There's only one deep mine left in the North-East - Ellington. The year-long battle that was the 1984-1985 miners' strike took an immediate toll on the region.
 But more than that, the closure over the next decade of 18 other pits in the region that had been operational at the start of the action tore the heart out of communities and left a legacy of unemployment and destroyed communities. It wasn't just the pitmen who lost their jobs, allied businesses, haulage companies, suppliers and surrounding shopping centres foundered in the wake of the pit closures. It was 20 years ago today that the strike started. A year later in March, 1985, the National Union of Mineworkers' national executive finally took a vote to end the strike as men were going back to the pits in droves. It was still a close call, just 98-91 in favour of a return to work. There was no victory and no promises on the threatened pit closures that had sparked the most significant industrial battle since the General Strike of 1926. By the end of 1985, 17 collieries had already been shut and the programme which was to decimate the coal fields was under way. There was a temporary setback to the Tories' plan in 1992 when an announcement in Parliament by Michael Heseltine that 30 pits were to close sparked a massive country-wide outcry with two huge demonstrations in London in a matter of weeks. But the closure programme still went ahead in a matter of months. There were 170 pits when the strike began, employing 181,400 men and producing 90 million tonnes of coal. The 17 pits left employ just 8,286 men and produce just 19 million tonnes of coal. In May 1985, the NUM appeared before the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Employment. The committee required the NCB to review all cases of sacked miners. A month later the Irish High Court dismissed the sequestrator's application to return NUM funds to Britain. By September, the TUC had adopted a resolution calling for a campaign for the re-instatement of victimised miners and repayment of the fine costs of the NUM relating to sequestration and receivership. That was backed in October at the Labour Party Conference which adopted a composite resolution calling for repayment of cost of sequestration and a campaign for victimised miners. The same month, the NUM held a special delegate conference in London and agreed to support a campaign for all sacked, or otherwise dubbed victimised, miners as a result of the dispute. But many sacked miners were still never allowed to return to work. A year after the strike ended, however, the man sent in to sort out the coal board, Ian MacGregor, was honoured with a knighthood. Sir Ian died aged 85 after a heart attack in spring 1998. Margaret Thatcher, Britain's first female premier known as the Iron Lady, was both admired and despised. Her harsh social policies divided a nation. In March, 1992, Mrs Thatcher was made a Baroness and took her seat in the House of Lords. Arthur Scargill finally retired as NUM president in August 2002, at the age of 64. The NUM, which once boasted membership of most of the nation's miners, now has around 5,000. There are 14 deep mines left in production that were once owned by British Coal, of these 12 are run by UK Coal, one is in administration and the other is in South Wales. Four of UK Coal's pits - the Selby complex - will close this summer. UK Coal's pits produced 16 million tonnes of coal last year. Page 2: Stadium on site of major pit | 
