Star date: November 17th 2009

25 YEARS SINCE THE MINERS' STRIKE
Saturday 21st November 2:30pm
Plus 11am-2pm LIVING LIBRARY
Working Class Movement Library
51 Crescent, Salford M5 4WX

This Saturday, Salford's Working Class Movement Library hosts a 25th anniversary meeting to decipher the personal, economic and political legacy of the bitter miners' strike which began in 1984. Guest speakers include ex-Agecroft miner Paul Kelly and Granville Williams, editor of Shafted: the Media, the Miners' Strike and the Aftermath.

Before this event starts, between 11am and 4pm, there's also a chance to catch UNISON's Living Library, where you can just drop in and listen to a range of stories by trade unionists telling their real life experiences.

Full details on both events here…

TWO HISTORIC EVENTS IN ONE VENUE!

LIVING LIBRARY

From 11am-2pm anyone can drop into the Working Class Movement Library (WCML) and listen to working class activists relating how they were inspired to get involved in making the world a better place. Included within the group of storytellers are some UNISON members talking about their personal journey into trade union activism and some ex-miners who took part in the great strike against Thatcher's evil plan to smash the trade union movement.

"There's something so captivating about having a personal story relayed to you, with all the details and enthusiasm that only experience can add" says Caroline Hunt, Community Learning Co-ordinator at the WCML "This event will bring the collection of the library to life, from voices of working class movements of past, present and future. It promises to be a fascinating day…"

25th ANNIVERSARY OF THE MINERS' STRIKE

Meanwhile, at 2:30pm, there's a meeting to discuss the fall out of the Miners' Strike, with speakers Paul Kelly, an ex-Agecroft Colliery miner, and Granville Williams, editor of Shafted: the Media, the Miners' Strike and the Aftermath, published this year by the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom. The book reflects on stuff like the role of the press and tv during the strike (impartial my arse!) and the role of the women who kept the strike going for as long as it did.

"We meet on the 21st November to remember how much we gained from the strike, not just how much we have lost in terms of our trade union and human rights" says Bernadette Hyland of the WCML "Please join us and bring with you your remembrances, both good and bad, of that traumatic year.  We also hope that young people will come along to find out more about this historic event."

Both events are free and there will be refreshments available throughout the day.
 
Working Class Movement Library, 51 Crescent, Salford M5 4WX.
For further details phone: 0161-736-3601 or email: enquiries@wcml.org.uk. 

Photo: Agecroft Colliery and Power Station circa 1990 by Paul Jones