Mining history

I had two small daughters at the time and found it a great struggle as we only had £13 plus Family Allowance to live on. We lived in a council house and though the girls got free school meals we still had to feed them.

I don't know now how we managed it but we did. I think the reason being we went without so the girls didn't.

We did get help both with a soup kitchen which my husband and I visited at Allerton Bywater Missionary Hall and also the Salvation Army made black bin bags up for both girls with toys for Christmas, which I will be forever grateful for, otherwise I don't know what we would have done.

We also got help with their clothes, we got clothing vouchers to go to BHS to kit them both out. (It was quite upsetting as I have never claimed for anything and felt like charity cases!).

We did have Christmas lunch but it wasn't as grand as it normally would have been, we had chicken instead of turkey but you just had to make the best of what you had got.

It has taught me to value money and not to take things for granted anymore.

My father unfortunately had divorced from my mum so he got no money from nowhere so inevitably he went back to work before the end of the strike. Both my sister and I had to go round the local village and wipe his name off the walls where people had painted it in white paint with his name and "scab" underneath it.

What an upsetting time it was.

My husband did go back but only a couple of days before the end of the strike. I backed him one hundred per cent.

Unfortunately neither my husband or father are with us anymore as I am sure they would have had quite a bit more to add!

I don't want to go through that again.

Sue from Kippax
(Sue did not want to use her full name)