Today we attended a march and rally in Newcastle but it was very disappointing because Paul Foot missed a golden oppertunity to support us.

We left the Armstrong Hall in two double decker buses provided by the TGWU and they were both full, not only with pickets but also the Womens Support Group and children. We assembled at Newcastle Civic Centre and the weather was gorgeous, hot and sunny, and a large crowd was expected. There were Lodge banners from every pit in the North East plus lots of other banners from unions and political organisations. There were also hundreds of new SWP placards with the slogan,’Turn Orgreave into Saltley’ on one side, and ‘Victory to the Miners’ on the other. I was angry to see people ripping off the ‘Socialist Worker’ bit off the top of the placards. Why do these people have to be so childish?

The march was headed by the usual bunch of union bureaucrats and Labour MP’s, followed by the Lodges then the rest behind us. The march was important because it showed the strength of our support to the ordinary people of Newcastle but I was disappointed that at least a one day strike in support hadn’t been called. As we waited for the march to set off I talked to a Northumberland miner about the need to picket Orgreave and steelworks. He surprised me by saying that we shouldn’t picket steelworks because we have no right to put the steelworkers jobs at risk. I explained that the steelworkers had more chance of saving their jobs by supporting us because if we lost it is more than likely that the Tories will close at least one of the steelworks. I also pointed out that we should picket Orgreave because British Steel had reneged on a deal to support the NUM, and if we allowed them to get away with it the Tories would start to move coal stocks from pit yards because they’d be confident. The lad seemed to agree with me and bought a copy of Socialist Worker and promised to argue the same with his mates on the picket line on Monday. This proves that arguments can be won if we take the trouble to have them.

The march set off and we got a great reception from the crowds as the lasses from the Womens Support Group collected with buckets. I was a bit disappointed with the turn out, which was about 10 – 15,000, because we should have attracted at least double that. Gary suggested we should help out with the collecting because the lasses were struggling in the heat.

We entered Leazes Park on the Town Moor and looked for a place to sit. We were knackered and sat down gratefully. One of the pickets came over and told us he’d heard Tommy Wilson and his group were going to beat up anyone selling Socialist Worker. Just then Tommy turned up with one of his lads and asked to have a word with Gary. Gary stood up warily and they moved away a few feet. I heard Wilson threaten to break Gary’s legs for,’Getting that commie bastard gonk Strike off the hook’. Wilson stormed off and Gary returned looking shaken, and who could blame him because Tommy is a real hardcase.We immediately gathered some pickets together and told them what had happened, prepared for a fight if we had to but dreading the prospect. Fortunately nothing happened and we were very relieved when Paul Foot was announced from the stage.

He received a fantastic reception from the crowd, especially the miners because of his revelations about Thatcher and the railworkers. He spoke very well, calling for mass picketing at Orgreave and steelworks. He attacked Kinnock for sitting on the fence and the NUM for having no centralised organisation of picketing. The only thing he didn’t say was that he himself was a member of the SWP and that would have helped pickets like Gary and myself from being abused for selling the paper and being in the party. Like I said, he let us down but he still got a deserved tremendous ovation for his speech.

Mick McGahey followed but was piss poor in comparison and seemed content to mouth slogans like,’No surrender’. Is that why he did a deal with Ravenscraig? he’s living on his past record as a militant but he’s now about as militant as Len Murray!

I did have the opportunity to voice my criticism to Paul Foot himself in the pub afterwards but I didn’t. I wish I had!

Tragically another picket was killed outside Ferrybridge power station and that puts all the other events of today firmly into second place. We can’t give in now because two lads have lost their lives. Nothing is more important in comparison to a life lost.

For some strange reason today was designated May Day in Newcastle and a march and rally had been organised to mark the event. The SWP were out in force selling Socialist Worker and handing out hundreds of ‘Victory to the Miners’ placards, especially to the miners present though a lot of them ripped off the SWP logo at the top which I found petty and ungrateful. I had brought along a plastic bucket covered in ‘Coal Not Dole’ stickers to collect for the Westoe Miners Wives Support Group. Ian Wilburn had brought up a van full of women to collect as well, and to attend the rally.

As we stood talking we were approached by a Northumberland NUM official who asked me what I intended doing with the bucket. His tone gave me a few ideas but I contented myself with telling him the truth. To my amazement he said I was not allowed to collect on behalf of the miners. Here we go again I thought. I told him I was a striking miner and he demanded to know where I was from. I could have shown him my letter of authorisation from the Lodge but his belligerent tone really got my back up so I told him to mind his own business, and anyway, how did I know HE was a miner? This plainly shocked him because like a lot of union officials they have an inflated sense of their own importance. He told me who he was in an offended tone whilst a group of tough looking Northumberland miners gathered around him. A very angry exchange of words took place, culminating in him threatening to have me arrested if I made any attempt to collect. That did shock me and I asked him why he was so against me collecting. He said, ‘The Northumberland miners do not go begging or accept charity’. I pointed out that I was not one of his men and that it wasn’t begging but asking fellow workers to support us in our fight. I added that he’d better get used to it because it could be a long strike and we would need all the help we could get if we were to beat Thatcher and her boot boys. He just repeated his threat and said he had been fighting for his members since before I was born and there was nothing I could tell him about strikes. With that him and his henchmen stormed off to take their places at the front of the march. Anne Kendrick said he might be able to have me arrested but he wouldn’t dare do it to them so they decided to do the collecting.

We marched proudly through the streets of Newcastle cheered on by the shoppers. The rally was held in Leazes Park and we arrived there in brilliant sunshine and found a place to sit and listen to the speeches and to count the money the lasses had collected.

The speeches were full of the usual rhetoric from a poor selection of speakers, and it was only when Denis Murphy, the President of the Northumberland miners, got up to speak did I pay any attention. First of all he claimed that Thomas Hepburn was a Northumberland miner when in fact he was a Durham miner and founded one of the first ever unions in 1832. Then he claimed his men were the best in the coalfields and had been solidly behind the strike since day one. Wrong again because we had to picket the buggers out at Ellington. I don’t mean to sound petty but facts are facts.

The biggest shock came when Tom Sawyer of NUPE came onto the platform and presented Murphy with a cheque for £20,000! For a union who ‘doesn’t accept charity’ this struck me as the height of hypocrisy and I couldn’t restrain myself any longer. I rushed to the front of the platform and shouted, ‘I thought the Northumberland miners didn’t accept charity?’ Anne Kendrick joined in the attack, much to the concern of some officials who came running over to us and begged us to stop in the name of solidarity. We shut up and returned to our group because we’d made our point. However, I was still furious at the hypocrisy of that bloody official threatening to have me arrested for collecting coins whilst they eagerly accepted a cheque for twenty grand! bastards!

As the speeches ended we began to leave but a furious woman started shouting at me, accusing me of trying to use the women for my own political ends! When I learned she was Geoff Price’s wife the attack made more sense but was still laughable. Militant indeed.

Before I left the park I saw a stand run by the Newcastle Gay and Lesbian Group that made tin badges to order with a little machine they had. They offered to make me badges for a cut price 10p each if I would sign a petition supporting them. I would have signed it anyway but had 20 badges made that said,’Westoe Miners – Zulu Pickets’. I intend selling them for 20p each, with the profit going into the ‘pie fund’. They told me they’ll make more at the same price but I’ll see how these go first.

I made my way down to Jarrow where Neil Kinnock was unveiling a plaque on the Metro station to commemorate the famous Jarrow Marchers. When I arrived I met up with comrades from the SWP and we watched Kinnock pose for pictures with three old men who were amongst the last survivors of the march before making a short speech and unveiling the plaque. He then set off with his entourage to march through Jarrow to a community centre where he was due to speak. We were disgusted to see one of the old men was left standing on the platform, alone, with no one taking any notice of him, poor sod, so a couple of comrades went to get him a taxi whilst we ran to carch up with the march. The old man had served his purpose and then been abandoned. So much for socialism eh?

We caught up and positioned ourselves right behind Kinnock and the other so called dignitaries, proudly carrying our ‘Victory to the Miners’ placards. I have quite a loud voice, some would call it a big mouth, and I used it to good effect, shouting at Kinnock to get off the fence and support the miners, repeating it until he disappeared inside the sanctuary of the community centre. Our Lodge banner and officials were directly behind and the look on their faces told me exactly what they felt about my performance. Still, I expect they got their chance to suck up to Kinnock inside whilst I went home to sleep soundly in my bed.

Even people who know the park well today may not realise how old it really is or its origins. Leazes Park was probably the very first purpose-built ‘people’s park’ in the region. It took many years of negotiations and arguments about the design and purpose of the proposed new park, before it was finally completed and opened in 1873.  First choice to design the new ‘municipal’ park was John Hancock, the celebrated naturalist, whose early collections formed the basis for the exhibits in the Hancock Museum (currently undergoing an exciting redevelopment programme). However, his ideas for a formal park were felt to be more suited to the stately homes of the gentry than the working people of Newcastle.

 A less geometric arrangement was proposed by John Laing, the newly-retired Steward to Lord Armstrong, whose contributions to improvements in the City of Newcastle are remembered in the name of our celebrated ‘Laing Art Gallery’.

 Laing’s design is roughly what we see today, though there have been extensions and alterations to the peripheral regions. However, the lake has always been the central focus of our park and gives it its unique character. In the 1800s the weather was much colder than it is today and ice skating was an annual feature of the winter landscape. Yes, we must thank Charles F. Hammond – councillor, alderman, Member of Parliament and knight – for his vision and perseverance, for it took a whole ten years in the planning of the park and many would have given up the dream long before it came to fruition.

After getting frustrated with my complete lack of self control when it comes to chocolate and biscuits, I decided to start jogging a few months ago. This is a miraculous feat considering I once ran across the street before collapsing and crawling home for a nap. For once in my life I’m motivated to take myself out for some exercise. I’m loving the fresh air and freedom to run all over Newcastle – from Leazes Park to Exhibition Park, across the Town Moor, or to Ouseburn and up into Jesmond Dene. Obviously I’m not running the whole way – there’s a fair bit of walking in there too, but I’m working on it.

The Green Festival took place in Leazes Park over the weekend. I took a little look around on Saturday, it was all very family friendly with market stalls selling handmade, hand woven, hand stitched, generally all-round hands on clothing, jewellery and accessories. Food stalls were organic, locally sourced, dolphin friendly, non GM modified, no air miles and freshly picked or ground 5 minutes before sale. There were tents and stalls dedicated to people fighting causes internationally, all doing their part to save the world (and making me feel guilty as I skulked past without signing any of the numerous petitions). If I’d wanted to ease my karma from the stresses of this guilt there was a ‘healing area’ complete with yoga mats…

“if it involved sun salutations or downward dogging, it was an available activity throughout the day”

Here’s something a little unusual for a Sunday Evening.

Enchanted Parks has been taking place in Gateshead’s Saltwell Park and Leazes Park in Newcastle.

In short it’s a kind of haunting.  The parks, which seem more than a little spooky at night, are made all the more strange with the addition of sounds, lights, costumes and performers.

In Saltwell Park we were treated to bandstand waltzes, war time memories, ghostly beyond-the grave miners and a load of stuff that went whoosh..right over my head.

Was it any good?  Yes and no.  With the organisers requesting we got tickets first and being marched around the site it didn’t really live up to the preparation nor anticipation.

Before we knew it we were back in the car headed home.

But there is the nucleus of a tremendous idea in there.  Next year?  More, more, more.  More ghostliness, more music, more lights, more people, more drama.

I don’t to be stewarded around.  Let me wander.  Let me get spooked.  Let me discover details for myself. I want people to tap me on the shoulder and make me jump.  I want some of it to be uplifting too – a perhaps dash of Christmas. I want choirs.

All in all though, a fabulous concept.  I hope it’s back next year.  This is definitely something to build on.

Update: Found pics of the other Enchanted Park in Newcastle.  Taken by Allison Wonderland.  The shots below are mine.