Scratting my memories of biggest story I covered PAUL ROUTLEDGE

AND so to Castleford, heartland of the old Yorkshire coalfield, for an exhibition about the Great Strike for Jobs.

It doesn’t disappoint, though the journey did, the train from Leeds delayed by a landslide t’other side of Pontefract.

That’s two such events this wet spring. One at Baildon has shut the line for weeks. The earth moves for Northern Rail.

But I digress. On show in the Flour Mill by the Aire – centuries old but still grinding flour the traditional way – I find a dramatic retelling of the miners’ rebellion of 40 years ago.

It’s not very big, one room high above the river, but Backbone Of The Nation is a poignant narrative of the year-long struggle to save the industry, illustrated with artefacts from the strike and work by local artists with links to the industry. I particularly liked Harry Malkin’s painting Scratting For Coal, a portrayal of strikers digging pit heaps for tiny lumps to burn at home – and sometimes sell.

There’s a board for post-it notes of reflection from visitors, some striking a note of defiance, and you can listen to individual stories on phone scans.

I prefer real-life material, like the court documents of Ledston Luck miner Karl Curry after his arrest at the Battle of

Orgreave in June 1984. He was fined £100 and bound over to keep the peace.

My own newspaper cuttings book, which records the strike from day one to the end, is on show in a glass case.

It was the biggest story of my life, just as it was the biggest event in theirs.

As I left, the organisers were preparing a place for an NUM banner from Wheldale colliery, where my grandfather Jack was a winder. Plus ca change.

■ Catch it before it closes on March 31.