00:00It feels great to be honest. It's been a long time in coming but I think that's just made it all the more important that we've now got the right answer. We've got a commitment from the old secretary that it's going to be done at pace, but that's not going to be done quicker and less efficient. It is going to be a proper enquiry, it is going to get to the truth, but she's conscious that 41 years has been a long time in waiting of a 10 year campaigning for it.
00:28Can I ask, on the day, did you get injured? Were you arrested or was it...?
00:34No, I was quite lucky but at 17 I was a lot fitter and a lot better, a lot quicker runner.
00:40I was one of them unlucky ones. Obviously they started pushing at front and they were pushing back and you saw truncheons coming over at top and hitting all of them at front row you're thinking this is getting a bit serious now and we've done nothing wrong.
00:57All we've done is, then obviously Shield's parted, horses come, it weren't a trot because if that's a trot for me I must be the fastest one in the world but they come and we ended up getting split up to be honest with you.
01:12Back of us there's a railway banking and we were sort of up on top here and when you looked at back here there were just nowhere to go because it were all bramble metal railway lines.
01:24So I just stood there and there were a Welsh lad at the side of me and I just put my hands up and said look, you know, fair, fair, I've done nothing wrong.
01:32I've just come up here that next thing. This person in a boiler suit, because obviously I couldn't see no numbers, he's more or less drop kicked me in the chest, knocked me over this wall, down through brambles and going down towards railway line.
01:51And that's when I'm thinking, you know, I'm in trouble here. As I manage to look up I see Welsh lad coming down face first.
01:58So obviously the dump, probably something similar to him. And as we were at bottom we were, you know, shook up and we were cooked to pieces with all brambles and nettles and that.
02:09The only way to get away from them was to cross the live railway line, go back up the other side into the village.
02:16So when we eventually got there, that's where all police and horses were randomly just battering anybody to any way.
02:23But that were orchestrated. So if you were in that village and you got arrested, then you're going to be charged with riot, unlawful assembly, which carried a life sentence, to be honest.
02:36But there were all cars parked. I can remember, yeah, there were all cars parked by on both sides.
02:42And horses, you've seen that famous photograph and you know that, well that's where that took place.
02:47And however, in my own opinion, however somebody didn't get killed that day for the mining community, I just don't know.
02:54Because some of the injuries were all head, you know, sort of skull injuries.
02:58And you're trying to help somebody that's got his head smashed in and you're thinking, is it going to be me next?
03:04And I'm all trying to give first aid. But it got to very, very scary stages.
03:10And for me to say that, I mean, I was 20 at the time, and I've seen a part of society I never want to see again,
03:19through anybody just wanting the right to work.
03:22Because that's all it was about, just the right to work now.
03:25There weren't many people knocking on doors to work underground in a coal mine.
03:29You know what I mean? It weren't the best job in the world.
03:31But that's all we wanted to do, the right to work.
03:35And even, we are getting this announcement about the inquiry.
03:40I've educated my grandchildren about what happened on the day.
03:44And if I were to die, we are teaming out.
03:47At least they'd understand and followed it through.
03:49I mean they're 17 and 11 now.
03:52And they understand what it's about.
03:54Because I've spoke to them about it.
03:57And this will be probably...
04:00I mean it's our highlight, but it's all we want is truth.
04:03That's all we want, we just want to know truth.
04:05We don't want Northlands waving, we don't want North parties.
04:08It's just tell us the truth, and we're behind it all.
04:11Which, we can't have so much more than that, can we Chris?
