Roy Lynk

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(born 9 November 1932) was a leader of the Union of Democratic Mineworkers.

Early life

He was born in Chesterfield where his parents had married in 1932. He grew up in

Sutton-in-Ashfield Sutton-in-Ashfield is a market town in Nottinghamshire, England, with a population of 36,404 in 2021. It is the largest town in the district of Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, Ashfield, four miles west of Mansfield, from the Derbyshire border and ...

, attending Station Road Higher School and Healdswood School in

Skegby Skegby is a village in the Ashfield district of Nottinghamshire, England. It lies on the B6014 road, two miles west of Mansfield and one mile north of Sutton-in-Ashfield, close to Stanton Hill. Skegby sits on both sides of a deep valley ne ...

. He would later receive a Certificate in Industrial Relations from the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

Career

He went down the pit aged 14 at Teversal Colliery in 1947. He left mining in 1979. He was Branch Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers at Sutton Colliery from 1958-79.

UDM

At the start of the

UK miners' strike (1984–85) UK miners' strike may refer to: * 1893 United Kingdom miners' strike * South Wales miners' strike (1910) * 1912 United Kingdom national coal strike * UK miners' strike (1921) * UK miners' strike (1953) * 1969 United Kingdom miners' strike, a widesp ...

on 6 March 1984, following a dispute at

Cortonwood Cortonwood was a colliery near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The colliery's proposed closure was a tipping point in the 1984–1985 miners' strike. The site is now a shopping and leisure centre. History Cortonwood colliery was sunk in 1 ...

, Nottinghamshire's coal mining industry was second only to that of

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, with 32,000 miners; during the strike around 2,000 of those Nottinghamshire miners went on strike. On 12 March 1984, Yorkshire striking miners massed at

Harworth Colliery Harworth Colliery was a colliery near the town of Harworth Bircotes in Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire, England. It was abandoned in 2006 due to troubles at the seam. UK Coal, who owned and maintained the mine, were waiting for a contract to make ...

to picket, and also on 14 March 1984 at Sutton Colliery. He replaced Henry Richardson as General Secretary of the Nottinghamshire area of the NUM in March 1984. The Nottinghamshire area left the NUM on 7 July 1985. The UDM was formed in December 1985, by him (aged 52) and David Prendergast (aged 37). It received financial assistance from David Hart. He was on a committee of the

European Coal and Steel Community The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a European organization created after World War II to integrate Europe's coal and steel industries into a single common market based on the principle of supranationalism which would be governe ...

from 1988-93.

UK coal mining industry

In October 1992

Michael Heseltine Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, (; born 21 March 1933) is a British politician. Having begun his career as a property developer, he became one of the founders of the publishing house Haymarket Media Group in 1957. Heseltine se ...

announced the closure of 32 of the UK's 53 remaining pits.

British Coal The British Coal Corporation was a nationalised corporation responsible for the mining of coal in the United Kingdom from 1987 until it was effectively dissolved in 1997. The corporation was created by renaming its predecessor, the National Co ...

, formed in 1987 from the NCB, was privatised by the

Coal Industry Act 1994 The Mining Remediation Authority is a non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom government sponsored by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). It owns the vast majority of unworked coal in Great Britain, as well as form ...

and in England the pits became

RJB Mining RJB may refer to: * Radio Jura bernois, Swiss radio broadcaster * Rajbiraj Airport, Nepal, IATA airport code * Ring junger Bünde The Ring junger Bünde (RjB) is an umbrella organization of about 20 independent and self-responsible interreligious ...

, later

UK Coal UK Coal Production Ltd, formerly UK Coal plc, was the largest coal mining business in the United Kingdom. The company was based in Harworth, in Nottinghamshire. The company was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. The successor company that c ...

. In 1991 the UDM had plans to buy

. In October 1992 he held a week-long

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

protest at Silverhill Colliery.

Personal life

He was appointed an

in the

1990 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1990 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countrie ...

list.OBE
He married in 1978 in

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of the Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area and the second largest settlement in Nottinghamshire (following the city ...

and had three sons and three daughters.

Cultural references

Lynk is mentioned by name (''"Close the pits, sanctify Roy Lynk an OBE"'') in the second verse of the

Manic Street Preachers Manic Street Preachers, also known simply as the Manics, are a Wales, Welsh Rock music, rock band formed in Blackwood, Caerphilly, in 1986. The band consists of Nicky Wire (bass guitar, lyrics) and cousins James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, le ...

song "Gold Against the Soul" (from the 1993 album of the same name).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynk, Roy 1932 births Living people Alumni of the University of Nottingham National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain) Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Chesterfield, Derbyshire People from Sutton-in-Ashfield Presidents of British trade unions