Forty years on from the great strike of 1984/5, former coal miners reflect on the industry they were proud to serve and their year-long battle to try and save it
His family history goes back to the year 1620 and they all went underground. He was the last one.
Stewart has been joined by friends and fellow ex-miners Terry Houghton, 77 and Ian Henderson 65. The three men are in reflective mood, discussing the career they were proud to have and the historic year-long strike they took part in 40 years ago this week. "When you step out of that cage you can go into hot or cold and dust," he adds. "You put your hand in front of your face and you can't see it. Total darkness.
"I didn't really enjoy it," he adds. "It was a necessity. You got used to it. The environment you were in was hard." But despite - and in many ways because of - the hardships and the brutality of a life underground - the bond between miners was vital and unshakeable. It would later be tested to its very core by the ferocious ideology of an incoming Prime Minister.
The 1970s saw two major industrial disputes between the NUM and the government over pay. Miner's wages had not kept pace with those of other industrial workers since 1960. A strike in 1972 saw miners across the country walk-out between January 9 and February 28 before the union accepted an improved offer.
It was a similar story for Terry. "My dad was in the union and I used to go to the meetings with him. I was quiet and I didn't like getting up and speaking. It's only as you get older that you think I wish I had opened my gob more.""I was proud to be in the NUM" he says with a smile. "The reps didn't need to chat to me, I was already there."
Coal mining had been nationalised by the post-war Labour government and was managed by the National Coal Board . "That's me there," he adds, jabbing a finger towards a picture of his younger self in the driving seat of a van."I had never been in trouble with police in my life," he explains. "But I was jailed five times during the miner's strike. Four for so-called picket line violence and once I was charged with kidnap and assault. Why? Because I drove that bus."
"The North of England is cold in winter, especially here," he adds. "We had an open fire but there was no coal so you were burning pieces of rug or old shoes, pieces of fluff, just to try and keep your family warm. “My brother-in-law did ten months on strike," explains Stewart. "He went back to work. I've never spoken to him since."
"He said 'if you've got no money then you want to get back to f***ing work'. I'm not a fighter but those words hit me.” In 2016, the Home Secretary Amber Rudd announced there would not be an inquiry into Orgreave. At the time, Andy Burnham hit out at what he called an “establishment stitch-up”. As Stewart says, such conduct was not limited to Orgreave. The three men can all recall brutal tactics from officers on picket lines.
“The man got arrested, he got done for breaking a window. After the strike ended, I remember being in a club in Sutton and I got a tap on the shoulder. Though anger at the working miners and the police is still felt strongly, the person most responsible for that hardship in the three men’s eyes was the Prime Minister. The men believe they were vilified by Thatcher for fighting for their jobs.“Thatcher said about us 'they are the enemy within and we'll scare them back to work’. That's what she said about people like us, who did a job like we did. Then she said to the men who crossed picket lines, 'we will look after them'.
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