Kath Connolly

Coming from a long line of Durham miners on both sides of her family, Kath grew up next to the colliery in South Pelaw. Her great grandfather started work at the age of nine and her maternal grandfather was the lodge representative for Crookhall miners, taking his place in the Pitman’s Parliament at Redhills. He died as a result of injuries from a stone fall at  Woodside Drift in 1941. She recalls how her family would pass on stories about the community and how friends and neighbours all worked together and supported each other.

During the strike in 1984, Kath was involved in the Chester le Street support group helping families to get what they needed in a time of great struggle. “We were trying to feed body and soul. Teaching full time with two young children, my family were proud to support what we were doing.”

As a socialist and feminist, after retiring from teaching Kath got involved with the Workers Educational Association, she was elected onto the Durham Cooperative Committee, and became an active member of the North East Labour History Society. She also helped establish the Education4Action group to make better use of Redhills as a place for learning including political talks in the lead up to the Gala, guided tours of the building, and school workshops. The E4A group is still going strong today providing valued support to Redhills. Kath has researched and written about the role of women in the Labour Party and the Cooperative Movement, she has also highlighted the role women played as unpaid workers in the coal industry.

Kath’s hope for young women in coalfield communities today is that “they don’t feel that anything is too much or not accessible to them, and that they get the financial and emotional support to make that possible.” She hopes they continue to be able to access educational and youth programmes, that misogyny is challenged, and that “elective representatives recognise that this is really important for working class young people.” 

E4A are currently producing a book called Mining the Memories which records the stories of people in the local area who grew up in mining families, possibly capturing accounts from the last generation to do so. Kath is also leading the way on the Bring the Banner Home project which has successfully raised funds and secured a new home for the South Pelaw banner at Chester le Street CofE Primary School.