Thank you to Seaham, Dawdon, and Vane Tempest Banner Group for organising this year’s banner parade. A celebration of our history, culture, and heritage is a great way to kick off Seaham Carnival weekend.

While the weather was temperamental and Saturday was a washout, thousands of people turned out to make the most of Seaham Carnival on Sunday.

I am honoured to have been asked to speak at the banner parade.

Seaham Carnival, Miners Banner Parade Speech

Good morning.

I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to all those gathered here today.

It is with immense pleasure and deep gratitude that I stand before you to celebrate the remarkable cultural heritage of our mining communities.

Our miners’ banners are a true embodiment of our values and traditions, as well as magnificent works of art in their own right.

The banner parade is now an integral part of the Seaham Carnival weekend and sets the stage for a weekend of fun, hopefully in the sun, with family and friends.

Such events do not happen by accident; they take meticulous planning, tireless organisation, and arduous work to bring them to fruition.

I, therefore, want to express my appreciation to Seaham Town Council and their team, particularly the dedicated grounds staff who have spent the week preparing for this occasion, and who will restore the Terrace Green to its pristine state next week.

I would like to extend my gratitude to Mayor of Seaham, Cllr Jennifer Bell, and ask that she conveys our appreciation to the entire team at Seaham Town Council for their unwavering commitment and efforts in serving our community.

I must acknowledge the invaluable contributions of Joe McVeigh and Ray Sutherland for leading today’s parade and the Seaham, Dawdon, and the Vane Tempest Banner Group.

No banner parade would be complete without music, and we are privileged to be accompanied once again by the exceptional Pittington Brass Band.

I am also delighted to share this stage with my good friend, Alan Mardghum, the Secretary of Durham Miners Association, who was pivotal in organising the magnificent Durham Miners Gala last weekend.

The Big Meeting was a resounding success, with record crowds that witnessed a showcase of history, heritage, and culture from our miners’ banners and music.

For me personally, last week held special significance. It was a tremendous honour to have been invited to read at Durham Cathedral as part of the annual service to bless new banners.

Our culture and heritage owe their resilience to the unwavering dedication of individuals like Alan, Ray, Joe, Seaham Town Council, and Durham Miners Association, and you have my eternal admiration and gratitude.

Our community was built on coal, and the banners before us serve as enduring symbols commemorating the solidarity and comradeship forged in the heat, darkness, and dangerous conditions at the coalface.

In the era of coal, our communities flourished with abundant employment, generating wages that built our town, our bustling high streets, and local businesses. A unique culture was nurtured, founded on mutual assistance, self-respect, respect for others, and the values we hold dear, immortalised on our banners.

The coal extracted from beneath our very feet, hewn from the earth by our fathers, forefathers, and by women and children, fuelled the most monumental transformation in human history.

It was the coal from our communities that powered the industrial revolution, heralding the dawn of the modern world we see today. It was the coal from Seaham, Dawdon, and the Vane Tempest that propelled our nation through two world wars, safeguarding our rights, freedoms, and democratic principles.

At Seaham High School, a memorial stands in tribute to the men who sacrificed their lives to both conflict and coal. It was the solidarity and comradeship created on the Seaham coalface that would ultimately take our men and boys over the top at Flanders Field or storm the beaches on D-day.

Communities like ours, which have contributed so greatly to our nation, deserve a debt of gratitude and honour that, regrettably, has remained unpaid in recent decades.

We often look back to the good old days with an idealised image. However, while coal brought great advantages to our community, the work itself was perilous.

In an era without welfare or workers’ rights, miners’ families were left at the mercy of individuals such as Lord Londonderry, whose monument stands behind us.

Coal mining was an industry fuelled by unyielding greed, wherein human life, for much of its history, became a mere commodity that could be bought, discarded, and destroyed with impunity in the name of profit.

It was only through collective action, through solidarity at the coalface extending to the picket lines, that we formed a Labour and Trade Union Movement, where working people were offered hope and solace.

All the rights, safeguards, protections, and freedoms we hold dear were not given to us but were hard-won from the grasp of individuals like Lord Londonderry, often at great cost and sacrifice from working men and women.

The mine owners honour themselves and their families through the erection of bronze statues, but it is our banners that celebrate the heroes of the working class who created the Trade Union Movement—individuals like Thomas Hepburn, Peter Lee, and later politicians such as Tony Benn and Nye Bevan.

Among these heroes, some may be lesser-known to the wider public—individuals like George and James Loveless, Thomas and John Standfield, James Brine, and James Hammett.

You may not recognise their names, but they have another title that resonates with all of you—the Tolpuddle Martyrs.

These six men were exiled to Australia for the mere act of forming a Trade Union. George Loveless, a Methodist preacher, penned the following verse upon receiving his sentence of deportation:

“We raise the watchword liberty; We will, we will, we will be free!”

These historic voices, unfortunately, are too often overlooked. They do not find their place in the collective history taught in our schools, which too often fixates on kings and queens or great war leaders born to privilege.

It, therefore, falls upon us to remember our history—the history of the working class—otherwise, we risk repeating the mistakes of the past.

As we gather here today to celebrate our rich mining heritage and the strength of our community, we must remember the ongoing battles that our retired miners face. It is not enough to simply reminisce about the past; we must continue fighting for fair pensions and justice for our miners.

The government continues to take billions out of the pockets of our hardworking miners and their widows through the mineworkers’ pension scheme.

This is unjust and unacceptable. We cannot stand idly by while the very people who built this country are denied the financial security they deserve in their retirement.

Furthermore, we must seek justice for the men who were wrongly and unfairly prosecuted during the 1984/85 miners’ strike. The government used every tool at their disposal to crush and criminalise our people. It is time for the truth to be revealed, for the crimes committed by the state at Orgreave and during the strike to be fully investigated. We need an inquiry and the full disclosure of all papers and materials from that time.

Some may argue that this is merely raking over history, but the circumstances and events of that time still live in the hearts, minds, and souls of those who went through that traumatic period. We owe it to them and to ourselves to finally hear the truth and bring closure to these wounds that have festered for far too long.

So, my friends, let us not forget the ongoing fights for our retired miner workers. Let us rally together and raise our voices for fair pensions, justice for the wrongly prosecuted, and the truth about the crimes committed by the state. Together, we can make a difference and secure a better future for all those who sacrificed so much for our community.

Finally, I ask you to think about life in the early days of coal mining, not knowing from one day to the next whether you will have work, turning up on Monday to find out the boss has cut your wages, being attacked and arrested for standing together and asking for a living wage to feed, clothe, and house your family.

Now, I ask you to think about your family, friends, and community. Do you know anyone working in the gig economy, on a zero-hours contract, or someone who has been fired and rehired on lower pay?

In recent years, we have seen powerful business interests profiting and price gouging, from utilities to supermarkets, banks, and petrol stations. Meanwhile, pay has been cut, failing to keep pace with inflation.

Our fundamental rights, from the right to vote and the right to strike, to the freedom to peacefully protest and demonstrate, have all been undermined.

We live in one of the richest societies this world has ever seen, but our economy is reminiscent of a bygone Victorian era, where soup kitchens are now food banks, children live in substandard insecure housing, and for too many people, work provides little more than subsistence, or for some, it does not even secure that.

There are organisations, people, political parties, and the press who will try to divide working people, to pit us against each other and the poorest in society.

They offer easy solutions to difficult problems, while never walking a day in our shoes or community.

If I may leave you with one resounding message, demonstrate your solidarity with your community, family, and friends—join a Trade Union.

Help challenge the false narratives within our society and embrace the values that shaped our community.

Only through working together, as one trade union and labour movement, can we secure the change required to ensure our country starts working again for working people.

I want to thank each and every individual who has contributed to making today’s event possible, as well as the entire community that will enjoy the carnival over the next two days. Without your support, these events we love, value, and cherish would not be possible.

Thank you again, and enjoy Seaham Carnival.