Miners’ Weekend School

Open Every Saturday, 12 – 4 pm until 31 October 2025

22 Bridge Street, Berwick-upon-Tweed, TD15 1AQ

Opening Event: 4 – 6 pm, Saturday 30 August 2025

Miners’ Weekend School

Amber Films’ Current Affairs Unit

UK, 1984

The Burr of Berwick Film Library presents Miners’ Weekend School (1984), a six-part documentary produced by Amber Films’ Current Affairs Unit during the 1984–85 Miners’ Strike.

Filmed in Ashington, the tapes document a grassroots weekend of political education, where miners and activists gathered to strategise, organise, and support one another. Topics include police tactics, legal rights, media bias, support groups, and union coordination—issues that remain urgent today.

This exhibition marks the 40th anniversary of the strike and invites reflection on mutual aid, working-class self-education, and the role of grassroots organising in resisting anti-strike legislation.

Part of Amber’s radical legacy in British cinema, footage from the Miners’ Weekend School also featured in News from Durham (1984) and led to Can’t Beat It Alone (1985).