The Chartist Festival marks the Chartist riots in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, in the 1840s. Following on from the inaugural event in August last year, this year’s festival will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the miners’ strike of 1984-85. The festival will feature music, arts activities, craft stalls and speakers from the trade union movement.
A spokesperson for the People’s History Association of North Staffordshire (PHANS), organisers of the festival, said: “At a time when the struggle for workers’ rights is very much in the headlines again, we want to highlight how what is going on now is part of a much longer fight,” adding, “The 1984/5 strike, from which the miners emerged bruised but not defeated, is a major historical event locally and nationally and we want to record the stories of the people who experienced it at first hand.”
Chartist Festival celebrates miners’ wives
The season of commemorative events will pay particular attention to the role played by the wives of striking miners, many of whom went on to be active in supporting subsequent strikes and liberation campaigns.
The miners’ strike saw thousands of miners go on strike against Margaret Thatcher’s government plans to close 20 coal pits with 20,000 expected job losses. It was a long and often violent struggle, ending in defeat for the miners and the closure of the majority of UK pits over the next 20 years.
During this time, the miners’ wives supported the miners by “organising food collections, distributions and fundraising, organising pickets and speaking at rallies”. In Staffordshire, the wives founded the North Staffordshire Miners’ Wives Action Group (NSMWAG) and started “mobilising”. The group organised food centres to make sure people were fed during a time when families were left without an income.
New Vic Borderlines have created a piece of documentary theatre No Going Back based on the experience of miners’ wives during the strike. This was performed by members of the group at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery on Saturday 18 May.
The company has also secured funding from the Keele University Institute of Social Inclusion to work with writers and academics on recreating the Pit Camp Caravan used by NSMWAG as a mobile theatre space for performances of their play The Miner Bird Monologues in July.
Festival plans
The festival will be part of a yearlong commemoration of the strike that will include a photographic exhibition at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery. A performance of the play Battle Lines by Banner Theatre company took place at Fenton Town Hall on 8 June.
Founded in 1974, Banner Theatre offers “stirring insights and sharp commentaries on the salient issues of our times” through its award-winning productions.
PHANS have ambitious plans to expand their activities to include the creation of a museum and archive, preserving artifacts relating to working class life in Staffordshire that will be open to researchers and the public.
The Chartist Festival will take place in the Market Place, Burslem, on Sunday 18 August 2024.
This article is based on a press release from the Potteries Chartist Festival. For more information contact phanssecretary@proton.me
