AP WMS 14(1) s1 f01 v1
Gerald Parker of Atherton talks to John Reid about his earliest memories. Gerald recalls the 1926 General Strike and attempts to break the picket line at Gibfield Colliery, Atherton. Recorded on the 9 October, 1981.
Audio description below:
WHAT’S YOUR EARLIEST MEMORY PLEASE?
Well I can remember starting school and one thing I do remember very vividly and I can’t remember how old I’d be but I’d be very young, was the 1926 coal strike. That would make me about six or seven wouldn’t it?
YES.
And down Wigan Road where we lived there was an attempt, a series of attempts every day to break the picket line into the local colliery at Gibb Field, which of course is no longer and they used to bring the miners in buses and one particular night just over Garby Bridge the picketers erected barricades to catch the buses on the way back from the pit and they were very successful and of course there was a bit of a punch up and what police that were there they were they inadequate and there were several injuries because they got onto this coal tip nearby and they started throwing lumps of coal and quite a lot of injuries were done and damages to houses until about 20 minutes later some re-enforcements, policemen arrived from Wigan and Manchester districts and of course the pickets were vastly outnumbered and the truncheons came out and eventually it broke up and they dispersed. That did stick in my mind because it was something that I’d never seen before and you don’t hope to see that kind of thing again.
Audio Details
| Forename | Gerald |
|---|---|
| Surname | Parker |
| Middle Name | |
| Township | Atherton |
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