FULL details have been confirmed for the premiere of the new film about the heritage and history of the Durham Miners’ Gala.

The Big Meeting’s first showing will be at Redhills, the Durham Miners’ Hall, on Saturday.

Ticket holders arriving for the special screening will be serenaded by the Durham Miners’ Association (DMA) Brass Band, in the grounds of Redhills, off Flass Street, Durham, from 6pm.

Following the 94-minute screening, a panel discussion will take place featuring director Daniel Draper.

Other panellists will include George Robson, the former DMA finance officer, who organised the gala for more than 40 years and ex-miner Dave Temple, the founder of the gala support group, the Marras, who wrote The Big Meeting - A History of the Durham Miners’ Gala.

Community activists Heather Wood, from Easington, and Charlotte Austin, from West Auckland, will also be on the panel, chaired by Ross Forbes, the DMA press officer during the miners’ strike of 1984/85, who is now DMA programme director and also a gala organiser.

Labour Party Chair and former miner Ian Lavery, the MP for Wansbeck in Northumberland, and Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner, both long-standing gala supporters and Parliamentary Patrons of the Marras, will also feature in the discussion.

Marras’ chair Dave Anderson said: “We hope this film will expose more people to what is the world’s greatest celebration of community, solidarity and working-class culture.”

Tickets are still available, via buytickets.at/marras/ with proceeds from the event going to the Friends of Durham Miners’ Gala.