The Miner's Strike 40 years on told by the man who captured it
Richard Williams was just 23 when he began taking photos of the strike in South Wales
Last updated 6th Mar 2024
It's 40 years to the day since the start of the Miner's Strike.
Coal miners across the UK went on strike after Margaret Thatcher's government announced plans to close a number of pits, leaving 20,000 out of work.
The strike would go on to last for a year and, in the end, the miners lost the strike, with pit closures shortly following.
When the strike started, Richard Williams at the age of 23 started to capture the strike from the South Wales Valleys.
'At the time of the strike I was a young freelance photographer covering the Welsh Valleys' Richard told us.
'I used to freelance as a photographer for the local paper in Bridgend and Pontypridd, and they would pick up on stories about the latest news of the miners strike and often call me to cover it.
'That ranged from picket lines to Margaret Thatcher being egged in Porthcawl'.
Richard, who is from Cardiff, told us how the Miner's Strike was unlike anything he had ever seen before.
'It is impossible to understand.. it's almost like it didn't happen. The miners didn't get strike pay as such because of the legalities of calling a strike at the time. They relied on handouts, soup kitchens and the generosity of people around them to look after them. To stay out for a year under those conditions was quite incredible'.
Even 40 years on, Richard says South Wales is still scared by the miner's strike and the pit closures that followed.
'When the pits were taken away from the valley towns, there was nothing left. Nobody seemed to know the answer of how they would replace those jobs. In some valleys, you had tens of thousands of miners suddenly with no work, and no alternative industry to go into'.
Richard left the end of the strike with more than just hundreds of photos.
'I was there to cover the first miner to break the strike. A miner went back to the Garw colliery in Blaengarw. It was about 6 months into the strike. I got a call from the local paper to ask if I could cover it. On the way, I picked up a young reporter called Amanda Powell who had just started at the Glamorgan Gazette. We covered the story together.
'It was quite memorable because it was the first time I covered civil disobedience where there was no respect for police. You had dozens of people trying to police and hundreds of police trying to stop them.
'As I said, a young reporter came with me, and we went on to get married, and are still married'.
Richard and his wife Amanda compiled their stories from covering the strike into a book called Coal and Community in Wales: Images of the Miner's Strike: Before, During and After.
Some of the hundreds of photo's Richard took will also appear in exhibitions around South Wales marking the anniversary of the strike, including in the Rhondda Heritage Park and the National Museum of Wales.