County Durham's much-loved living museum, Beamish, has unveiled its October half-term schedule - with a new exhibition about the history of women in protest top of the list. 

Women in Protest, which runs from October 26 to November 3, has been organised in collaboration with National Women Against Pit Closures (NWAPC) to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1984/85 Miners’ Strike. The NWAPC group was a political movement that supported miners and their families during the strike. 

There will be a series of topical films, daily talks, puzzle trails, Suffragette marches, and rarely seen displays from the museum's collection. 

Here's what is on: 

  •  At the newly unveiled 1950s cinema, visitors to the museum will be able to watch a series of mining and protest-themed films, including ‘In the Veins’ in collaboration with the North East Film Archive and Teesside University, Saris of Strength, and a screening of ‘The Scar’ by Amber Films on Friday,  November 1, which will be followed by a Q and A with the “matron” of National Women Against Pit Closures, Charlie Hardwick.
  • Head to Pockerley Old Hall to find out about the 1795 Housewives’ Revolt, so called because many women protested against food shortages and the high price of food.
  • Visit The 1900s Pit Village chapel each day at 11am to hear the story of Sacriston’s Annie Errington and the role she played as one of the Chester-le-Street Guardians during the 1926 General Strike.
  • In the 1900s Pit Village you can take part in a trail to find out about some of the women and women’s groups who shaped history in the early 1900s. Use the stories to crack the code and discover more about women in protest. Call into the band hall to see banners from the museum’s collection.
  • Join in with a Suffragette march each day in the 1900s Town and attend a talk in rebuttal to the use of violence as a tool of protest by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).
  • At The 1940s Farm, you can find out more about the Land Girls’ strike.

The Women in Protest event is included in admission and is free for Beamish Unlimited Pass holders and Friends of Beamish members.

As well as a range of new displays, No More Nowt, the STRIKE Collective and ATOMS Education CIC will run a family activity in the 1950s welfare hall exploring the theme of protect – visitors will be able to make an artwork highlighting something which is important to them today.

At 2.30pm each day the museum invites all visitors to join a march featuring the women’s banners starting outside the welfare hall.

In The 1950s Town there will be a display of banners from NWAPC and the Shifted exhibition by East Durham Artists Network (EDAN), which was inspired by the anniversary of the strikes and the women of the Durham Coalfield, and female singers performing mining songs and songs from the miners’ strike.

Helen Barker, the director of collections and programmes at Beamish Museum, said: “2024 marks the 40th anniversary of the 1984/85 Miners’ Strike and we are proud to be working with National Women Against Pit Closures and East Durham Artists Network to explore the role that women played in this national event which had massive repercussions for individuals, families and mining communities across the North East.

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“The National Women Against Pit Closures group has inspired us to explore the lives of women throughout history who have defied expectation in order to have their voices heard and take a stand about causes in which they believed, very often in spite of, and sometimes because of, a lack of political representation, the hard grind of domestic drudgery and poverty.”

Heather Wood, a founding member of NWAPC, said: “I can’t thank staff at Beamish enough for their unstinting support and enthusiasm from the moment I suggested the idea of NWAPC having a joint event with Beamish Museum. It’s going to be an amazing event which will show the strength and determination of women who have always been the backbone of our society.

“I recall my mother-in-law many years ago on a visit to Beamish. As we walked into the back street where children were playing football she said, ‘Heather, you’ve not just brought me back to my younger days, I am back’. That’s what Beamish does and that’s how we learn about our history.”