Children of the Revolution - Experiences and Impact of the 1984/85 Miners Strike on Children and Young people.

On 29th January Sky News reported a former mining village in South Wales had the highest rates of COVID
mortality in the UK, the local GP likened the impact of the virus to ''when the coal mines closed in the 80s...I
fear there will be another generation of young people in the valleys that will be left behind" (Samuel,
SkyNews 2021.) The beginning of the twentieth century saw coal at the heart of Britain's industrial complex
yet by the end of the century hardly any coal mines existed (Perchard,2013). Following the closures in the
early 1990's these post-industrial coalfield communities continue to be in the most deprived 30% in Britain
(Foden,2014). Prior to these closures, miners had waged a bitterly contested year-long strike in 1984/85,
often considered as a key moment in the redefinition of the political, cultural and social landscape of Britain
(McIntyre, 2014).
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Whilst sociological research and contemporary cultural narratives have explored the complex intersections
of gender and class in mining communities, there has never been specific sociological research conducted
on children and young people's experiences during the strike and in the aftermath of the closures
(Perchard,2013).
This research will be the first sociological analysis of young people's experiences in the miners' strike,
collaborating with participants who were children during the strike, thus creating new and innovative insights
on the long-term effects of living in a post-industrial landscape of high unemployment and an influx of heroin
(Holden,2019) This essential research will coincide with the forthcoming 40th anniversary of the strike and
is especially timely on a wider scale, highlighting the effects from deindustrialisation and the COVID
pandemic internationally.