The infamous Battle of Saltley Gate in Birmingham is being turned into a “working-class musical” – starring former miners and car workers from the 1970s.
Handsworth-based performing group Banner Theatre are staging Close the Gates on June 22 at South Birmingham College in the wake of this year’s acclaimed anniversary event in Birmingham in February.
The midsummer show will centre around a musical documentary of the historic events of February 10, 1972, when a human blockade by 15,000 marchers ensured the closure of the last remaining fuel depot still open in the UK, forcing the Government to cave in and award striking miners a 21 per cent pay rise.
The historic victory, which was to eventually bring down Prime Minister Ted Heath’s Conservative government, was led by NUM leader Arthur Scargill, who has now also been invited to the June re-enactment in Birmingham.
Dave Rogers, artistic co-ordinator and performer with the Banner Theatre, said: “This will be a singing, dancing show, a musical documentary, and we will be interviewing former miners and car workers who were there at Saltley.
“We did the first show on Saltley in 1974 and also one in 1992 and this will be a 40-years-on show. We are hoping to get Arthur Scargill here on the day.
“If there is anybody who was at Saltley in 1972 interested in being interviewed, we would be keen to hear from them. We are particularly interested in hearing from women from the SU Carburettors plant – there were many there on the day.
“We will be comparing parallels from the early 1970s with today’s economic crisis and workers’ pay restraint – we are going through a similar period of austerity now.”
The musical documentary will be followed on June 23 by a day of speeches and workshops organised by Birmingham Trades Council and themed around the events of Saltley, with invitations to Arthur Scargill, former union activist turned actor Ricky Tomlinson, and ex-dockers, builders and engineers.
The Battle of Saltley Gate
February 10, 1972, saw 30,000 Birmingham engineers walk out in support of the national miners’ strike, the coal industry’s first nationwide action since the General Strike of 1926.
The Battle of Saltley Gate proved the turning point in the miners’ conflict and was the catalyst for an eventual 21 per cent pay award which smashed the Government’s pay restraint policy.
Up to 15,000 of the engineers who downed tools marched to back 2,000 miners who were picketing Saltley, the last remaining open fuel depot.
The blockade forced police, who had battled for days to keep the depot open, to surrender and close the gates.
The prime minister of the day, Ted Heath, eventually declared a state of emergency when West Midlands car delivery workers came out in sympathy.
But the PM found himself fighting a losing battle which eventually saw him ousted from Downing Street.
