Our region was once at the heart of the North East coalmining industry, playing a huge role in powering the industrial revolution.
March 2025 also marks 40 years since the end of the mid-1980s miners’ strike.
Media lecturer and filmmaker Dr Ben Lamb and Graham Relton, of Yorkshire and North East Film Archive, share in this guest blog their involvement in the creation of a new production which shines a light on our area’s rich mining heritage.
Four decades on from one of the longest industrial disputes of the 20th century – the miners’ strike – it’s an important time to reflect on the rich history of mining in the UK, how it has affected the people, places, and identity of those that were involved.
Through his role at Teesside University, Ben successfully applied for Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Impact Accelerator Account funding. This enabled him to commission In the Veins, a co-production with the Yorkshire and North East Film Archive. A short film that resonates through time, using over a century of archive footage to shine a light onto the face of the mining heritage of Yorkshire and the North East of England
For centuries, men toiled in the bowels of the earth to build a nation, creating prosperity and improved standards of living, before experiencing the gut-wrenching end to livelihoods, a cost to people and their communities that is still having an impact across the generations.
A story of hardship and hope, division and defiance, perseverance and pride; the film is not a history lesson, it’s an emotional journey that digs deep into the heart of a community built on coal.
With support from Teesside University’s AHRC Impact Acceleration Account, and Film Hub North, the powerful 24-minute film has already been screened across the North of England, with a series of special screenings which packed audiences across the region in recent weeks. In the Veins can also be watched online.
It was first screened at the Women X Festival in Darlington in September 2024, before going on to be screened in Hartlepool, Washington, Stockton, Middlesbrough, Leeds, Wakefield, Sheffield, Doncaster and Quaking Houses, many former mining villages and towns.
From toddlers to grandparents, over 650 people enjoyed the film in the rebuilt Grand Cinema at the Beamish Museum, lively debates were had at the Coal Mining Museum and the York Golden Rail Band accompanied the film in York, performing iconic music from the beloved film Brassed Off.
In the Veins has been selected for film festivals, including Activists Without Borders, North East International, Manchester Lift-off and Sunderland Short Film Festival.
We’ve seen the whole gamut of emotional responses: anger, sadness, a questioning of the past – but the power of the collective, community, and sense of identity has shone through the dark times.
“…it was fascinating and although sad, very uplifting!” said a Beamish Museum audience member.
“It was history come to life” said a Women X Film Festival audience member.
Telling the story of the coal industry, but importantly the human experience, through only archive footage and found voices in the vaults of the Yorkshire and North East Film Archive was a massive undertaking.
We recruited a diverse volunteer ‘Community Curator’ group, who helped us shape the production. The 13-strong group have lived and worked in mining communities, at the coalface, in the community. They were invaluable; they provided emotional responses, factual advice, and ideas for how the film could connect with audiences and their communities in a meaningful and authentic way.
Ben said: “We hope online audiences will be equally empowered and even enraged by the stories portrayed within the In the Veins short film carefully crafted by film maker Andy Burns.”
Graham Relton, Co-Director at the Yorkshire and North East Film Archive and producer of the film, added: “From villages, towns and communities that grew from the industry, the bonds and friendships fostered, to the formation of activist groups such as ‘Women Against Pit Closures’, In the Veins celebrates the success, commiserates the demise and is a timely reminder about the need for a ‘just transition’ from fossil fuels to cleaner energy.”
Thousands of people have seen the film in person, and since being made available online, In the Veins has had over 20,000 online views.
Ben and the team are also looking for more community champions to host future screenings of the film. He can be contacted on b.lamb@tees.ac.uk.
All images provided by Yorkshire and North East Film Archive.