Hughie 'Zulu' Gardner, living with hardship during the Great Strike, in the Pear Tree Estate. Rugeley, Staffs
'Hanging On By Your Fingernails' The Struggle at Lea Hall Colliery, Rugeley, Staffordshire, during the Great Strike of 1984-1985 and beyond. A few hundred brave strikers supported by their wives and families held strong during the year long miners strike, opposing the shutting down of coal mines across Great Britain. The striking miners were fighting the onslaught against them, from Margaret Thatcher and the National Coal Board. This was a Minority pit, most of the twelve hundred miners went to work and crossed picket lines, whilst a minority of a few hundred held out until the bitter end, manning the picket lines against the scabs.