A Bedwas director’s documentary about the 1984 Miners’ Strike is set to air on S4C.
Streic y Glowyr gyda Dafydd Hywel is directed by and produced by Karl Francis and features interviews with those involved in the dispute, including late Bedwas councillor Ray Davies.
The programme sees actor and miner’s son Dafydd Hywel look at the impact the strike and the closure of the pits had on Welsh communities.
Karl Francis uses his film work during the Miners’ Strike to convey the bitter political tensions and Dafydd Hywel speaks to some of the miners and their wives who played a huge part in the strike – and their descendants, who have inherited a Wales without coal mines.
The strike had a direct impact on miner’s son Wyn Morris, and on his opinion of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Government.
Mr Morris said: “The miners had no choice but to defend their jobs and their coal mines in almost impossible conditions. As time went by, it became impossible to win.
“This is especially true when the strike started – everything had been planned by the government in an attempt to beat the miners.”
The strike fought against pit-closures and 300,000 jobs disappeared from the coal industry during this time.
Mari Gordon, a supporter of the strike, believes the end of the coal industry has had a long term effect on the Welsh language and praised the role played by women.
Ms Gordon said: “The coal mines, the churches and the pubs – when you take those things away from people, you take away the reasons for which these communities exist.
“The people who have grown up in these places going to church and sending their children to the Welsh schools – they have to move to somewhere else to find work. And the language goes with them.
“The strike would never have happened without the women. They were the backbone of every community and they were the backbone of the strike.
“The workers wouldn’t have been able to go out on strike for so long if it weren’t for the girls being strong and keeping the community and families together. They made sure there was money and food – the basic things that allow people from working class backgrounds to go out on strike for so long.”
Streic y Glowyr gyda Dafydd Hywel airs on S4C on Tuesday June 30 at 9.30pm, featuring English subtitles.