VIDEO: Life as the wife of a miner on strike
AS THE wife of a picketing miner during the strike, Worksop's Christine Bell remembers the sacrifices her family had to make throughout the year of action.
Mrs Bell's husband George remained on the picket during the strike and had to rely on her income and handouts to survive.
"He was fighting for his job, he was fighting for his kids, so I could do nothing but support him," said Mrs Bell, of Carnoustie.
"I was working so I could not get involved with running soup kitchens, but I could back him in other ways, by keeping the money coming in and keeping food on the table."
The couple's twin daughters were 13-years-old at the time and Mrs Bell remembers how the girls had to make sacrifices throughout the strike.
"They were old enough to know what was happening and they eventually accepted there were things we just could not afford and had to do without. It was tough on them but we just pulled together as a family," said Mrs Bell.
And as the strike gained momentum, the strain of supporting her picketing husband grew.
"The longer it went on, the tougher it was. He was never at home, he was always out on the pickets. There was one night when he did not come home. I received a phone call at about 10pm from one of his miner friends to say he had been arrested. They told me not to worry and that he would only be kept overnight."
She said: "But when he came back the next day, he had had quite a bad experience and I had to support him through it emotionally."
And as the strike came to a close, Mrs Bell said she was saddened by the negative publicity the picketing miners received.
"It was sad towards the end because there was so much animosity towards the miners, and the longer it went on you only ever heard about the violence on the news and the fighting between the pickets and the police."
She added: "But there were two sides to the story and they believed in what they were fighting for."
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Weather for Dinnington
Tuesday 22 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 18 mph
Wind direction: North
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Temperature: 12 C to 23 C
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