How can you lose with people like this? Miners from around the country meet in Mansfield.

Arthur Scargill, president of the NUM, addresses a crowd of miners and supporters at a rally in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, following their march through the town. His speech stresses the importance of loyalty to the union and fellow strikers, with the emphatic cry of "You don't cross picket lines!" People in the crowd voice their appreciation of the huge turnout, and two miners from a colliery in North Wales talk about how heartening it is to be at the Nottinghamshire event. Despite the mixed response to the strike call from local pits, with some men continuing to work, confidence is high. As one of the Welsh miners puts it, "How can you lose with people like this?" Continues in 'Strike supporters in Mansfield speak out'.

On 6th March 1984, the National Coal Board announced that it intended to close 20 pits in Britain, the first being Cortonwood Colliery in South Yorkshire. This announcement was the catalyst for the miners' strike which lasted for a year. When Arthur Scargill, President of the National Union of Mineworkers, called for the strike against pit closures, there had been no national ballot of NUM members. This, some claimed, made the strike technically illegal. From the start, the industrial action was hard-fought, sometimes violent, and often bitterly divisive, as in Nottinghamshire, where some miners continued to work despite calls for solidarity. There was much support for the strikers within their own communities, with women setting up local action groups to provide food and other necessities for families facing real hardship. Elsewhere, miners from the South Wales collieries gave their full support, and the strike received international media coverage with Christmas presents for the children of striking miners being sent over from Europe. The country's coal stocks were high, however, and without strong support from other large trade unions, the strike could not continue indefinitely. On 3rd March 1985, the NUM's National Executive voted narrowly in favour of calling an end to the action. The miners returned to their workplaces, marching proudly behind their banners and with the support of their families. The failure of the strike was followed by a programme of pit closures carried out by the Conservative government led by Margaret Thatcher, causing huge upheaval in mining areas where the coal industry had been the major source of employment for local workers. In these areas the effects of the miners' strike can still be felt today.