I went to school for a short period of time in England and learned about the coal miners strike. The strike was different than a strike here in the US. In the US the strike would be between the coal miners and a coal mining company. In the UK the strike was more political. Coal mining was nationalized and managed by the National Coal Board. In 1984 the NCB announced there would be 20 pits closed. Unbeknown to miners, the Thatcher government put a plan in place that included stock piling coal supplies. The miners went out on strike. The strike was violent and there were ten deaths. The lack of coal hit the miners very hard during the winter months since much of the country' power stations had been switched over to petroleum but not the miners homes. After one year there was a vote and the strike was ended. This was a terrible blow to the National Miners Union and a win for Thatcher's government.
The group cried at the end of the movie. If you have not seen Billy Elliott, rent it. It is a great movie.
Until tomorrow...
I recently installed a Roku thingy on the HDTV my sister and I bought for mom at Christmas. As I was looking through the streaming movies from Netflix, I happened upon Billy Elliot. I decided not to watch it, thinking Mom probably wouldn't be interested in the story of a little boy who wanted to learn to dance. But it sounds like the movie is about much more than that! We'll watch it soon.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendation, Adrienne. I hope this finds you and Brenda feeling good and enjoying a peaceful, pleasant Sunday.
Don't you just love your Roku? We have two- one upstairs and one downstairs. This way I can finish watching a movie in bed. Although originally it was for Brenda's recovery after surgery! I just love to watch movies! The group was either going to watch Little Miss Sunshine or Billy Elliott. It was a good choice. Enjoy!
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