Catching up with the girl caught up in the strike

Mar 7 2009 by Sara Nichol, The Journal

AT THE age six she was unaware of the enormity of what was happening around her.

Holding a poignant sign saying “save my dad’s pit”, young Sandra Sheridan remembers the day she joined a protest march during the miners’ strike 25 years ago.

On Tuesday, The Journal printed a picture of Sandra and asked anyone who recognised her to get in touch. We were contacted by her sister Jillian Morgan who still lives in her family’s home town of Blyth.

And it emerged yesterday another picture of her during the dispute was published in a German newspaper.

Daughter of Bates Pit miner Albert Morgan, Sandra, now 29 and living with her husband and eight-year-old daughter Shannon in Scotland, said she remembers walking the streets for ages and not really understanding why her father was out of work.

Sandra, who lived in Queens Gardens, Blyth, when her dad was working at Bates, said: “I was too young to really know what as properly going on.

“I remember all the families in our community being out on the march because we were obviously all in the same boat. A photographer had seen me and because I was so young I got pulled to the front of the crowd to have my picture taken.”

The biggest impact of the miners’ strike for Sandra was having to move house because her dad took early retirement when the pit closed and could not afford to keep up the mortgage.

The family, which included her mum Ann, dad Albert, sister Jillian and brother Barry, were forced to move to a council house in Temple Avenue.

Sandra said: “We struggled by for a while with my dad out of work. But eventually we had to move. My sister, brother and I weren’t really affected because we just liked having dad at home so much.

“I have a little girl now and it’s weird how much she looks like me in that photo. Another one was actually taken at a similar time when I was sat in Blyth Welfare Hall having dinner – that ended up in a German paper.”

Albert Morgan died in 1998 aged 62. Now Sandra is keen for anyone who remembers him from the miners’ strike or from anyone who knew him and could tell me any funny stories about him.

Anyone wishing to get in touch with. Sandra should email her at sandra21111979@hotmail.com.