124.Friday November30th, 1984.

Got a lift down to Brighton with Debbie and Sue, band girlfriends, to see the Redskins perform again. They were shit hot, really tight, and the brass section were blasting out all the songs I’m growing to love,’Keep On Keepin’ On’, ‘Go Get Organised’, ‘Take No Heroes’, ‘16 Tons’. Great stuff! Martin called for me to go up on stage and I was bloody blushing because the packed crowd were chanting, ‘We want Norman Strike, we want Norman Strike’. I felt like a pop star myself! I made a speech and got a tremendous round of applause. Wish I could do this every night, especially the free food and booze in the dressing room afterwards. Early hours car ride back to London, flying!

123. Wednesday November 28th, 1984.

Adrian, the Redskins manager, ‘hired’ me as a ‘roadie’ for their gig in Hammersmith Town Hall but it was really a gesture of solidarity because there was no work for me to do. A man has to live.

It was a brilliant gig and the band were on top form in front of 1200 fans. I was really embarrassed, and chuffed, by the number of people who recognised me from ‘The Tube’ but it did give me the chance to have some good discussions, and my collection bucket was really full. The Three Johns were the support band and I really loved their set. Jon Langford is a brilliant guitarist and the guy on vocals is manic. Excellent. I got the chance to speak in front of my biggest audience yet and got a fantastic reception. Good for the ego.

After the gig I collected with some Kent miners and when we counted it up we found we had £210, which was brilliant. Chris told us there were some striking miners from Notts who were worse off than us so I halved my share with them because the Kent miners refused point blank to give them anything! They disgusted me to be honest because there are fewer miners in Kent than at Westoe alone, and they have really milked the support from London. So much for solidarity!

122. Friday November 23rd, 1984.

I heard from my solicitor in Newcastle this morning that my trial in Edinburgh has been set for February 7th, no bail conditions. Civilised people, the Scots. Me mam always calls them Scotchies.

Gary rang and told me only 7 scabs have gone into Westoe this morning because they’d been visited and shown the error of their ways! Good! Mind you, the NCB have offered another bribe of £175 plus back pay to any miner who returns to work before next Friday. The bastards are getting really desperate now, but their 30 pieces of silver will only succeed with a tiny minority.

The majority of us will treat it with the contempt it deserves, especially as it comes straight after the tories deducting a further £1 from the pittance a miner’s family is supposed to live on, about £14 a week, all normal bills expected to be paid. Debt! Single miners get nothing, not even picket pay for me just now, a charity case living off handouts from supporters.

I met some ambulance drivers in Kenton and was given £20 in cash, and the promise of regular sums to be sent to the kitchen. If all this money from London is written down on the sheet at Westoe it should really give them heart to see the range of their support.

I can speak to Jen and Sasha on the phone, but Kath refuses to speak to me. Bloody hell! I just don’t think I deserve this.