A funding appeal for a new feature-length documentary film project about the Miners’ Strike is being launched at this year’s Big Meeting.

The 138th Durham Miners’ Gala on Saturday will be commemorating the 40th anniversary of the country's most bitter and divisive industrial dispute.

Lonely Tower Film and Media Project will be at the event to launch funding support appeal to tell the people of County Durham are still living with the aftershock as proud former pit communities have been abandoned by policy makers.

Co-director Marie Gardiner said: “This film will be both proud and painful, the strike may have been forty years ago, but our communities are still fighting, fighting for the justice that is long overdue.

“The loss of the pits decimated the lives and futures of so many and very little was put in place to help them recover.”

Initial filming has already taken place, and with an additional £10,000 the team is confident that the film can be finished.

To see the initial interview with people at the front line of the strike click here

Co-director Mark Thorburn said: “To make this film all we know it can be, we need help and support.

“The North East (and beyond) have been with us through so many important projects, and we know that this one will be no different.

“Together we can honour those who fought and those that still fight for the justice owed to the communities that built the county.”

The finished production, due March 2025 to mark the 40th anniversary of the end of the strike, will tell the story of County Durham’s specific experience during the Miners’ Strike, how the strike is being marked across the county forty years later, and shine a bright light on why the loss of the industry is still affecting communities across the county.

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The film will feature the anniversary events of 2024, testimony from those who were there and from those who are still living with the impact of the strike.

The film will be screened in cinemas and other venues across the North East and beyond, available on Amazon Prime / streaming sites and available to purchase on DVD.

Alan Mardghum - Secretary of the Durham Miners’ Association said: “Tell it as it was, that’s the important story to get across… what will shine through, is the resilience of the people of County Durham.”

To support funding click here