Film-makers seek miners' strike stories

Barnsley will feature in a new documentary being made to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the miners' strike.

(Still) The Enemy Within is being shot this year and will tell the story of the 1984-85 strike through the voices of some of the tens of thousands of miners who followed union president Arthur Scargill.

The film is being made by Bad Bonobo productions and producer Sinead Kirwan said it will cover the entire strike timeline and will include first accounts.

"It will describe the experiences of ordinary people, striking miners, their families and supporters across the country, who had no choice but to step on to the stage of history in one of the biggest industrial disputes Britain has ever seen," she said.

"A large focus of the interviews will be about the activities of Barnsley NUM.

"We will be talking to lots of miners, for whom a crucial moment was the threat by the government to seize the assets of the Yorkshire NUM, which was based in Barnsley, right back at the start of the strike.

"We will be filming in Barnsley to support the interviews we have taken, and we are also looking for ex-miners from the town to send us their stories for our website."

She said unprecedented access to photography and material from the time, as well as a broad range of voices, will make the film 'an archive and a tool' for current activists and a 'powerful documentary of one of the most dynamic struggles in British history.'

The film has received support from children's author and former children's laureate Michael Rosen who said 'it has to be made'.

Another well-known children's author, Alan Gibbons, has welcomed the film and said: "It is an excellent time to revisit this great working class struggle and excavate the hidden history of ordinary people fighting for their livelihoods and their dignity."

It has also received the support of trade union organisations.