“That is Geoff Poulter, a former Nottinghamshire coal miner, who got here out on strike with the Nationwide Union of Mineworkers throughout the notorious 1984–85 miners’ strike. The picture is from my sequence Thanks Maggie, which explores life and tradition throughout the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire coalfield. He’s carrying his prized mining helmet, which he wore from the age of 15, when he started work within the pits. Poulter was within the minority as a putting miner in Nottinghamshire, because the non-striking Union of Democratic Mineworkers had turn out to be the dominant union in that space. The sociopolitical causes behind this are extremely complicated and far debated however, partly, the authorities had helped to orchestrate a divided workforce, pitting staff towards one another and in the end handing control to the federal government. The divide-and-conquer technique succeeded and the strike was misplaced, significantly diminishing the prominence and power of commerce unions in Britain.”
