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Ex-miner lights cathedral Christmas tree

John Attle Jackie McCowliff hanging the miner's safety lamp on the tree. He has white hair and is standing next to another man, Sally Lockey who has long brown hair and the Reverend Canon.John Attle
Durham Cathedral's 17ft Norwegian Spruce was lit by former miner Jackie McCowliff

A former miner lit a cathedral's Christmas tree to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1984 strike.

Durham Cathedral's 17ft (5m) tree was illuminated by Jackie McCowliff during the annual Lighting of the Tree and Blessing of the Crib.

He hung a miner's safety lamp on the tree, assisted by Sally Lockey, 16, from the Durham Miners' Association Band.

The Reverend Canon Michael Hampel, Precentor at the cathedral, said the anniversary allowed people to remember "the hurt of the past and the need to believe that the light of hope comes into our lives even at the darkest times".

The miners' strike of 1984-85 was the biggest industrial dispute in post-war Britain and the pit closures that followed caused lasting unemployment and poverty.

Mark Attle A large Chistmas tree lit by yellow lights standing beneath an arch inside the cathedral. Heads of people can be seen in looking at the tree.Mark Attle
Each yeah the cathedral invites a member of the community to illuminate its tree

Each year, Durham Cathedral invites "special members" of the community to light its tree and said this year it wanted to mark its "long-shared association with mining heritage of the region".

Mr McCowliff was lodge delegate to Redhills Durham and later a Durham Miners' Association executive.

In October, the cathedral collaborated with the Durham Mining Communities Banner Groups Association and Redhills to mark the 40th anniversary of the strike, with the exhibition Solidarity Forever: Banners of the Durham Mining Community.

Mr Hampel said he was "delighted that young and old from our mining heritage came together" to light the tree.

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