Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

What do you think of the photo and Lesley's experience? Email us with your photos and memories of the strike: south.yorkshire@bbc.co.uk

John
After reading the novel written by the x-police offcer (and being extremley bored) it is typical how he talks about "civil liberties" etc.... I always thought it was a civil liberty to have the right to work. Thatcher in all her glory took this away in 1984. Lets never forget thats what the miners were doing, fighting a Government, its police force, the Judicary and the media for the right to have a job and a community. John (x-miner, who did not go back to work......)

Rob Nicholson (Dr)
About right. As an ex resident of Handsworth, pupil of City Grammar School (1966 to 1973) I escaped by good fortune the fate of many of my friends and long term mates from infant school on who have been victims of the class warfare that rages through this country. I've been lucky and can pass on my good fortune to my children, money and learning. This country is class biased I went to school with people a lot cleverer than people I have worked and studied with it is just they are not given the opportunity and are talked down. The police like all institutions in this country are instruments of this repression. My father (now dead) was in dispute with a leading firm of Sheffield solicitors - we got the dispute settled and ground the money out of them. During that period my father , an honest man , hard working and of good character was subject to much police harrassment which I witnessed and fortunately was able to fend off. This is the country that we live in, next time when Orgreave 2 happens it won't be so friendly. There are a lot of people in this country with a lot a grievances. Strangely enough I haven't joined the masons of the golf club I have a BM7. The spirit of Orgreave will never die, we Sheffield people are unique. Keep up the spirit Regards to all Rob (Nick) Nicholson

Mick
As an ex Met Police Officer that went to Orgreave on that day and many other pits around that time, it beggars belief the rubbish that some people spout on about. Firstly, the lady in question was a member of Police Watch, she obviously had a camera to try and catch a copper acting badly. She was obviously looking for a good story and got one from a like-minded photographer. No-one at the time mentioned that no contact was actually made and no injury occurred. Those picket lines were evil places. I have been verbally abused, spat on, peed on and kicked and punched on loads of occasions whilst on a picket line. It needs credible restraint not to over-react and I am pleased to say that I seldom witnessed it.The reality, on that day, was that the troubole was initiated by activists. Missiles were thrown from the back of the picket lines and the problems flared up at the interface. Do you really think that the police would have arranged such a large presence if they did not have intelligence that there was going to be trouble. They had pit deputy's and other staff to protect as well as anyone that wanted to work.Why were we there (and other picket lines)in the first place? To protect law abiding workers the right to earn a living. They may have disagreed with the majority, but they weren't given a proper vote and had every right to work if they wished.The working miners needed protection as they were physically attacked by the pickets, not just being called "scab". It was the NUM and Arthurs Army that were creating a "police state" by preventing law abiding workers from working. Their behaviour was in many cases dispicable. If the pickets were not there, or were peaceful, then I and my colleagues would not have been needed.I attended Shirebrook colliery wher hundreds of pickets hurled vitriol, abuse and stones and bricks al at ONE strike breaker. It went on for weeks. Every window in his house had been smashed and his family lived in fear. He didn't actually do any work as there was no-one else turning up at the pit, yet hundreds saw fit to make his life a misery - each and every day. Why did those pickets bother? It can only be that they were bullies.I was also on duty on the motorway junctions where we were trying to stop hundreds of pickets converging on and inimidating the Notts miners whose unions had decided that they should work after a vote. I came across "fishermen" with no tackle, "cricket fans" from Sheffield apparantly going to watch Notts versus Glamorgan and a minibus full of men who were going to visit a friend at the Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham - all rubbish of course! Yes we tried to get them to turn round, but it was an attempt to prevent trouble elsewhere. We didn't do it for fun.We were earning decent money and on occasions we donated to the collections being made at the picket lines. We often received abuse back in the form of "we don't want your filthy money" so we used to pay a Β£1 for tea and coffee at the "soup kitchens" that were run by the pickets wives's and walk away before the change could be returned in order to help out in that small way. You may think that that is patronising but we felt that it could help. We also played in good humoured football contests etc with some of the pickets and I am still friends with a couple of them. Contrast this with some of the grudges that are still held within the old mining communities. Grown men are still having conflict with fathers and brothers etc.Times don't change. When the recent G20 problems occurred in London, most of the people around the "flashpoints" seemed to camera carrying. These people know that in a democracy, potential troublemakers can easily tell lies to try and get round the necessary security and are constantly "trying it on". Personally, I find it incredible that with all those cameras and video cameras about there wasn't far more evidence of police overstepping the mark.

Kriss H
I am a coalminers daughter and a coal miners grandaughter(x2- both my grandfathers were coalminers) When the days of the strike happened I was a young, politiced (or so I thought) undegraduate at the university of nottingham. I met my partner there. He is a man of Kent. They were always solid.Today we celebrate our unofficial silver anniversiry. The other week we went to the Denaby Main Miners Gala. We heard Ann Scargil and others. I found it very emotional. It was alo a lovely family day out.Tonight I watched the programmes on channel4 about the strike. That was also very emotional. I have some things I need t o say, some things I need to think about.Oh and by the way, Leslie was at the gala in Denaby, Didn't get a chanche to talk to her but she looked amazing.

wickedlymale
So the camera doesn't lie? I've been convinced for years that woman was seriously injured. Miners and WAPC were used by Mr Scargill to advance his political ends. He never worked for understanding, he worked for confrontation and his own now failed political agenda. It's time for communities to move on. These are brilliant people being held back by ancient history.

Adam
I'm not old enough to remember the riots but i can say that i went to the G20 protests in London last april and the police had no numbers and i can say i've read up on my history of the battle of orgreave and its scary to say the police still haven't changed and i never thought going to a peaceful protest would end with and innocent person dying because of a policeman and a bat.

Brian
roy bradbury/Couldn't you tell from their accents whether those police were local or not?And perhaps they asked you about the river Trent to find out if you really were fisherman and had the local knowledge to back up your story. Just a thought.However, I don't like the idea of police not displaying their numbers or of some of the thing they did all those years ago.

Stuart Borthwick
I was a 22 year old miner at Yorkshire Main Colliery along with my Father and Grandfather.The family found it tough throughout the strike but we held our heads high and backed the cause.I was at Orgreave on that day, and it was plain from the start that the Police intended to hurt as many pickets as possible. I also had a similar experience at Cresswell Colliery where the Met and Essex Constabularys ran amock. I can remember another iconic photograph of two pickets from Markham main being handcuffed to a lamp post using plastic tie raps and being left to burn in the hot sun.

Stuart Crosthwaite
I was a 21 year old sociology student at Sheffield University at the time of the strike. The sociology course was left wing: we read Marx and Engels and Lenin. I remember reading Engels when he talks about the "bodies of armed men" who would defend the capitalist state (and economy) using armed force. I regarded myself as a socialist and therefore supported the miners. But Engels' assertion that the state would use whatever violence necessary to defend itself seemed a litle far-fetched in 1980's Britain.What I saw at Orgreave convinced me that Engels was right over 100 years before. There seemed to be nothing that the police wouldn't do to the pickets on the second big day of picketing at Orgreave. That day, the police were hardly arresting anyone. They'd obviously been given instructions (and overtime pay) to put as many pickets out of action as possible. I saw a miner in t-shirt and jeans being pinned to a car bonnet by 2 riot police while another repeatedly hit him with a truncheon from above. Miners were dragged through police lines so that they could be beaten, then dumped on the ground, bleeding. There was even a surreal incident where riot police chased miners around the supermarket at the top of Orgreave Road, swinging out at people who were desperately trying to pretend that they were just "normal" shoppers. The picket ended up with miners trying to build a roadblock across Orgreave Road to try to stop the mounted police charging them. Many miners were deliberately and seriously hurt by these "armed bodies of men" that day. Waht I learned that day was that there is no end to the violence that the state will use to defend itself and the market economy that was - and still is - responsible for poverty and class inequality.

ken moody
there was another example of lesley's experience, a mounted cop riding down edge of road, just of road a nurse? bent down giving aid to someone. the officer swings his baton at her head and just in time she leans forward over her patient and the baton misses. the lady never knew what had just happened, the pic was fab, I saw it on the telly news. ken moody, sheffield

Alan Yates
Just goes to show the extent the police went to in assisting the government to overthrow the strike.Just one small item compared to the brutal dictatorial attitude the Police adopted throughout those traumatic times

Andrew Foster
Why wasn't the police officer brought to bear for his conduct and behaviour? It seems that if you wear a black uniform it still means you can get away with anything!

khutt
At the time of the strike I lived in Edinburgh,and worked offshore,on the Piper Alpha,so I was ok,and I did not give it too much thought.However 25 years on,and now living in Brasil,I understand the devistation this brought to many people.It saddens me,I wish I understood and cared more at the time.

Kevan
The outcome of the strike would have been VERY different if Scargill had allowed a national ballot. There would have been more solidarity and the Notts Miners would not have broken away. Instead Scargill caused a massive divide and the rest is history. He was a misguided, arrogant man and must take the blame for the complete demise of the coal industry.

Sean Barry
No doubt my comment will be subjected to your right to edit it out.On the 6 o'clock evening news on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ1, film from that day was broadcast which led the viewers to believe miners attacked police when it was the other way round.It took a book by Seamus Milne "The Enemy Within" to expose the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's bias and dishonest account. It is now all very safe to report the bravery of Lesley and others, whom the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ deliberately portrayed as violent,extremist fanatics prepared to attack police.

Dan
She says that they weren't out to attack police officers and standing around, but then says they were throwing stones at the police! which one is it?! like most stories out of the strikers mouths, a load of rubbish

roy bradbury/sheffield/ex/orgreave colliery miner
I was a safety worker at the time,but did not go to work as would mean crossing the picket line My son Steve was on strike and picketed everyday. During the strike I went fishing regulary into Nottingham, and was stopped every time,the only questions asked were" where are you going, what union are you in?"when we told them we were going to fish the river Trent, we were asked where is that?, these so called Police were supposedly from Nottingham, and not one of them had numbers on to identify them.

Ken (Nobby) Norbury
I remember that day like it was yesterday, we stood no chance against the police but we stood our ground the best we could. We were fighting for our lifes, familys, and friends. We were about to lose everything, I lived with my parents, there was three of us at the mines, two at school and my mum working as a cleaner at the local school we struggled, but held our heads high.