Cumnock Chronicle. » Features

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE LINE - The Police's Story

DESPITE the friendships which were made during the year, there were many that were destroyed. Marriages buckled under the pressure while others cemented their commitment with new babies as a lasting symbol of hope.

COMING OUT FIGHTING - The women who helped shape the Miner's Strike

THE true mark of a person emerges in a time of great struggle; they can find the courage to walk a terrifying path, the strength to do what needs to be done and the integrity to stand together for a cause.

MINERS STRIKE REMEMBERED

AS Christmas approached additional pressures were soon put upon striking families. Rent arrears, although a concern, had been alleviated by Strathclyde Regional Council who vowed that “no miner will be evicted for rent or rates arrears” and rebates were made until the end of the strike.

READY FOR A BATTLE - THE MINERS STRIKE PART TWO

Friday March 9, 1984 unleashed the most turbulent, bitter and controversial labour dispute the area had seen since the war. Miner turned against miner, friend against friend, and neighbour against neighbour. And when the 3,000 Ayrshire miners began the fight to save their livelihoods, they had no idea that they were about to embark on a year-long brutal struggle that would irrevocably change their lives for ever.

THE MINERS' STRIKE REMEMBERED

DEEP mining wasn’t just a job - it was a way of life; a bond, as rich as the mountains of black gold that lay firmly beneath the earth, that intrinsically linked nearly every family in communities across the district. The death of the coalfields was the death of a way of life.