After two years of COVID uncertainty, family Christmas dinners are firmly back in festive plans as some form of normality returns for most people in the UK. Avian flu has, however, decimated a number of Christmas turkey and goose farms this year. Some farmers have lost their entire seasonal stock after having to cull their turkeys for fear or prevention of avian flu spreading.[1] This isn’t the first time that turkeys have been difficult to come by at Christmas; in 1984, miners and their families across the country faced a Christmas without turkeys, or presents, as their long battle against mine closures continued into the festive period.

Nationwide industrial action began on 12^th March 1984 in reaction to the National Coal Board’s planned closure of 20 coal mines, with a loss of 20,000 jobs across Britain which would most severely affect the North of England, Scotland, and South Wales.[2]  Only three months later, the ‘Battle of Orgreave’ brought clashes between police, 5,000 striking miners onto television screens, resulting in 51 picketers and 72 policemen being injured.[3] Although clashes like this were uncommon, this entrenched divisions between the government and miners, vowing they would ‘stick it out to the last’.[4]

Despite a number of miners returning to work as Christmas approached and the winter worsened, the majority remained out on strike throughout December, making it a very different Christmas than they had experienced before. With no coal being mined or delivered, houses were not heated and strike wages of £12 per week did not cover the cost of food or the luxuries of a merry Christmas.[5]

Trade unions and solidarity organisations had already established donation and food parcel networks to ensure that families in mining towns across Britain had enough to eat and continue striking. At Christmas, these groups wanted to make sure that miners and their families were able to join in festivities, with the ‘Turkey run’ delivering around 7,000 turkeys to households in South Wales, complementing the vegetable food parcels sent by the trade unions every week. With families ‘lucky to have food now’, these parcels made sure that miners were able to celebrate Christmas, and ‘stick it out to the last’ without breaking the strike, despite increasing pressures from home.[6]

Interviews at the time said that this was a ‘Marvellous Christmas’, with the community coming together in a way it had not done before.[7] Oral history interviewee Aggie Curry said that the children were ‘so grateful for what they got’ as it meant all the more to them given the family’s situation.[8] Although not having a ‘Turkey Run’ in the North of England, Aggie Curry and her family living near Doncaster were able to get a ‘chicken from union and some vegetables’ that allowed them to have a proper Christmas dinner.[9]

Many families were also supported by relatives not impacted directly by the strike, with numerous accounts of mothers or mothers-in-law, aunties or other family members sending Christmas presents and resources to those on strike. Aggie Curry’s mother bought her a gateau for Christmas day, whilst one interviewee’s mother and mother-in-law bought their son a bike, although the parents were not able to their child any presents themselves.[10] Toys were bought and collected in each community by their Women’s Support Groups, meaning more children were able to have Christmas presents without having to rely on other family members. In Penrhiwceiber, the Women’s Support Group sold off any toys they had not allocated for 50p to £1, with the money being put back into the local fund.[11] Across the country, these Support Groups also organised Christmas parties for local children, using the town halls or Men’s Social Clubs to host festive events.

What can be seen here is the importance of generosity from supporters at Christmas, a turkey or chicken being the centrepiece to Christmas day far beyond the other material difficulties of these families that were striking against coal mine closures across the country. The community-based nature of these ‘turkey runs’, combined with the organisation of toys and generosity of donations made sure that strikers did not have to go back to work in December 1984, despite the pressures of Christmas, supported by their families – and especially their wives. This is best encapsulated by one woman’s statement that ‘we’ve been out 10 months now, what the hell is another 10?’ when she was given her turkey in Bedlinog.[12]

Despite this, and the extensive shows of solidarity that underpinned the ‘turkey run’ and other initiatives for the striking miners in 1984, they were ultimately defeated in March 1985. National Union of Mineworkers’ delegates voted 98 to 91 in favour of ending the strike, and two days later, on 5^th March 1985, miners across Britian returned to work. Considerable numbers of coal mines were closed after this as the National Coal Board continued with their plans, but Christmas 1984 is remembered by many in the mining communities as ‘the best Christmas we ever had.’[13].

Amy Longmuir is a PhD Student in History at the University of Reading. The ITV Wales Archive interview can be found here.

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[1] J. Partridge, ‘Avian flu set to deal killer blow to turkey farmers at Christmas’, The Guardian, 12 November 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/nov/12/turkey-farmers-face-bleak-midwinter-as-bird-flu-ravages-flocks.

[2] ‘Miners’ Strike 1984-1985’, Archives Hub, [website], https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/features/mar04.shtml.

[3] More information about this can be found here: D. Johnson, ‘Orgreave: The battle that’s not over’, BBC  News, 10 October 2016, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37562740.

[4] Turkey Run, Miners Strike Christmas 1984, Bedlinog, [online video], 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je1OtICKtSQ, (accessed: 25 November 2022)

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] ‘ALL OUT’ Penrhiwceiber South Wales during the Miners Strike Christmas 1985-1985, [online video], 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGZXKMp160E, (accessed: 25 November 2022)

[8] Aggie Curry, interviewed by Coalfield Women, accessible via: ‘Making ends meet’, Women and the Miners’ Strike 1984-5, https://www.coalfield-women.org/making-ends-meet, [website], accessed: 25 November 2022).

[9] Ibid.

[10] Aggie Curry, interviewed by Coalfield Women, accessible via: ‘Making ends meet’, Women and the Miners’ Strike 1984-5, https://www.coalfield-women.org/making-ends-meet, [website], accessed: 25 November 2022); Turkey Run, Miners Strike Christmas 1984, Bedlinog, [online video], 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je1OtICKtSQ, (accessed: 25 November 2022).

[11] ‘ALL OUT’ Penrhiwceiber South Wales during the Miners Strike Christmas 1985-1985, [online video], 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGZXKMp160E, (accessed: 25 November 2022).

[12] Turkey Run, Miners Strike Christmas 1984, Bedlinog, [online video], 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je1OtICKtSQ, (accessed: 25 November 2022).

[13] Aggie Curry, interviewed by Coalfield Women, accessible via: ‘Making ends meet’, Women and the Miners’ Strike 1984-5, https://www.coalfield-women.org/making-ends-meet, [website], accessed: 25 November 2022).