Every day I am in the House of Commons I have cause to walk past the bust of Keir Hardie, proudly standing in a corner of the Lower Waiting Hall adjacent to Central Lobby. It constantly reminds me of Ayrshire and its great mining traditions. It would be even better if it had pride of place in Central Lobby itself where it would be more readily seen by the general public visiting the House. The record of the House of Commons, Hansard, reveals that the bust only found a home in the House after a number of failed attempts to persuade Parliament going back to the 1920s. Last week, passing Keir Hardie had a special poignancy for me, being the week of the 25th anniversary of the start of the 1984 Miners Strike.

Back then, I was a relatively young Labour activist in Ayrshire. I had been a member of the Scottish contingent on the People"s March for Jobs from Glasgow to London the previous year, 1983. The March echoed the Hunger Marches of the 1930s and sought to raise the public awareness of the drastic impact of Thatcher"s policies on working people and their communities. The Miners Strike the following year brought this to a head.

Thatcher had appointed Ian McGregor to do to the Coal Industry what he had achieved with the Steel Industry where he had shed 70,000 jobs. At the beginning of the strike Scotland had 14,000 miners in 12 pits. After the strike, mining went into steep decline along with much of the rest of heavy industry.

Volumes have been written and debated over the conduct of the strike, mistakes made, key events and decisions that could have changed the direction and outcome of the dispute. Regardless of all that, to this day the former mining communities of Ayrshire bear the deep scars of that battle. Along with many others I spent the time of the strike marching, protesting, raising money to support the strikers - doing what I could. But my experiences were as nothing compared to the pain and suffering that miners and their families endured during that time. To this day I proudly display my replica Miners Lamp bearing the inscription 'Scottish Area NUM: Strike 1984-5.

When my constituency expanded from the old boundaries of Ayr to include much of what had been Carrick Cumnock and Doon Valley, it was with tremendous pride and humility I assumed responsibility for those areas so closely associated with the history of Ayrshire mining. As MP I have been able to give my support to the open-cast mining developments, argue the case for coal as part of the UK"s future balanced energy policy, campaign for the development of clean coal technology and rejoice in the success of projects like the Barony A Frame Trust to keep alive the memory of the Ayrshire collieries, strongly backed by the NUM and others. I am also proud the Labour Government introduced the Miners" Compensation Scheme which has brought millions of pounds to former miners and their families in recognition of the health damage caused by working in the pits. I served as a member of the Coal Health Monitoring Group which oversaw the implementation of the Miners Compensation Scheme in Scotland.

In one sense it seems like only yesterday we were in the throws of the Miners Strike, yet in so many other ways it seems light years away. Council houses weren"t for sale, call centres hadn"t been invented and credit cards were a novelty for the few. The Strike may still be a vivid memory for many of us but for a whole new generation it is only a piece of our history. All the more reason why we should strive to keep the memory alive. The battle between those who believe in community and those who think there is no such thing as society could be fought out all over again before the decade is out if we let it.

Sandra Osborne MP You can read a number of articles about the Miners Strike in our special section on this website.