'We are strong': Rally held in Durham celebrating contributions of women during miners' strike

• Video report by Katie Cole.

A rally to celebrate the contribution women made during the miners' strike 40 years ago has taken place in Durham.

The event attracted people from all around the world and organisers say they hope it inspires the next generation of women to make their voices heard.

Its organised by the Women Against Pit Closures group.

Organiser, Yvonne Hartman, said the aim of the event was to commemorate the work that the women did.

She added: "They fed all communities, we celebrate that achievement and that power that it gave to the women outside of their homes.

"County Durham women and miner's wives have always been quite opinionated and strong, but in their homes.

"Now [during the strikes] they became opinionated everywhere.”

During the miners' strike of the 1980s women went on the picket lines, set up soup kitchens and made sure no child went without at Christmas .

Some of the women who attended the march on Saturday 2 March said:

“Well the strike might have happened without the women, but it wouldn’t have continued in the way that it did and it wouldn’t have been so powerful.”

“My memories of it is just the community and how everyone came together.”

"We were wives, mothers and we had to face the next morning and not knowing when the strike was going to end. That was hard but we stuck it out.”

During the strike women from across the world sent food packages and clothes to hard up families in the North East.

Some of those women attended the march on Saturday, travelling from the Netherlands and Germany.

They said: “We came for solidarity with the pit wives movement."

“We think it’s very good that the women are still commemorating but also celebrating and inspiring.”

All the women at the march in Durham on Saturday said the event was not only about celebrating the work of women during the strikes but also inspiring the next generation.

One participant said: “Women are empowered, we're no longer the little wife at the cooker or the kitchen sink we are women, we are strong.”

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