The Durham Miners' Association has confirmed the speaker line-up for this year's Big Meeting.
Working-class unity is set to be the central theme of the 140th Durham Miners' Gala, organisers say, with the gathering taking place on Saturday, July 11.
And all the platform speakers have been confirmed for this year's Gala
- Andrea Egan, General Secretary of Unison – one of the UK's largest trade unions, representing more than 1.3 million workers in public services.
- Joanne Thomas, General Secretary of Usdaw, the shopworkers' union.
- Andy McDonald, MP for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East – who has publicly nominated Andy Burnham to become the next Labour leader and Prime Minister.
- Judith Kirton-Darling, General Secretary of industriAll Europe, representing workers across the manufacturing, mining and energy sectors on a continental scale.
- Mike Jackson, founder of Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) – the group whose solidarity with striking miners during the 1984-85 dispute was immortalised in the 2014 film Pride.
- Alan Mardghum, Secretary of the Durham Miners' Association.
The inclusion of Mike Jackson comes after trade unions stepped in to fund Durham Pride after a funding row with the Reform UK-led Durham County Council, which refused to spend public money on the event.
LGSM became one of the most celebrated symbols of cross-community solidarity in modern British history, raising money for mining communities during the year-long 1984-85 strike and forging an unlikely but enduring alliance between the labour and LGBT rights movements.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to descend on Durham for the
Banner groups and bands begin assembling in Durham City's Market Place from 8.30am, with the Cathedral procession and service at 3pm.
A platform with history
The speakers' platform at the Miners' Gala has hosted some of the most significant figures in British political life since the event began in 1871.
Aneurin Bevan, the founder of the NHS, addressed the crowd here.
So did Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson and Tony Benn.
More recently the platform has welcomed trade union leaders and senior Labour figures.
The tradition is that speakers reflect the concerns of working people in their time – and at the 140th Gala, which falls exactly 100 years after the 1926 General Strike and miners' lockout, that context will carry particular weight.
Read more
County Durham town to welcome back miners’ banner parades ahead of Durham Gala
Darlington MP backs Andy Burnham bid just weeks after saying she was against PM swap
Why people are wrong about this town labelled among 'worst' in County Durham
The Durham Miners' Gala takes place every year on the second Saturday of July in Durham City, drawing more than 200,000 people from across the country and beyond.
The day begins at 8.30am with banner processions from Durham Market Place, led by brass bands representing mining communities.
The Big Meeting platform on the Old Racecourse opens at 1pm, followed by a Miners' Festival Service at Durham Cathedral at 3pm.
Share