These photos were taken on October 29th 2024. unfortunately light conditions were not optimal. The exhibition continues until April 2025 and to see the best of these images you are advised to visit it yourself.
unfortunately the bias of the exhibition is illustrated in these two narrative boards. the narrative seems to be that the south wales miners did not want to come out on strike but were ordered out by the num, specifically arthur scargill. relationships between south wales miners and the police were cordial.the mention of the use of the riot act, also used at orgreave, is interesting. the riot act had been repealed in 1973 yet miners were arrested under it in 1984/5. subsequently legislation was enacted (Public order act, 1986) which held a sentence of 10 years for the offence of riot. the legislation was brought in retrospectively for arrested miners. This was an unprecedented use of the legal system in an industrial dispute and is in stark contrast to thie rather picturesque view of the strike presented by the exhibition. the narrative also ignores the reality of the strike which ,as it wore on, became increasingly fractious everywhere. I met many south wales miners during the year long strike and never met one who questioned either the leadership or the tactics of arthur scargill.
