Unity is Strength: Durham Miners' Gala Wednesday 22 June - Friday 30 December
Wednesday 22 June - Friday 30 December, open during The Mining Art Gallery opening hours
This landmark exhibition captures the community spirit, pride, solidarity and identity celebrated through Durham Miners’ Gala, also known as the Big Meeting.
The first Big Meeting was hosted in Wharton Park, Durham, on 12 August 1871, when miners came together in their struggle for fair pay and better working conditions. Since then, the Gala has grown and evolved to include political speeches, a procession of banners through the streets of Durham, and the Miners’ Festival Service at Durham Cathedral. The Gala continues to be a colourful, joyful and emotive celebration of County Durham’s mining communities to this day.
The exhibition features mining art from lenders across the region as well as pieces from the renowned Gemini Collection, including artwork by mining artists such as Tom McGuinness and Norman Cornish. Together these artworks embody the spirit of the Big Meeting and demonstrate its significance for the people of County Durham.
Tom McGuinness, Big Meeting, 1968, oil painting. Mining Art Gallery, Bishop Auckland