Ken Loach’s 2023 film The Old Oak featured a banner depicting an oak tree and the words strength, solidarity and resistance. The banner was hand-crafted by the late Aidan Doyle of Great North Banner Makers, which is a second-generation, Newcastle-based group of artists who produce trade-union and school banners. Established in 2004, Great North Banner Makers produces both replica and original works such as recreating historical banners so that they can be used more frequently while the originals are displayed or crafting original.
Banners are key symbols of former mining communities as they represent the collective of workers, during strikes and the Durham Miners Gala, the banners would be marched behind and are still celebrated despite pit closures. When the banners became too fragile be paraded, they would be hung in churches, schools or working men’s clubs.
Banners are an intricate business, taking months to create and costing around £10,000. The images are hand-drawn and painted with oil paint onto silk and are very detailed, with older banners depicting biblical scenes while newer ones tend to show people of merit in the community or significant political figures either nationally or locally such as Keir Hardy, James Connelly or Lenin.
From 1953-1958 my grandad worked at Harraton Lodge, a colliery in Washington, and the old banner had biblical imagery but was not a biblical scene. The banner depicted three women; the first holds a cross representing faith, the second a baby and child which represents charity and the third woman represents hope. The artist draws on biblical imagery to convey Victorian values, meaning to show that the union values family and faith on the same level as hope for improvement. In contrast, the new Harraton Lodge banner was commissioned in 2005, and part of the banner was even painted by members of the community. The banner depicts Jack Elliot and Jock Purdon who were folk singers. Jack Elliot was from my town of Birtley and began a mulit-generational folk group with his siblings and their spouses called ‘The Elliots of Birtley’.
Despite the art of mining banners being lesser known outside of mining communities, they are no less intricate and the creators no less skilled. They are representative of hard-working people and communities who are typically not expected to be artistic. This rich culture of banner making goes back many generations and is still being maintained today. While the Harraton Lodge banner is now held at a school, there are many local banners available to be seen at Redhills (Durham Miner’s Association) in Durham and more national banners are shown at the Durham Miner’s Gala (11th July).