Fig 1: Entrance to Lincolns Inn, London, in April 2022. Photo Credit – MuBu Miner

Legal Action: Notts Working Miners. 

Following the NUM Special Delgates Conference on 19th April 1984 and subsequent meeting of Nottingham Area NUM Branch Officials and Committee members addressed by national NUM Officials, Arthur Scargill and Peter Heathfield on 25th April 1984, a collection was held at working Nottinghamshire collieries and associated works on 18th May 1984 to fund legal action to get the strike in the Nottingham Area NUM proved unofficial. Ironically, the legal action was initiated by Pye Hill No.1 NUM Branch, at a colliery that was running down to closure as the miners strike broke in early March 1984.

Fig 2: Handwritten details of the collection at Notts working collieries on 18th May 1984 and the aims of the legal action. Source – MuBu Miner collection. 

Fig 3: Colin Clarke, NUM Branch Delgate at Pye Hill No.1 colliery, who initiated the legal action to get the 1984-85 miners strike proved unofficial in the Nottingham Area of the NUM. Photo Credit – MuBu Miner. 

Fig 4: Receipt from Ellis Fermor Solicitors regarding the collection by working miners at Annesley Colliery for the legal action to get the 1984-85 miners strike in the Nottingham Area of the NUM proved unofficial. Source – MuBu Miner collection. 

Fig 5: Balance sheet (income) for the legal action by Notts Working Miners to prove the 1984-85 miners strike official in the Nottingham Area of the NUM. Source – MuBu Miner collection. 

Fig 6: Balance sheet (expenditure) for the legal action by Notts Working Miners to prove the 1984-85 miners strike official in the Nottingham Area of the NUM. Source – MuBu Miner collection. 

Fig 7a: Opinion (1) re legal action by Notts Working Miners by John Hendy, Lincolns Inn. Source – MuBu Miner collection.

Fig 7b: Opinion (2) re legal action by Notts Working Miners by John Hendy, Lincolns Inn. Source – MuBu Miner collection.

Fig 8: Nottingham Area NUM correspondence to branches regarding the legal action by Notts Working Miners, 26th May 1984. Source – MuBu Miner collection.

Fig 9: Notts miners win right to work ruling. Source – Eastwood & Kimberley Advertiser, 1st June 1984. 

Fig 10: Miners win right to work. Source – Daily Mail, 28th May 1984.