Cologne FAU hosted miners kids from Blyth

It has been completely forgotten that the Cologne local federation of the anarcho-syndicalist FAU in October 84 invited 21 miners’ kids from Bates colliery (Blyth) led by Ronnie Campbell, then president of the local NUM and later MP and his wife Deidre, for a fortnight’s holiday in Cologne and the countryside near by. Transport in England to and from Dover was covered by the Direct Action Movement. All other costs from picking up the group in Ostend until taking them back there were covered by the FAU and minor donations from sympathetic local people. 

The kids were treated to an interesting programme with ice skating, going to the football ground, visiting Cologne cathedral and the old part of the city etc. Even taxi drivers gave the kids a free ride or the entrance fees of certain places were not taken as a token of solidarity from ordinary people. The local federation of the Spanish CNT in exile contributed as well and came to Cologne to meet the kids.

From comment at https://anarchistnews.org/content/invisible-or-just-underrated#comments  (A Response to ‘Invisible or just underrated? Thoughts on anarchist solidarity with the Miners’ Strike of 1984-85’ https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/6q58vk)