Collier Laddie

Published to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the 1984-1985 national UK Miners’ Strike – the largest industrial action by a UK union in the 20th Century – Here We Go, Here We Go, Here We Go! Is comprised of Rab’s previous mining poems as well as new poems that relate to current social and economic problems in Scotland and the UK.

Once he left school in 1977, Rab Wilson worked in the mining industry along the west coast of Scotland for eight years. On the 12th March 1984 Rab joined the Miners’ Strike, where he remained on strike until the 21st March 1985, after nearly a full year on strike.

The poetry in this collection chronicles the events and aftermath of the Miners’ Strike, through the eyes of a miner who was very much involved in it, a momentous landmark of the working-class struggle. Rab has witnessed the first-hand implications of the demise of Scotland’s mining industry. No other Scots poet today is better placed than Rab to record the history and importance of Scotland’s mining industry and the challenging strike.

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