Ebbw Vale from the mountain; A Very Steep Drop We looked down on toytown, Rows of neat houses, like beads strung along the valley, Dinky cars move on straight roads Clean and bright in the sun, We breathe in clean air. Changed from before the strike, Before pit closures. It was all so simple then; “Strike to Save Jobs” “Coal Not Dole” “No Pit is Safe” ... and now there are none. But the air is clean, and sons and daughters of miners pound the treadmills in the shiny Ebbw Vale sports centre, and rarely visit the mountain, They walk and run around lakes in country parks reclaimed from old mine workings. Coal is the enemy now, Coal is dirty, Coal has poisoned our planet, But it was once; “King Coal” then “Coal Not Dole” and those who mined it led us to the question; “Who Rules?” It was always political Never just about pit closures. Once a government was brought down Thatcher declared war. and we were “The Enemy Within”. Some of us knew that the stakes could be raised higher ... and higher ... “Strike!” “General Strike!” “Who Rules!” “Rise like Lions!” “Ye are many, they are few!” But it didn’t work out that way. And now, Tamed, the valleys are pretty. Looking down from the mountain to toytown. No sign from here of “The Enemy Within”, but still there, fuelled by increasing inequality. How green are the valleys now, Thirty years, So many changes, Ebbw Vale sparkles in sun We walk over the crest of the mountain and there below is Nantyglo. Minutes before we could have been miles from anywhere. The view is as fine as any I know. Did we know the fate of Coal back then? Now sealed within the earth, Which side are you on brother? Which side are you on sister? Which side are we on? Kathy Tytler May-Nov 2014 (Walking in The South Wales Valleys 30 years after The Miners’ Strike 1984-5)