| Description |
Initiated by artist Jeremy Deller, The Battle of Ogreave was the partial re-enactment of one of the most violent clashes between striking miners and police during the 1984-85 miners' strike. The original strike took place on 18th June 1984, the re-enactment some seventeen years later, on 17th June 2001. This book contains a series of personal accounts by people who were all in different ways involved with the strike and the re-enactment. There is the story of Mac McLoughlin (former miner and policeman on duty during the strike), who talks about the build up within the police force to that memorable confrontation; David Douglas (National Union of Mineworkers) talks about the meaning of that one day in relation to the trade union movement in England; Stephanie Gregory (Women Support Group) reminisces about the effects on family life and about how many women supported their partners throughout the strike and afterwards; Ken Wyatt (then ambulance-man, now local councillor) recounts his experiences both on and off duty; Johnny Wood (striking miner) tells about his different experiences as a picket; Jonathan Foster recounts his memories as a reporting journalist during the strike and places the events in a broader perspective; and finally Howard Giles, who was involved with the precise orchestration of the re-enactment gives a moment to moment analysis of the battle strategy of the events on 18 June 1984. |