Barnsley Museums Natters

There's lots of interviews online with Arthur Scargill that focus on his involvement in the miners strike. In this interview that pre-dates the strike John Kelly focuses on Arthur's formative years in Barnsley, his interests and influences away from the pit. This is the first time this interview has been shared online, it's from a recently digitised cassette tape from a Barnsley Archives collection. Recorded in 1983 for the Second Sight magazine created especially for the blind and partially sighted, we are currently working through the collection and will share more interviews in the near future.Download a transcript of the interview.

The interviews in this episode were recorded on 12th May 1984 at a large Women Against Pit Closures rally at the Barnsley Civic Hall. The event was much larger than expected with an estimated 10,000 women travelling from all parts of the country to the event at the civic hall and had 40 speakers. You are about to hear speeches by Ann Hunter (chairperson of rally), Lorraine Hunter, two miners' wives from Nottinghamshire and Arthur Scargill. Interviews with Chris Hall (of Barnsley Women Against Pit Closures), various miners' wives, nurses from South Wales raining community, miners' wives from Wales, and Susan Sykes, miner's wife from Grimethorpe.Special thanks to Sheffield Archives for digitising the cassette and allowing us to make it available in this podcast.