Shildon Railway Institute will become a cinema for the evening on Friday, 4 September, when it hosts a screening of a new documentary exploring County Durham people’s experiences of the 1984–85 Miners’ Strike and its lasting effect upon communities across the county.
Defiant is the latest production from experienced filmmakers Marie Gardiner and Mark Thorburn of Lonely Tower Film and Media, whose previous documentaries have also been shown to audiences at the Railway Institute.
The film is currently touring venues across County Durham in a programme organised by the team at the recently renovated Redhills, Durham Miners Hall — the historic home of the Durham Miners’ Association, famously known as the Pitman’s Parliament.
Although Shildon’s own coal mining industry had disappeared before the strike began in 1984, the town has deep connections with the Durham coalfield and generations of local families earned their living underground.
Institute Chairman Dave Reynolds said that made Shildon a particularly fitting place for the film to be shown.
“We’re so glad that Redhills asked us to be one of the screening venues as this documentary tours the county.
“Though mining here had ceased long before the Miners’ Strike, Shildon was still a very significant mining town, surrounded by pits, drift mines and collieries. At one time, as many Shildonians worked with coal as were working for the railway companies, and a great many Shildon families have generations of ancestors who toiled to bring up the black diamond.
“We’ve screened some of Mark and Marie’s other productions in recent years and they always provoke an emotional reaction through their honest storytelling and reliance upon first-hand eyewitness accounts.
“If their previous films Hollowed Ground and Iron and Steel are anything to go by, viewers are in for another compelling evening.”
The screening continues the Railway Institute’s growing role as a venue for films exploring the industrial and social heritage of the North East, bringing stories of communities and working lives to local audiences in the places where that history still resonates.
Defiant will be screened in the Main Hall at Shildon Railway Institute on Friday, 4 September 2026. Doors open at 6.30pm, with the film beginning at 7pm.
There is no need to book in advance and admission is £5 on the door. Seating is strictly limited, however, and anyone wishing to see the film is advised to arrive in good time.
Shildon & District's local community newspaper.
