The post you are reporting:
Jan.
In all our talks and visits to schools, village halls, etc. It is the 100+ years of history of the Kent Miner and his family that we promote.
How they came here from all over the country and changed the way of life, for the better, in our surrounding Towns & Villages. We reveal the real fascinating story of how our mining heritage developed. We give an insight of what it was like to work underground and tell historic and often heroic tales about the dangerous working life,in our collieries.
We show films about how they were segregated in the early years and were forced into creating their own communities.
It was these communities that promoted religion and education, all types of social activities came forth from these communities with their Brass Bands and Choirs, all types of indoor & outdoor sports activities, welfare clubs and even medical centres.
The miners shared these with everyone.
They showed what benefits could be gained from community spirit and our towns and villages was a better place to live in because of the miner.
The most asked question at these talks,is why has this side of the story not been told before?
The truth is that it has but because of the stigma attached to us from the strike, no one took the trouble to pick up the many
great books that has been written and read about it for themselves.
The strike is rarely spoken about but questions are addressed if they are asked.
Because we are now being given the opportunity to portray the real and little known lifestyle of the Kent Miner the truth is now filtering out there.
The strike should not be the only thing that the Kent Miner is remembered for.
Only when a person knows the true storey can he/she make sweeping statements about our culture.
We did not want to go on strike, we just wanted to keep our pits open and they should still be open today.