Christmas 1984: A Striking Miners’ Family Recalls the “Best Christmas We Ever Had” Amidst Hardship

Aggie Currie unequivocally states, “It was the best Christmas we ever had.” She adds, “And a lot of mining families would say the same.” By Christmas 1984, the Miners’ Strike had persisted for nine months. While Wham! and Band Aid competed for the top spots on the UK’s festive music charts, one of the nation’s most acrimonious and protracted industrial conflicts remained unresolved. Throughout the north of England, striking miners and their families encountered an unprecedented December. Aggie’s husband, Pete, along with his co-workers, had ceased working at Markham Main Pit in Doncaster in March 1984 and, apart from participating in picketing, had not returned. Sustaining themselves on only £22.50 weekly, supplemented by the kindness of their community and Good Samaritans, the couple informed their two children, Vicky and Peter, that gifts would not be available that year. Aggie, 74, who has been married to Pete for 52 years, remarked, “You made the most of what you had.” She continued, “We weren’t worried about Christmas presents because everyone was in the same boat.” She observed, “You didn’t have kids saying to other kids, ‘What did you get?’ because none of them had anything. It’s different now.” Although Vicky, then 10 years old, “understood” the lack of presents, Peter, her younger brother by one year, found it harder to comprehend the situation. Approximately 24 miles to the north, another young couple experienced financial difficulties. Shaun McLoughlin, 23, who worked at Kellingley Colliery in North Yorkshire, augmented his earnings by undertaking casual work on construction sites. His wife, Denise, had contributed financially until September 1984, but a significant hospital operation rendered her incapable of working. Shaun, currently the mine director at the National Coal Mining Museum in Wakefield, stated, “It was a real struggle.” Shaun recalled, “Coming up to winter, one of the things I remember was my house had a coal fire.” He added, “We had no coal and we had no money to pay for coal.” He explained, “My dad was a mine official and still got a coal allowance, so he helped us out as best he could.” He also remembered, “I remember we didn’t bother with a Christmas tree. It was something that you didn’t want to waste your money on.” Concurrently, in County Durham, photographer Keith Pattison documented the strike within the pit village of Easington, having gained the confidence of a community that perceived itself negatively affected by national media reporting of the conflict. Pattison recalled a shared sentiment of “Can we get through Christmas?”, even as he observed the weariness resulting from nine months without consistent income for mining families. Keith, who subsequently co-authored a book on the Easington strike with The Damned United author David Peace, commented, “It was quite extraordinary.” He noted, “There was a buzz and a party atmosphere. But in some of the pictures I took there’s a resigned weariness and a sense of ‘How do we keep cheerful?'” He further stated, “There was a determination that no-one would be starved back to work.” Returning to South Yorkshire, although Aggie had accepted the absence of gifts, a Christmas without a Christmas tree was unacceptable. She recounted, “I was absolutely gutted my kids weren’t going to have one”, adding, “I went upstairs so the kids wouldn’t see me crying and I looked out the window and saw my neighbours had a nice fern tree in the middle of the garden.” She continued, “At 02:00 GMT I went and cut it down and brought it back and that was the tree.” She concluded, “I’m sure the neighbours knew it was me but they never said anything.” The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) provided a chicken for Aggie’s family for Christmas Day, a gesture extended to numerous other families. However, even after nine months, when it was proposed that the “best thing to do” would be for Pete to resume work, Aggie declared she would “break his legs” before he complied. Aggie, who faced multiple arrests by the police at demonstrations during the strike, asserted, “I would never cross that picket line for love nor money.” Shaun likewise recalled the sentiment among the striking miners as remaining “steadfast” that December, despite some individuals having gradually returned to employment. He remembered, “We were hoping and hoping for a really harsh winter, because that would have put severe demand on the energy companies.” He elaborated, “The mining community were thinking back to 1974 when we had the blackouts (after a strike then led to energy shortages and the three-day working week). “But it never happened. It was quite mild in the end.” Shaun and his wife celebrated Christmas Day at his parents’ residence, accompanied by his brother, who was also a miner, and his sister-in-law. A turkey and sprouts dinner offered a much-appreciated change from the usual “sandwiches or soup” consumed at their own home. Concurrently, Aggie and Peter deviated from their customary New Year’s Eve practice of “heading down the club” for a drink – a significant departure for a couple born in Scotland. Aggie stated, “Our parents used to say Christmas is for the kids and New Year is for us,” adding, “But we had no money that year.” The strike persisted for an additional three months before the miners resumed their work. Shaun commented, “It ended very quickly,” and added, “I felt deflated in one sense and happy in another that it was over.” A poem subsequently composed by Aggie’s daughter Vicky stated: “Oh Maggie didn’t you know, You’ve made my mam strong, Something we never knew, She’ll stand up to your boot boys.” Aggie remarked, “I still can’t read it without crying.” She remembered her entire family assisting in leading the march back to the pit nearly a year after the strike’s commencement. She concluded, “It was a great day, but a sad day.” In Easington, Keith recalled perceiving the dispute’s resolution as “inevitable” by the new year. He stated, “The writing was on the wall by then,” and continued, “It was obvious by then the government would use every resource available and that money was no object to crushing the dispute.” He added, “But the key takeaway for me, when I still speak to those affected now, is that they’d do it all again.” He clarified, “That’s not the case for everybody, but it is for a lot of them.”