Well, the long weeks of waiting and agonising are now over. The strike is now on, March 12, a day to remember.

How long will it last? Weeks, months, surely no longer.

Now comes all the form-filling and queuing at the social security offices, they are sorry but £30 is plenty to keep a family of four on for a week.

The weeks now begin to drag on, with bitterness and resentment growing all the time. Anger at the miners' leaders, also at the government.

People are now beginning to get collections organised into support groups. Food and clothing points are arranged.

Support from the public is tremendous. The door-to-door collections, shop and factory donations, all come in along with the gratitude also comes the feeling of degradation of having to rely on these parcels each week, leave a very mixed and indescribable feeling inside yourself.

Meanwhile the picket lines, which started out quite peaceable, are now becoming more and more violent.

Clashes with the police are more of an everyday occurrence. Men sat around brazier fires, trying to keep warm and cheerful one minute, are suddenly thrown into rages of violent outbursts.

The summer holidays come and go and everyone is sure it will all be over by Christmas.

Savings are now gone and the bills keep arriving. How will we manage?

Soon you learn to say "never mind the bills, they will sort themselves out," but at the back of your mind is the worry of it all.

Talks go on and hopes are built up but are dropped once again. Eventually you do not even have hope.

With Christmas and winter coming more worry arises.

There is no money and no coal, you tell the children there will not be much this year and money is short, they seem to understand.

Will it never end, who would have thought it would last for so long? Nine months and still there seems no end.

Then it starts. Men drifting back to work.

The picket lines now becoming far more violent, the hatred is incredible. Shouts of "scab" are heard.

Communities are being split up, men who had worked together for nearly a lifetime as friends were now bitter enemies.

Families also were split, with brother against brother and father against son. This anger and hatred is now to last a lifetime.

Winter moves in quicly now and the days are filled with the treks up and down the mountain for logs for the fire. No sooner are they fetched in than they are burnt. There is never enough.

Among all the hatred and violence come Christmas. Gifts start arriving from as far away as France.

We are to learn the true meaning of Christmas. The public is more generous than ever.

Extra parcels of food arrive, along with gifts of toys and books for the children. We will survive it after all.

There may not be so much materially as other years but the spirit and goodwill is there. We shall not forget this Christmas, ever!

New hope and new despair come with the new year. Still scabs go back and although the feeling of hatred is there, secretly many others wish they had the nerve to go in with them.

Is it right? Is it going to end?

New talks are going on. Surely the end is close. Yes, it is. It's over.

More than a twelve-month and for what? Who will be the real winners in the end, miners or government?

The men can now go back to work after a twelve-month but what about the hatred of the scabs. Will that ever heal?

Will they be accepted again by workmates or the community? The answer is NO.

Anon