A GATHERING to mark the 30th anniversary of the miners’ strike was held in the North-East over the weekend.

Durham Miners’ Association staged the event at its headquarters at Redhills in the city on Saturday, three decades on from the bitter industrial dispute.

It was held at the weekend to tie in with the 30th anniversary of the infamous clashes between pitmen and police at Orgreave, near Rotherham, on June 18, 1984.

The union invited friends, supporters and miners who took part in the strike to ‘to renew old friendships and celebrate the spirit that endured a year-long battle for the preservation of jobs and communities’.

The eight-hour celebration started at 2pm and included a bar, buffet, films and music as well as speeches.

General secretary Dave Hopper said: “A lot of people who have not see each other for quite a while were there.

“It was nice to get together, reminisce a bit and look back at the situation and just think how unlucky we were achieve what we set out to achieve.

“Society would have been far better, certainly in the Durham area and a lot of coalfield communities. It is always important to keep issues like this in the public eye.”