Catalogue Number
NMLH.2025.5.13
Object Name
letter
Place
Wigan, Lancashire, England, UK
People
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), National Coal Board, Ian MacGregor
Events
1984-85 Miners' Strike
Description
This is a typed letter from the National Coal Board (NCB) chairman Ian MacGregor to striker Lenny Jones, announcing the end of the 1984-85 Miners' Strike in March 1985.
The letter reflects on the impact the strike had on relationships between strikers and strikebreakers, on striking families and communities. The NCB claims that they hold no responsibility for the strike and urges cooperation with management as people return to work.
The 1984-85 Miners' Strike was called after the government announced plans to close 20 pits, at a cost of twenty thousand miners jobs, which the miners accurately saw as the beginning of the closure of all the pits in the UK. The strike lasted for over a year before ending unsuccessfully in March 1985. While letters from the NCB to strikers claimed that it was "absolutely untrue" that the government planned to ultimately close 85 pits, the NUM's speculation was correct. A second round of closures was announced in 1992 closing almost all the mines in the UK, leaving former pit towns with extremely high rates of unemployment and deprivation that last to this day.
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