Skip to main content
The Morning Star 2026 Conference
Miners’ heroine Anne Scargill dies aged 83
HEATHER WOOD pays tribute to a champion of working-class women and a fierce voice of solidarity
Anne Scargill (with parcel), with Betty Heathfield (centre), and miners supporters outside Buckingham Palace, August 11, 1984

I FIND this difficult to write because like many I thought that somehow Anne Scargill would be with us forever — but she’s gone and we must never forget what she did, never forget how inspirational she was.

Anne’s name is well known throughout the coalfields, her face is instantly recognised. Her smile instantly lifted the spirits of many a woman and man. She was a friend, a comrade and a sister who will be remembered forever.

Anne Scargill is a name that deserves to be spoken with the same reverence we give to giants of the working-class struggle.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
 TJC march on June 14, 2025 / Pic: Neil Terry Photography
Durham Miners’ Gala 2025 / 12 July 2025
12 July 2025

The Home Secretary’s recent letter suggests the Labour government may finally deliver on its nine-year manifesto commitment, writes KATE FLANNERY, but we must move quickly: as recently as 2024 Northumbria police destroyed miners’ strike documents

miners
Books / 2 May 2025
2 May 2025

STEVEN ANDREW is moved beyond words by a historical account of mining in Britain made from the words of the miners themselves

SOLIDARITY: Miners’ wives and their supporters arrive in L
Features / 22 March 2025
22 March 2025
In the second extract from her new memoir, former NUM headquarters staffer HILARY CAVE recounts the bitter struggle to provide sustenance for strikers’ families, and the invidious role of David Willetts – now in the House of Lords