A collection of poems that were written by a member of Yorkshire Women Against Pit Closures during the 1984-85 miners' strike and read at fundraising benefits around the coalfield. Taken from the 1 in 12 Publications archive.
Born in 1936, married at the age of eighteen, Jean Gittins spent the past 30 years (until her divorce) looking after her home and family.
Brought up in a Socialist home, it was inevitable that she should be involved in the recent dispute in the mining industry, alongside her two youngest sons, who work at Ledston Luck Colliery.
The poems in this little collection were written as a direct result of her experiences in the strike, and (unlike much of her previous work, which she wrote, then discarded), were read at money raising 'benefits' around the coalfield, and were used in a BBC 2 documentary at the end of 1985.
Still an active member of North Yorkshire Women Against Pit Closures1 , Jean is now writing mainly on the problems of a woman of a 'certain' age, coping in a modern world.
Cover design by Wendy Culverwell, Bradford Printshop
Photos courtesy Leeds Other Paper, Cathy Lloyd, and Graham Dodd
Cartoons by Janis Goodman
Original typeset by Bryan Williamson, Swinton, Berwickshire
Original printed by Tony Ward at the Arc & Throstle Press, The Old Fire Station, Rochadale Road, Todmorden
The original book was financed entirely by donation
Thanks to: 1 in 12 Club; SOGAT members at Bradford Printshop; Workers at Bradford Resource Centre; Yorkshire Women Against Pit Closures; Equity members of Leeds Playhouse Theatre in Education; Leeds Postcards; T & GWU (ACTSS) 9/988 Branch; Leeds Women Against Pit Closures; Bradford Women's Centre; and others.
- 1libcom note - not sure about whether this should be West Yorkshire?
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