Jean Gittins lived in Kippax in West Yorkshire.  She was 48 at the time of the 1984/5 miners strike and active in a miners support group and in Women Against Pit Closures.  Her two youngest sons worked at the nearby Ledston Luck Colliery.

 

‘Striking Stuff’, her collection of poems written at the time of the strike was initially a fundraising exercise when the miners' funds were sequestrated.  She often read her poems at fund-raising events and socials at the time of the strike, helping to raise awareness as well as money.

 

In 2010, to mark the 25 years since the strike, Frances wrote the Miners’ Trilogy based on poems included in the ‘Striking Stuff’ collection.  She was inspired by the realisation that although a historic event for those who lived through it, anyone under the age of 40 probably knew little or nothing about it.

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