenship curriculum! However, its about time that we pushed back the walls of silence and make folks take note of the terrible price that coal mining communities up and down the land have paid over the past 26 years. They couldn't defeat the miners so they took away their pits and through a thousand cuts destroyed their communities. It was a civil war fought of the streets of England and every bit as bitter as Nothern Ireland. Did you know that the government spent three times as much defeating the miners than it paid for the Falkland War?

If you teach in a school like mine and you want to enagage your students and the local community, then the history of Great Miners Strike of 1984 has great potential. I personally think that the MWH Syllabus should be updated to include the 1980s. When I first started taeching we used to get the kids to interview veterans from the FWW and SWW. Now we bring in both men and women involved in the strike. We've got the kids going around the school interviewing the cleaners and the canteen ladies. Everyone is on board, its great!

Kind Regards

Roy

[brian mccluskey]

Whoops There was a fantastic article in the football mag 442 about 2 years ago about how the rivalry between Chesterfield and Mansfield got worse as a result of the miners stike. One of the subheadings was miners v scabs.Hope to look at the strike as part of political protests at ks3

[brian mccluskey]

brian mccluskey, on 16 December 2009 - 10:28 AM, said:

Whoops There was a fantastic article in the football mag 442 about 2 years ago about how the rivalry between Chesterfield and Mansfield got worse as a result of the miners stike. One of the subheadings was pickets v scabs.Hope to look at the strike as part of political protests at ks3

[Dafydd Humphreys]

brian mccluskey, on 16 December 2009 - 10:28 AM, said:

Whoops There was a fantastic article in the football mag 442 about 2 years ago about how the rivalry between Chesterfield and Mansfield got worse as a result of the miners stike. One of the subheadings was miners v scabs.Hope to look at the strike as part of political protests at ks3

I remember in the mid to late 80s and beyond, all Nottinghamshire teams' fans (Forest, County, Stags) were called Scabs by others, especially in Yorkshire.

[Roy Huggins]

Dafydd Humphreys, on 16 December 2009 - 10:25 PM, said:

brian mccluskey, on 16 December 2009 - 10:28 AM, said:

Whoops There was a fantastic article in the football mag 442 about 2 years ago about how the rivalry between Chesterfield and Mansfield got worse as a result of the miners stike. One of the subheadings was miners v scabs.Hope to look at the strike as part of political protests at ks3

I remember in the mid to late 80s and beyond, all Nottinghamshire teams' fans (Forest, County, Stags) were called Scabs by others, especially in Yorkshire.

The sad thing is, they still are! Whenever Nottingham plays anyone in Yorkshire, Durham or Tyneside they are still called 'Scabs.' I've seen and heard it for myself.

One of my students asked Dave Douglas last week: 'Do you regret calling the Nottinghamshire Miners scabs?' Dave responded: 'No and I tell you why. Whilst we were at Ollerton, both the pickets and the police observed a two minutes silence for a young picket who had been killed by a brick thrown by a Notts Miner. Whilst we were stood there observing the silence the Notts Miners used the opportunity to disrespectfully rushed into work. All they cared about was the money and the hope that their pist would be kept open if they shut ours.'

Folks should not forget that the Miners' Strike was a modern day Civil War fought for the heart and soul of the country. Community verses selfish individualism. As historians its our job to impartially look at events and help students understand the events that have ripped apart their community and devastated the local economy.

It really is a cracking topic!

Roy
PS Dafydd if you up this way this summer let me know and I'll see if I can get you into Arthur's Castle in Barnsley. You should see all the NUM banners from the closed Yorkshire pits!

This post has been edited by Roy Huggins: 17 December 2009 - 01:37 AM

[Simone C]

You may have already heard the adverts on the radio for this but on Tuesday 2nd March Radio 2 10.30pm there is 'The Ballad of the Miners' Strike' featuring songs, newly commissioned songs and interviews about the Miners' strike.

Thought it may be of interest to this thread.
Happy listening
Simone

[Simone C]

Oh yes and I forgot to add that Dover Museum had (and proably still has) a whole gallery on the kentish coal miners which may be of interest. A very small but vocal community.

[Roy Huggins]

Simone C, on 27 February 2010 - 05:43 PM, said:

You may have already heard the adverts on the radio for this but on Tuesday 2nd March Radio 2 10.30pm there is 'The Ballad of the Miners' Strike' featuring songs, newly commissioned songs and interviews about the Miners' strike.

Thought it may be of interest to this thread.
Happy listening
Simone

Cheers Simone, I'll listen out for them!

Up to my neck preparing for an HMI visit tomorrow.

Roy

[Jeremy H]

Really interested to read this topic. One of my students is doing her A Level coursework essay on the miners strike - would anyone be able to point me/her in the right direction for resources to help her with her study?
Thankyou!
Jeremy

[Roy Huggins]

When is her personal study due? I've got shed loads, but she woould have to be very egar to start working her way through them. The majority are based around NUM, BBC, Channel 4, German TV and interviews that I have recorded from locals covering all aspects of the strike. Whats her title? Is she doing AQA?

In order to work her way throught them she would have to devote about 50 plus study hours which she may not have time to do in this accademic year. Then again it depends upon her focus.

Roy

[Roy Huggins]

I'm toying with the idea of possibly doing a Miners' Strike personal investigation essay with my sixth form.

In the context of 1900 to 1985, how significant was the 1984 Miners' Strike in changing the status and position of women in South Yorkshire?

In the context of 1880 to 1985, to what extent was the Miners' Strike a turning point in Britain's industrial relations?

What do folks think? Any AQA title has to cover a 100 years.

Roy