women passed throug singing "Mardy miners, Mardy miners, we'll support evermore. " The men clapped as one to express something that transcended admiration and a sense of comradeship but reflected a knowledge deep within them that went back in the history of their class: whatever was sent to oppress them, together, fighting side by side, there would be no limit to the sacrifices they could endure; collectively they
would not be broken. Misled, betrayed, another not give in whatever they faced. The Mardy followed/joined them. you participate in any demonstrations. After the women from Birmingham that TGWU Sandwell with its much travelled Trades Coord
isolated as in- dividuals, but as a body of men and to work. women united in the community, they The were determined to show they would women's group was by from pithead. women Rhondda CND. These women had joined most of the Mardy picket lines. broken Many CND women were arrested on One, Lynn Fortt, was arrested twice and served two sentences lock- could ed up in Bristol. Her fines had been aid by the Women's Support Grour out she retused to be bound over tc keep the peace as one of the condi- tions was that she was not to attend or CND, the supporters from outside Mardy, from (represented by the banner), from Aberystwyth, with its resplendent and Uxtord MUM, Socialist Viewpoint, No. 4, March 1985. Page 7
cil banner) joined the women to clap in the miners in their final few yards
band struck up, the miners clenched their fists high and stamping their feet marched to "Here We Go" in a loose battle formation to the
We all stood back, crying and cheering, knowing it wasn't a
worktorce and our tears weren't those of despair, but knowing it could have been so different.
Different, on one hand, because we
never have clapped them through if there had been sacked men in their midst. Ditterent, on the other hand, if there had been a victory. A thought few would openly state, too painful to consider how jubilant it could have been.
To all of us present it was a couple of minutes charged with intense emotion, which we will never forget... the dawn breaking into misty morning sunshine, the children in the brassband or carried on men's shoulders, months of painstaking badge collec-
Yorkshire wives' action group: each of the women involved has brought a special quality to the fight.
ting shining on lapels or flat caps carefully tilted. An end of an "Well," said one woman, we've gone through, after all we've shared, I suppose it's only fitting that we only had one tissue to share between the lot of us!"
Glynnis Evans spoke on behalf of the women, from the icy roof of the pit's canteen, addressing the impromptu rally and the herds of press which had clambered down mountainside.
She told them: "We're stronger now than we've ever been" and warned Thatcher "she ain't seen nothing yet."
A letter she sent to me that day ended "keep fighting... anc don't forget we have than we have lost. Friendships and pride, what more could you ask for?"
Glynnis is right to be proud: over the course of the strike developed from a near woman to an accomplished orator capable of moving a massive international peace convention in o a standing ovation, or telling hunreds in Oxiord Town Hall, he point of looking at the TV wher he TUC are on — I may as well look at my goldfish going round and round in its bowl, opening and shutting its mouth all the time with nothing to say."
It is difficult to say that any member of the Mardy Women's Support Group symbolises it, every one of them has their own particular strengths that make up its collective force. Barbara, the secretary the known everywhere sitting frontline in her wheelchair, a power-
ACTION GROUP ful, compassionate speaker. She has virtually lived in the strike head. era. "after all quarters, tinuous pressure, She has organised speakers to all over the country, ad- ministered hardship generally acted as the pivot round which the whole group revolved about people, children and is loved and respected. the of the 10 most active and figures in the support group — six had undergone major operations and within weeks of them were on the road again campaigning against pit closures. gained more less than 2 weeks before the return to work. The women's political activities had not stopped when they reached the hospital wards, as they talked to she has other patients, relatives and staff. It is no coincidence that amongst the demonstration Belgium elegation ot NUPE hospital stat "What's ner; she has opened her house during the strike, constantly putting up the many visitors that had come to visit Mardy. Most importantly her and he leiahbour's house had become homt for a group of strikers who had been kicked out of their parents' one fathers and brothers were scabbing. Now they had new families based on class not blood ties in Mardy. children, but her fami. "Strongbow",, on plant which she looks after. She can
enduring great and con- despite ill health. delegations, funds She remembers the smallest detail makes fuss a It is an extraordinary fact that out leading Barbara herself was in hospital of supporters was a oan held the other side of the ban nicknames, young Nottingham pride; all household, where homes. Jean, a spiritualist, says she has no -e her dog ad a rubber a ghost, Socialist Viewpoint, No. 4, March 1985. Page 8
drink most men under the table and is a big woman who When she saw a policeman attacking a less physically stalwart woman she tapped him on the shoulder and asked him coolly if he would like to pick on "someone his own size". He declined the offer, but let go of the other woman! Any offensive remarks to Jean in the Institute are greeted with a grin and the comment "pick group is unique. When I thnk of the fierce determination of these women, of the groups's defiant militancy I will always think of Megan. Megan, the tirst to lobby, to picket, to occupy, stand up to the police and the first to undermine them with her biting wit.
From inside a recent occupation oi the furnacite plant, she watched the poliets arming theis is on the
"who's got the eggs? The bacon's frying nicely!"
She exemplifies the courage, com-
Tand humour that is the ıallmark of the Mardy group
They were all there that morning. There, the first time for most women, to watch the men going into work, sporting their lunch boxes, their
- Corka, Nippy, Biffo Clutch, Pyscho, Pasti - and their
intact, ready to face another fight another day. Then the women went back, down to the village, on the pit buses, to their