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During the national Miners' Strikes of 1984, areas of Coventry were divided in two when miners from Daw Mill pit in Arley decided to continue to work; while, a few miles away, miners from Keresley pit voted to strike and join the picket line.

Twenty-five years on from the strikes, Joanne Malin visits the area for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Inside Out West Midlands (Wednesday, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One at 7.30pm). Joanne speaks to the men who were involved on both sides of the dispute to discover what life was like back then and how the strikes have impacted on the communities from Arley and Keresley.

Daw Mill in Arley is still in operation today and is one of only eight coalmines left in Britain. Last year the pit produced its 3,000,000th tonne of coal and is the biggest in Europe – employing 540 people.

There used to be more than 20 mines such as Daw Mill working side by side in the area, but in March 1984, following the Government 's decision to close 20 pits nationally, miners began to organise strikes to fight the closures.

In the Midlands, a majority of miners voted to carry on working, so pickets travelled from across the country, to persuade miners from the region to go on strike. This caused a rift between the pits of Daw Mill and Keresley which lasts to this day.

Before the strikes of 1984, it had been a long-held tradition that miners do not cross picket lines. So those from Keresley felt bitter and angry when Daw Mill miners did just that.

Des Shepherd, who was part of the Keresley pit strike, says: "We used to shout at them – they were scabs. They've actually cost us our jobs. They had the choice to come on strike as well. If they'd have come on strike with us, maybe it wouldn't have lasted as long as it did."

Bob Blenkinsopp was one of the Daw Mill miners who decided to carry on working and ignore the strike call. For a miner who would have never crossed the picket line during the national strikes of 1972 and 1974, Bob now found himself on the other side of the dividing line.

Bob says: "There was incidents of wheel nuts on cars being loosened and windows broken and paint-daubing and this kind of thing... people were sent to tell me that they know were I lived, they know what a remote place it is, they know what a young family I've got, they know what shift I work and whilst I was at work my family would be under threat, they were threatening, physically threatening."

Today, while Daw Mill continues to work, Keresley's contribution to the mining industry is confined to the history books, having closed in 1994 following privatisation. All that remains of the Keresley pit is a memorial wheel, along with a nature and business park on the old colliery grounds.

The animosity between the two sets of workers still exists to this day in some quarters, but there are those who feel that 25 years is long enough for the scars from the dispute to begin to heal.

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Inside Out West Midlands is on Wednesday 25 February, Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ One, 7.30pm.

BG