Mining Heritage Events in Wakefield in March

84/85 – The Longest Year is a yearlong exhibition and programme of events, held at the National Coal Mining Museum. Opening on 6 March 2024, it runs until 3 March 2025 – the same length of time as the real Miners’ Strike. This exhibition considers the strike through memories and stories of miners and their families. Uniquely positioned at a former working colliery, the Museum will be addressing the broader picture of the strike and giving a voice to those who experienced it.

Wakefield, WF4 4RH
Wednesday 6 March 2024 – Monday 3 March 2025
Free, no booking required
Click here for more information.

75 Mines. 3 Sisters. 1 Cause (And a six-pack of Babycham). Red Ladder Theatre Company presents We’re Not Going Back, a hard-hitting musical comedy about the 1984/85 Miners’ Strike. The performance, taking place at The Grove Hall in South Kirkby, follows the fortunes of three sisters determined to set up a branch of Women Against Pit Closures. We’re Not Going Back tackles the resilience of working communities, the make-and-mend fabric of family and the power of sticking two fingers up to a government hell-bent on destruction.

South Kirkby, WF9 3QF
Saturday 9 March
£5, book here
Click here for more information.

Historian Robert Gildea will be visiting South Elmsall Library to talk about his new book Backbone of the Nation. He will be discussing the experience of mining communities such as South Elmsall during the Strike. His book is a powerful new history of the Strike in the miners’ own voices, based on more than 140 interviews with former miners and their families.

South Elmsall, WF9 2AA
Tuesday 19 March
Free, book here
Click here for more information.

South Elmsall Library are hosting Coal Not Dole, a retrospective display put together by local artist David Gardham. It includes his works from 1984-2005, capturing his ongoing response to the famous strike and the subsequent closure of pits in the SESKU area (South Elmsall, South Kirby and Upton).

Alongside the exhibition, the library are holding a special coffee morning on 23 March, allowing people to come and share memories and reminisce with others who also lived through the strike.

South Elmsall, WF9 2AA
Monday 4 March – Saturday 13 April 2024
Free, no booking required
Click here for more information.

“Backbone of the Nation” is a collective name attributed to the huge contribution the miners gave to Britain’s industry. This exhibition, hosted at Queen’s Mill, Castleford, will include audio recollections of the people who lived through the strike and a commemorative booklet will be available free of charge. The exhibition will include detailed information boards alongside artefacts and mining related artwork by locally acclaimed artists, Harry Malkin, Dave Wilders and Tony Wade.

Castleford, WF10 1JL
  Friday 1 March – Sunday 31 March 2024
Free, no booking required
Click here for more information.

Joining Ranks, part of Castleford Museum‘s Community Cases, pays tribute to the women who rallied together during the Miners’ Strike. Discover how they protected communities and often changed their lives in the process.  The display features key objects such as the hard-hitting ‘A-Z of a Miner’s Wife’ poster sold in aid of the Normanton and Altofts Miners’ Support group, which is kindly lent by the National Coal Mining Museum. It sits alongside a banner, handmade for two of Fryston’s flying picketers by their sister, and proudly adorned with Women Against Pit Closures stickers.

In addition, this March is “Mining March” at Wakefield Museums and Castles, shining a lamp on the district’s mining heritage with events including special Family Fun craft sessions at Castleford, Pontefract and Wakefield Museums.

Castleford, WF10 1JL
  Now until 29 June
Free, no booking required
Click here for more information.