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TOUR FICH HOW ABO YOUR FIGFROVAL RIS The most solid response came from the miners" wives of Calverton, a mining village in North Notts, Here the wives decided to picket after a much publicised incident at "Coal House", Regional NCB Headquarters in Doncaster, where pickets were given bad press reports when they tried to stop female clerical workers going in to work. They felt they would have more impact on the blacklegs if they picketed. They travelled over from Calverton in coach loads every day to NCB Regional Headquarters at Edwinstowe and maintained an extremely effective picket. The numbers going in to work rapidly dwindled. From the time they decided to take action, Calverton wives held weekly miners" wives! meetings with the local Strike Committee to discuss their actions. Members of Nottingham Socialist Woman Group were invited to attend these meetings.
The women also decided on a boycott of all shops in the area who would not lower their prices to striking families. The Strike Committee agreed to organise bulk buying of food for the community. The women intended to picket the shops also, but the boycott was so effective that they did not need to. They will continue to boycott certain shops now that the strike is over.
Their militancy on the picket lines drew a not unexpected response from the Coal Board and the press. Describing them as "petticoat pickets". , a local NCB official commented, *We deplore the fact that there are these people. They are doing no service to the miners or anyone else. We are sure the NUM does not want this outside interference. They are making the situation worse." They were also attacked for their "unfeminine" "unwomanly" behaviour, These attacks designed to intimidate the women only had the effect of clarifying the biassed role of the press. The women as well as the men also began to see clearly the role of the police during the strike. Iris Cockayne, spokeswoman for the pickets at Edwinstowe, said, "At the beginning of the strike, there were some nasty incidents when they arrested two young lads and ill-treated them, They have been reluctant to lay hands on the women except for a bit of pushing and shoving. But we have been abused by those going into work and in some cases physically assaulted and they do nothing about that. The press are the same -they only show one side of the picture.