MINER'S wife Yvonne Woodhead was a stay-at-home mum until the strike when she found herself on the picket line and addressing eminent Cambridge University lecturers.

When the money stopped, Mrs Woodhead joined a support group in Blidworth, where husband John was a striking pit worker.

The women were novices but they were shown how to go about their fight by Ida Hackett, chairman of Notts Women Against Pit Closures.

Mrs Woodhead, whose sons were eight, nine and 16 at the time, said: "It was portrayed that Notts was not on strike and we had to get out there and tell them we were."

The Woodheads had to get through the winter with no heating and the boys soon realised that expensive trainers and designer gear were out of the question.

Mrs Woodhead, 58, said: "It took out the 'I want' from my family. They knew we hadn't got the money.

"You just got on with it. We had all these people doing a lot for us and what right did we have to moan about it?" One of her worst memories stems from police officers insisting on accompanying her to her father's home opposite the pit on the day of her mother's funeral.

"There were flowers on the lawn and they marched me to the door and asked my dad if there was a funeral. That is the only time I have heard my dad swear," she said.

The strike politicised Mrs Woodhead, who joined the Labour Party when it began.

When it ended she returned to college and worked her way up from a parish councillor to county councillor for Blidworth and Rainworth.

"I used to believe everything I saw on the TV news and when I was watching during the strike I thought 'that's not right'.

"I started asking questions and that's when politics came into it."