WOMEN'S PIT CAMPS

In 1993 several pit camps organised by Women Against Pit Closures (WAPC) sprang up round the coalfields in response to the Coal Board's attempt to close down the country's deep pits. Here are some of the stories taken from our newsletters throughout that period:

CREATION OF PIT CAMPS – Newsletter July 1993

National Women Against Pit Closures decided to try to set up permanent camps at all of the ten most threatened pits as part of the ongoing campaign against the plan to close 31 mines.
.....There are now seven camps up and running and they are intended to be a peaceful vigil by women and are staffed on a 24 hour basis. The idea of setting up the pit camps came as we were throwing around ideas for how we could step up the women's contribution to the campaign. Many women in WAPC had contact with the Greenham Common women's peace camp both during and after the 1984/85 strike, and so that came up. And immediately we all thought it was a great idea.
.....Women are running the camps to demonstrate that the closure of the pits is not just about minng jobs that would go; it is about the devastation of whole mining communities, the destruction of whole families' lives and the future of our children and their security. Some mining communities would simply become ghost towns and the closure would affect the prospects for our children for generations.
.....So we felt setting up camps was a way of underlining the strength of our feelings as women in the mining communities, that we were all fighting for our own lives as well as the job of those in the pits. And the camps were a way of keeping the issues of pit closure alive and in the media and have been very successful in doing this. They are being well supported by all, including the local authorities whose land we are on in many cases. We are giving moral support to the miners and our families whose livelihoods are most immediately threatened.
.....Where I am at Parkside we have had incredible support from all over the North West. Members of a women's band from Manchester came and played at the camp and we have had constant visits and messages of support as well as good coverage in the media. We intend to stay put until production is started and the pits are kept open. Our rally and march in London on Feb 6th was also a focus for our protests and I feel sure we will have continued support in our struggle. And this support goes far beyond the Rifling communities.
.....For example, WAPC wrote to the local papers in towns like Cheltenham – which brought a delegation to the big London march in October – and once again there is strong support."
.....Food, TV sets, heating etc are provided from funds raised in the local communities and throughout the labour movement.
.....These camps at seven of the ten most threatened pits are very glad to receive messages of support, delegations and contributions of food and money. These can be sent, or you can go along to a camp in your area, to: Grimetoorpe Pit Cup, Nr. Barnsley; Houghton Main Pit Camp, Little Houghton, Nr. Barnsley, S72 OHP; Trentham. Pit Cup, Longton Road, Trentham, Stoke on Trent, Staffs; Markham Main Pit Camp, Doncaster Road, Armthorpe, Doncaster; Vane Tempest Pit Camp, Seaham, Co Durham; Parkside Pit Camp, Winwick Road, Newton le Willows, Merseyside; Rufford Pit Camp, Kirklington Road, Rainworth, Nr. Mansfield, Notts.

PIT OCCUPATIONS-

Miners wives recently occupied three of the ten threatened pits in an attempt to save them. The occupation of Parkside colliery, the only remaining pit in Lancs, by five women over Easter, received the most attention. And on the 12th May Trentham colliery in Staffs was occupied by women from the pit camp that has been keeping vigil for the past few months. They chained themselves to railings, suffragette style, for four days. British Coal responded by fencing them off with barbed wire. When UDM secretary Roy Lynk occupied a Notts pit back in October he was depicted as a hero by the media. British Coal provided him with food and drink throughout his "occupation" and even allowed visitors to see him. When Women Against Pit Closures members brought food for their occupiers however, British Coal refused to let them receive it and the occupiers of Tréntham colliery were on the receiving end of the same callous and biased treatment from British Coal.

National Justice for Mineworkers Campaign Newsletter July 1993

WOMEN'S PIT CAMP TERRORISED BY RIOT POLICE – Newsletter November 1993

Women from the Parkside Pit Camp in Lancs chained themselves to the pit gates when they found out that the management were bringing in concrete and stone to seal up the pit for good. They remained chained from Monday 4th October until Saturday. The pit management then switched off all the electricity to the pit, also blowing a local sub station in the process and plunging the surrounding houses into darkness!
.....A delegation of 20 top Coal Board management who were mysteriously at the pit then complained that the presence of the women chained to the gates was frightening and intimidating them! They refused to tell the women why they had switched the electricity off and brought 70 police – 50 in riot gear – who cut the women free from their chain. The secretary of the local trades council, a woman, was dragged into a police van and then thrown out while it was still moving and a local Parkside worker and member of the NUM National Executive was hit twice in the face by a riot shield, necessitating treatment.
.....As we write however, the picket is still in place. There is still no power to the pit after the management's actions and it is still unclear what their motives are. A Coal Board security guard was even forced to use the women's pit camp telephone to report a burglary as his telephone was not working! If anyone can be found who still believes the Coal Board management are competent to run our coal industry, send them to Parkside colliery and they'll soon change their mind.

National Justice for Mineworkers Campaign Newsletter November 1993

LANCS WOMEN FIGHT ON – Newsletter April 1994

Lancashire Women Against Pit Closures is waging a series of campaigns for women victimised after British Coal started filling in the shafts at Parkside pit and their pit camp was closed.
.....Their main focus is the appeal fund for one of the women who was ordered to pay £16,000 to BC, the cost of evicting campaigners from Parkside pit camp. The appeal is to cover all her damages. In a statement Lancs Women Against Pit Closures said:
.....Twenty months of resistance against the closure of Parkside colliery ended on 14 Aug. after the realisation that BC had started filling in the shafts. The message from the occupation was loud and clear – despite many years "political" activity by some, the last 20 months had been the best introduction to real class struggle. They had found themselves doing what was necessary rather than just talking about it. We are all confronted with the huge task of organising workers' solidarity in the face of all opposing legislation.

National Justice for Mineworkers Campaign Newsletter April 1994