South Yorkshire People and Coal

The book documents and illustrates the people of South Yorkshire's relationship with coal which at times has been most tragic - not to mention quite frustrating and depressing. For over a century the mining industry played a large part in the lives of its people and was one of the area's largest employers. Nobody could have foreseen in the 1970s that within a decade, after the much publicised 1984/85 strike and the battle with the Tory Government, most of South Yorkshire's coal industry would be wiped out. This has left a massive problem of unemployment that is still being tackled today in the 21st century. To be found in the book are a wide range of aspects concerning the mining industry: pit sinkings, strikes, pickets, clashes with police, tragedies, scenes underground, closures and redevelopment schemes. Particular attention is paid to the 1984/1985 strike and the closures of pits and redevelopment of areas thereafter. Visually, the author has tried to add photographs that not only show straight colliery portraits or underground scenes but ones which are exciting visually and reflect South Yorkshire People and Coal in a unique way.