A COUNCIL has unveiled a memorial to the “historic struggle” of the miners on the 25th anniversary of the end of the bitter 1984-5 strike against mass pit closures.

Labour-run Sunderland City Council commissioned an artist to make a glass panel bearing images of the strike and mining heritage for its headquarters.

The panel has been installed above the Civic Suite entrance to the main council chamber at Sunderland Civic Centre It is one of the largest pieces of printed toughened glass in Europe.

Deputy council leader Florence Anderson, who helped man the picket lines at Eppleton Colliery, in Hetton-le-Hole, Wearside, and was chairwoman of the Eppleton Area Miners’ Wives Support Group during the strike, attended the unveiling.

She said: “This is a memorial to the strike, not just the industry and its heritage, but to a heroic struggle and the strength of feeling at the time. As we look back at the strike, I believe we can all see that a great injustice was done to a lot of people.

“Times were very hard and thousands of families across, not just in the North-East but in mining areas up and down the country, endured a year of hardship. We are remembering all of this with the memorial.”

The council commissioned Sunderland University graduate Dan Savage, now based in York, to create the panel.

People can visit the Civic Centre, in Burdon Road, today, between 10am and noon, to see the panel and an exhibition of strike memorabilia.