Please Don’t Say We're Wonderful
This video looks at what has happened to the Women Against Pit Closures movement since the end of the 1984-85 Miners' Strike. What began and still continues as a fight for communal survival has also developed into a powerful women's organisation, building on the contacts made with groups outside the pit communities during the strike, challenging the assumptions of male trades unionists, supporting other women in industrial disputes and, most importantly, shifting the women's own expectations of their lives.
As one woman said: ‘The strike politicised me, but I feel bitter that it took so long. I feel like I wasted 45 years.'
The tape includes poems by Jean Gittens, a miner's wife from North Yorkshire, and songs by Mal Finch and Flaming Nerve.
Description Source: Cinenova Catalogue (1994). Edited by Kate Norrish. Editorial committee: Elaine Burrows, Liane Harris, Helen de Witt