John Westmoreland talked about Anne Scargill to her friend and comrade Aggie Curry concerning their roles in Women Against Pit Closures 

Aggie was at the demonstration to keep Goole Hospital open, and spoke of her role in the 1984-5 miners’ strike as well as the efforts to keep the pits open after the strike ended 

How did you come to meet Anne? 

It was by accident actually. There was a women’s meeting in my village, Armthorpe, and I accidentally dropped in. I was always willing to say my piece, but somehow, and without me wanting it, I was elected to be Armthorpe’s delegate to Women Against Pit Closures. 

We met in Sheffield once a month and that’s where I met Anne. She used to call me her loveable rogue – probably because of my run-ins with the police. 

The women’s role in keeping the strike alive is well known, working in the food kitchens and collecting, but there was more to it than that wasn’t there? 

Yes, a lot more. Anne was a good leader and organiser. She would ring us up with directions to where we were needed. Sometimes we had women’s pickets where the scabs were going in under the excuse of ‘feeding our families’. 

We would turn up to say that strikers’ kids were getting fed, and going back was hurting the families of striking miners. And trust me, the police didn’t exactly welcome us. We also went round the country speaking at union meetings and demonstrations. 

Most of us had never spoken at public meetings but Anne trusted us to do the job and we got to love it. 

How rough did the picket lines get? 

Bloody rough. I’m five feet tall and my mother was about the same. I didn’t want her coming to picket in Armthorpe, but I looked round and she was next to me. This copper kept kicking her shins. I said, ‘If you kick her again I will boot your bollocks up to your neck.’ Anyway he grabbed me and him and another one led me away. He punched me in the face and knocked one of my teeth out but he never got done for it. 

On another occasion, a scab’s wife, standing by the police, spat at me. I threatened to punch her lights out and, again, I got threatened with arrest, despite the fact that spitting at people is against the law. 

Women pickets, including Anne, got arrested because we were effective. The scabs did feel guilty. And the police were made aware that they were nothing more than Maggie Thatcher’s boot boys. 

A women’s picket at Yorkshire Main, Edlington. 

So after the strike WAPC shifted their efforts to stop the Tory pit closures. Did you work closely with Anne then? 

Absolutely. And I will say this for Anne, she had tremendous energy. Always optimistic and at the forefront of the anti-pit closure movement. It could be demoralising because some pits shut without much protest, but we went to those pits that were up for a fight. We also protested in London. 

When we went to protest outside Michael Heseltine’s office in London, we both got arrested, but they were reluctant to charge us. They thought they could intimidate us into stopping. No chance! 

We started occupying pits. The first one we occupied was Markham Main, Armthorpe: my pit. We started off occupying the control room. Then they asked if we would move to one of the offices. The office turned out better. 

We had a brazier outside and supporters brought us supplies. We did interviews with the press and became the focus of anger against the Tories. We also got great support from the lads. Andrew Butler, an Armthorpe miner, became famous as ‘the last man out’ because he refused to take redundancy. 

There was also a very big demonstration organised mainly by the NUM that marched to the camp, pushed the security aside and held a rally on the pit top. 

How should the Labour movement remember Anne? 

Simple. As a class fighter. She was the miner’s antidote to Thatcher. She was a role model for working-class women. She was much more than Arthur Scargill’s wife. She was one of those independent-minded women that the pit villages produced. She used her name to give the rest of us some inspiration. 

People like myself, and Brenda Nixon, Betty Heathfield and Anne’s best friend, Betty Cook, travelled the country and got to meet some of the best people in the movement. 

Anne was a fighter through and through. She relished a good fight. Look how happy she looks being arrested with me in London! Michael Heseltine got both barrels that day.