On Saturday 23 March People’s History Museum is holding a special archive event, galleries tour and creative workshop, all of which will explore the 1984 to 1985 Miners’ Strike and surrounding events, 40 years on.
Visitors will be able to see papers from the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners campaign, the papers of MPs including Michael Foot and Judith Hart, material from Women Against Pit Closures and photographs of demonstrations and picketing selected from the Labour Party photographic collection. All of these have been selected by the Archive Team, who will be on hand to chat to, because they highlight what took place and some of the key figures involved.
Also included in the ticket is a galleries tour with Dr Bob Dinn from PHM’s Visitor Experience Team, who talk about some of the key strikes that have taken place in British history, paying particular attention to the Miners’ Strike (1984 to 1985), and picking out objects that help to tell the story.
Visitors can book a morning or afternoon session, with each combining both the tour and archive visit. Tickets are bookable in advance and start at £10 (plus booking fee), with more information available here.
Morning session
10.15am to 11.00am: guided tour
11.00am to 12.45pm: archive visit
Afternoon session
1.15pm to 3.00pm: archive visit
3.00pm to 3.45pm: guided tour
Also taking place on Saturday 23 March is PHM’s Fabric of Protest workshop, which will be dedicated to stitching and creating as a way of exploring the solidarity demonstrated during the 1984 to 1985 Miners’ Strike, including by Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM).
Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners was a seemingly unlikely alliance that was formed four months into the strike and is depicted in the film Pride (2014). Amongst LGSM’s fundraising endeavours was the infamous Pits and Perverts benefit, held at London’s Electric Ballroom on 10 December 1984 and featuring Bronski Beat as the headline act. The LSGM archive was donated to People’s History Museum in 1991.
Join artist Helen Mather from 1.00pm to 3.00pm to develop your own individual response, with pieces from PHM’s collection as your inspiration. Fabric of Protest is a creative workshop that is all about stitching, chatting and sharing ideas. Full priced places are £15 (plus booking fee), with a limited number of free places available, and concession places priced at £10 (plus booking fee). All the booking information is here.
For those that cannot visit PHM on 23 March there are lots of other ways to explore the Miners’ Strike (1984-1985) at the museum. On the main galleries you will see objects such as a poster featuring the iconic image taken by photographer John Harris during what would become known as the Battle of Orgreave (18 June 1984), there are banners that connect to mining communities included in the 2024 Banner Exhibition and the Collection Spotlight case features objects selected to highlight the role of Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners and Women Against Pit Closures.
People’s History Museum’s opening hours are 10.00am to 5.00pm, every day except Tuesdays. Museum entry is free, with most visitors donating £10. To find out about visiting PHM, its full exhibitions and events programme visit phm.org.uk and you can keep up to date with the latest news by signing up to receive PHM’s e-newsletter.
ENDS
For further information, to arrange a visit or interview please contact Fido PR:
laura.sullivan@fidopr.co.uk / clare.short@fidopr.co.uk
A selection of images is available here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/cvhkx78yilzma9a5ev5dx/h?rlkey=iank9s9ytvmv5y9evpsxtxe6q&dl=0
Notes to editors:
About People’s History Museum (PHM)
People’s History Museum (PHM) in Manchester is the UK’s national museum of democracy, telling the story of its development in Britain: past, present, and future. Through an eclectic and colourful mix of historic and contemporary collections, featuring banners, badges, posters, photography and more, the museum celebrates the radical stories of people coming together to champion ideas worth fighting for.
Offering an engaging programme of exhibitions and events, collaborating with communities to create authentic content, the museum is Family Friendly throughout – inspiring the next generation to be active citizens.
People’s History Museum encourages visitors to be empowered by the past to make a change for the future. We are all together in the fight for a fairer world.
About Arts Council England (ACE)
PHM is an Arts Council England (ACE) National Portfolio Organisation (NPO). The work of PHM is supported using public funding by ACE, the national development agency for creativity and culture. ACE have set out their strategic vision in Let’s Create that by 2030 they want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where every one of us has access to a remarkable range of high quality cultural experiences. From 2023 to 2026 they will invest over £467million of public money from government and an estimated £250million from The National Lottery each year to help support the sector and to deliver this vision.
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