Hello all,

Righto, i've decided to speak/sing at a conference in Leeds next year - called 'Digging the Seam: Cultural Reflections and the Consequences of the 1984/5 Miners' Strike' as part of my PhD and am looking at songs written by people in the folk scene to comment on / support the miners' strike. Going to write one of my own too - as a sort of 25 years on thing...

Any suggestions of songs to listen to would be much appreciated. At the moment i'm having fun collating a kind of imaginary Smithsonian compilation of songs from/about the strike! I have a few, but am sure i am missing plenty... It'd be great to hear any recollections of the sorts of songs sung relating to the strike in folk clubs. Do people remember an increase in the old mining songs in the 80s generally? Does anyone know of any recordings of songs sung on the picket lines too?

I was reading some of the old threads on here and saw that Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger had recorded a cassette called 'Daddy what did you do in the strike?' but this seems to be totally unavailable to buy now (have checked ebay, amazon and itunes - any other places i should try?) It would be great to hear this album since so many of the songs seem perfect for this project - does anyone have a copy of it anywhere that i could take a copy of? I would be incredibly grateful and would of course, make it worth your while (ale/wine of your choice! or the postage costs, whatever!)

Thanks,
Lucy x