Banners and Beyond

Pro-strike rally organised by National NUM, Mansfield, May 1984. One of the invited
guests was the Labour MP for Bolsover, Dennis Skinner. Source: Mansfield Chad.
Less public, but equally significant, mining banners are still paraded at the
funerals and memorial services of former coal miners and mining union
officials, often to musical accompaniment in the form of the miners’ hymn
‘Gresford’ or Rita McNeil’s ‘A Working Man’.
In 2013, ‘A History of Coal Mining in 10 Objects’ - a community outreach
project produced by co-authors Fillingham and Amos in association with
Dr Sarah Badcock from the Department of History at the University of
Nottingham, included the union banner among the ten most iconic artefacts
associated with mining culture. The efforts of the research team led to the
formation of the Nottinghamshire Miners Banners Trust which included
representatives from both the NUM and UDM. The organisation’s stated
objective was to collect and preserve Nottinghamshire’s mining banners for
future generations, and where possible, return them to appropriate venues
within former mining communities.
Today, Notts’ mining banners can be seen in a variety of public settings.
These include the administrative offices of surviving mining trade unions
and industry associations, local heritage centres, museums, and places of
worship.
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