Looking back at the miners' strike: a bitter dispute that left scars

Prompted by the threat of pit closures, it was led by Arthur Scargill of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) against the National Coal Board (NCB), a government agency.
Opposition to the strike was spearheaded by the Conservative government of prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who wanted to reduce the power of the trade unions.
About three-quarters of the country’s 187,000 miners went on strike to oppose the closures, which were expected to mean 20,000 job losses.
The miners’ eventual defeat was the end of an era for Britain’s trade union movement and led to the closure of almost all of its deep coal mines within the next 20 years.
An eerie image of Whitehaven’s Haig Colliery, which closed in 1986, was taken on the 20th anniversary of the miners’ strike in 2004. 

Above are pickets at the same site during the strike itself.

Another image shows former Carlisle MP Eric Martlew with posters supporting the miners.

In 1985, the Carlisle Labour Party was presented with a safety lamp by Ellington Mine in recognition of its support.

The strike has inspired many dramatisations over the years and pictured is a scene from the BBC One drama Faith, described as ‘a gripping story of love, deceit, betrayal and survival set against the backdrop of the miners’ strike of 1984-85’.

It has even inspired music, with band Ribbon Road producing a CD and DVD to mark its 30th anniversary, with pictures taken by Keith Pattison in Easington Colliery, County Durham, a hotbed of unrest.

Of course, there were strikes prior to 1984, and a picture shows the Workington Solway Colliery miners’ strike in 1969.

The final image is of the Great Miners’ Coal Strike of 1912 in and around Workington.