infoNews From Durham & Where Are We Going (1983)
Amber Films (Producer)
12 mins & 35 mins, video
Documentary
News from Durham combines footage of the 100th Durham Miners’ Gala, held in 1983, with extracts from a miners’ weekend school held two months later to raise the central issues that were of concern to the mineworkers’ union during the lead up to the national strike of 1984. The programme was designed as a trigger tape for discussions, a forerunner to the Miners’ Campaign Tapes, developed by the Film Workshop Movement during the strike – a project in which Amber participated. News from Durham poses questions about pit closures, the definition of uneconomic pits and the role of incentive schemes.
Where Are We Going? examines the issues raised by News from Durham in more detail. It chronicles in greater depth the 1983 miners’ weekend school in Durham, when 160 miners from a range of coalfields met to discuss the future of the industry and the union. The programme opens with an illustrated account by organiser Huw Beynon of the crisis facing the industry. This is followed by an examination of the National Coal Board’s pit closure programme through the speeches of Arthur Scargill, Peter Heathfield, South Wales NUM researcher Kim Howells (later a Labour MP and minister in various departments) and a number of lodge officials. The programme concludes with a look at the problems of union organisation.
These two programmes, part of Amber's Current Affairs work, provide a unique insight into the state of the NUM prior to the 1984 strike and the issues which led to that action.
AMBER FILMS
Made under the auspices of the ACTT Workshop Declaration with financial assistance from Northern Arts and Channel Four Television.
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