Heather Wood

Heather Wood is an activist who was heavily involved in the Women Against Pit Closures movement in the 1980’s and was particularly active in the County Durham region. Heather continues her activism to this day, currently working with the group National Women’s Action for Positive Change.

1952: Heather Wood was born in Sedgefield in 1952 and grew up in Easington Colliery. Her mother worked throughout her childhood, which, in the setting of a 1950’s pit village, was uncommon and extremely influential on the young Heather. Her mother’s political activism inspired and encouraged Heather into politics from an early age, which eventually led to her political campaigning during the miner’s strikes. Her father was also a member of the Miner’s Union.

1983/84: Heather chaired a meeting of the Easington Constituency’s Labour Party when Margaret Thatcher’s subliminal messaging regarding pit closures was becoming an increasing concern. During this meeting it was agreed that an increasing awareness of the potential pit closures through education and information needed to be a priority. It was during this meeting that the Save Easington Area Mines group was formed. Heather encouraged the involvement of women in this movement, insisting that without their involvement the strike would fail. ‘Women have always been the backbone of our communities, the organisers, the doers’ (Heather Wood, 2025). On the 14th of March, 1984, a meeting of women from throughout the Easington District was held. From this point, Heather aided in the forming of 14 support groups in the Easington district and the rest of the county, with the aim of providing food to those impacted and involved in the strikes. In these groups, women bought, cooked and distributed food among the mining communities. Attending National Union of Miners meetings and working with local businesses such as butchers, bakers, and fish and chip shops to distribute food. Heather and the women involved in the strikes formed the SEAM Relief Fund. Any money that came in from outside the district was distributed and shared between across groups.

1984: Heather and the Women Against Pit Closures attended rallies in London, Chesterfield and Barnsley. They also visited Greenham Common to show solidarity with the women there and took food to areas where only a small number of men were striking such as Ollerton, since they had less local support.

1984: Heather and the Women Against Pit Closures worked with writer Margaret Pine, who spent time with the women in Easington as a writer in residence. She wrote the play ‘Not By Bread Alone’ which toured the North East in 1985/86, when the women wanted to take the play to Greenwich they lost their funding. Deciding to take it to Greenwich themselves, they sourced their own props and Heather asked a local teacher to direct. ‘We took it to London, it went down a storm! Then we took it to Germany, to our twin town whose residents had supported us in the strike, we performed at Oldenburgh University and the Lamplight Theatre. Both venues were packed and we were well received.’ (Heather Wood 2025).

2019: Heather and her mother Myrtle MacPherson alongside numerous other iconic County Durham are featured on a silk banner, fundraised for by the Women’s Banner Group in Durham. This banner was the first women’s banner to be blessed in Durham Cathedral on the day of the Miners Gala, and was unveiled on International Women’s Day in 2020 at Spennymoor Settlement.

2023/2024: Ahead of the upcoming 40th anniversary of the Miner’s Strike in 2024, Heather and other members of National Women Against Pit Closures organised one of the largest gatherings of women’s support group banners since the original strike. “We danced and we sang. The feeling of unity, of solidarity, and of sisterhood was so strong. My aim starting this was to celebrate what women had done, to commemorate what we had done, and to inspire young women. I believe it worked. We had women from all over Britain, women who had been in support groups in 1984 along with their daughters and granddaughters. We had women ex-miners from the USA, and women from ex mining areas in France, Germany, and Holland. We organised events throughout 2024 and in March 2025 we held a smaller event to mark the end of the strike.’ (Heather Wood 2025)

2025: Heather and the WAPC movement have launched a legacy group National Women’s Action for Positive Chance which encourages, educates, and organises younger women to do great things.