Poet moved by support at Orgreave rally

Shaun Garratty, of Wickersley, who penned a poem about the 1984 conflict between picketing miners and police officers, was not expecting to have the chance to perform the poem at the rally.

But he said he had received recongition and respect after reading his poem about the conflict.

Shaun said: “Years ago, I helped to dish out food parcels to striking miners and their families.

“I was working for Manor Community Transport in Sheffield and we went round local supermarkets and local wholesale markets to get fruit and veg and other food.

“We went round most of the coalfields in the Yorkshire and north Nottinghamshire area on two minibuses.

“We went day after day distributing food packages and often went to the Miners’ Welfare Centre in Thurcroft.

“There were people scrambling to get a bite of food — they were almost fighting to get food parcels because they had nothing at all.”

Shaun later set up a talent agency, Starlites, which supplied extras for a recreation of the Battle of Orgreave which was screened on Channel Four.

“I noticed the anniversary was coming up again and it stayed in the back of my mind,” he said.

“I wrote about Orgreave, thinking about the anniversary coming up, and I got in touch with someone involved in the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign.

“I said I had written this poem and I showed it to them.”

Shaun suggested to the organisers that they could publish the poem on their campaign website.

He attended this year’s rally on June 18, where there were several guest speakers.

“They marched through the village of Orgreave to the field where the battle took place,” said Shaun.

“The next thing I knew, my daughter said they wanted me to read the poem.

“It got a very good reception and afterwards quite a lot of people came up to me, thanked me and said it was really meaningful and that it was a really good poem.

“I met a couple of guys who were there at the picketline and they said it was brilliant.

“It got me quite a bit of recognition and respect.”

Shaun said he supported the campaign for an inquiry into the Battle of Orgreave.

“There ought to be an inquiry so they can get to the bottom of it,” he said.

“I know these things are expensive but there were a lot of people who fought for what they believed in and ended up with criminal records.”

The Battle of Orgreave by Shaun Garratty

On the eighteenth of June eighty four

There was a fight 

That almost turned into war

Several hundreds of men

Had gathered and then

Several hundred police

Turned up to confront them

They were fighting for work

For coal and not dole

But their fate it was sealed

They were fighting for sod all 

But little did they know 

As they stood on that day

That their management had lied

And had cast them away

The government had made 

A deal that was sealed

There was no point at all 

For that day in that field

In the village of Orgreave

They stood up for their rights

They didn't turn up

 For a war, or a fight

They were men who just wanted

To save all their jobs

But were treated like trash

And were labelled as yobs

They were treated with torment

Abuse and neglect

By the ones who were paid 

To serve and protect

They charged, and they charged

Into innocent men   

With their batons and shields

Again and again

Until the field once covered

 In grass and in mud

Became a field that was covered 

In tears and in blood    

Many years have gone by             

But I've never forgot

How those brave men they fought 

For all that they'd got

Just a moment ago

I looked back and cried 

At that long bloody year

When an industry died