Scene 7: The committee meeting (21:02-22:25)

In the town of Onllywn, Martin walks wife Sian to the hall where she’ll be packing food to support the miners. Posters of ‘support the miners’ line the exterior of buildings and cars.

Inside the hall, a discussion takes place with a group of wives, Maureen, Gwen, Hefina and Margaret (Dai’s wife), and Dai. The point of contention is whether to invite the gay and lesbian group to the town to say thank you as they have done with all of the other support groups. Some feel a thank you note would be sufficient. This is an example of differential treatment, in that despite the LGSM raising money for the miners and the miners’ gratitude, there is still some discomfort in extending them the same welcome as with others. Dai points out that no other group has raised as much money or been as consistent and Sian interjects: ‘why don’t you just invite them’. The group is surprised by her comments as she is new to the group. Sian has highlighted the hypocrisy of the group; they are all saying the right thing – that they don’t have a problem – but through their actions, in not inviting the group, are indicating that they do have a problem.

Scene 7 Quotes

‘I don’t have a problem with … what they are.’ (Maureen) Scene 7

‘It’s the men. You bring a load of gays into a working men’s club and you get trouble. I’m sorry.’ (Maureen) Scene 7

‘I’m sorry, but everyone’s saying they don’t have a problem. Good, they’ve raised the most money, so invite them.’ (Sian) Scene 7

Scene 8: Martin and Sian (22:25-23:33)

At home, Sian talks to her husband Martin about the meeting. As the scene unfolds, Sian’s many responsibilities are shown through her cooking at the stove, while looking after their two children, after having returning from packing boxes at the committee. During the discussion, a scene is interjected to show that the children’s are listening, indicating that they will be learning their values from the outcome of this conversation. When Sian tells her husband the committee has voted on inviting the LGSM to the town, and that she has been enlisted into the committee, Martin fears for the safety of the gays and lesbians coming to the town, anticipating prejudice, perhaps even violence from the miners. Sian’s having been included in the committee parallels that of Bromley into the LGSM: two shy outsiders being included without judgement whilst experiencing resistance within their own family.

Scene 8 Quotes

‘But Hefina, she’s like the head honcho, absolutely terrifying, well, she obviously can’t stand this Maureen.’ (Sian) Scene 8

‘… I had you down as many things but prejudiced was never one of them.’ (Sian to her husband, Martin) Scene 8

Scene 9: LGSM visit the Dulais Valley Part I (23:33-32:15)

Back in London, there is a close-up of Jonathan as he enters the bus, declaring ‘all aboard the deviant’s bus’, showing that although reluctant at the beginning, since Dai’s speech at the gay club, Jonathan is now fully participating in the project. Inside the bus is the core group, plus Zoe and Stella who joined at the club. Jeff questions how Bromley was able to leave. His excuse that he had been sent on a residential course to learn how to make choux pastry brings raucous applause and a chanting of his name from the group. The response shows the group’s unequivocal acceptance of Bromley. As the bus departs, a forlorn-looking Gethin returns to cleaning the graffiti word ‘Queers’ from off the front of the bookshop. The juxtaposition highlights that despite the uplifted mood of the group, prejudice is their constant battle.

At the town hall, Sian fights her own vandalism as the posters she puts up to announce the support visit have been constantly torn down by an unknown person. She is resilient and the use of an excessive amount of staples shows that she will not be deterred. Maureen slams down ashtrays showing that although she is participating, her attitude appears oppositional. The juxtaposition between Sian’s stapling and Maureen’s slamming of ashtrays shows them in direct conflict.

The bus continues towards the meeting. The three women are singing that ‘every woman is a lesbian at heart’. This prompts discussion, with Ray suggesting it is unacceptable to make sweeping generalisations. This fails to deter the women from singing.

The extreme wide shot showing a small bus crossing a long bridge over a waterway depicts the group leaving the comforts of London and entering Wales, a new world.
Inside the hall, Dai waits for the groups. The miners are drinking beer while a band plays traditional music, which contrasts the upbeat electronic music previously heard in the gay bar, highlighting further differences between the groups. The close up of the noticeboard shows Sian’s notice and that, despite her best efforts, someone has still managed to tear down the LGSM notice. Small acts like this contribute to the overall sense of prejudice. Whilst the men are in the hall, the women are in the hall kitchen catering for the men and cleaning up, fulfilling gender stereotypes.

The group arrives at Onllwyn and are struck by the conservativeness of the town and buildings. They pause before the hall, collectively summoning courage to enter.
Dai greets and introduces the group to the committee. The groups stand as two, facing each other, which demonstrates the gap that exists between them, while Dai stands in between the group, which shows he is warming up to the LGSM. Cliff, the secretary, instructs the group on how to sign in, pausing before saying the group’s name. Dai completes the sentence for him. This pause over the word gay is typical of so many occasions in the film where the word becomes stuck in the throats of characters, showing their awkwardness.

Mark is invited onstage to make a speech. He makes a few jokes, but unlike Dai’s jokes which were well accepted at the gay bar, Mark’s jokes fall like a lead balloon. Mark’s assertion that one in five people must be gay is also not well received. Even some of the LGSM group seem to recognise this as a wrong approach: Reggie lowers his head, Ray closes his eyes. After the speech, many of the miners and their families leave the hall.

Scene 9 Quotes

‘What I’d like to know is what Bromley told his mum and dad.’ (Jeff) Scene 9

‘Every women is a lesbian at heart.’ (Steph, Zoe and Stella) Scene 9

‘What he’s trying to say is you can’t make grand, sweeping generalisations.’ (Ray) Scene 9

‘Dai, your gays have arrived.’ (Gwen) Scene 9

Scene 10: LGSM visits the Dulais Valley Part II (32:15-44:53)

Dai’s generosity and hospitality is shown as he hosts the entire LGSM group at his house. Dai remains optimistic, suggesting that it’s ‘teething problems’ that will be overcome once the miners and the LGSM group start to mix. The group consider leaving the town early, noting that if they wanted prejudice they didn’t need to travel to Wales as they could easily receive that in London. Mark demonstrates his leadership in stating he will stay the course and gains the support of the others.

The next morning, instead of fleeing the group is seen on a tour of a Welsh castle with Cliff and some members of the committee. Dai and Mark talk privately during which Mark shares his views that all rights should be supported. Dai associates Mark’s point of view with that emblematised in a 100 year old lodge banner the community uses for special occasions: a symbol of two hands grasping, meaning ‘You support me, I support you.’

Warchus gives a revolutionary tone to the LGSM movement seen here through the two red five-pointed star badges on Mark’s collar, the October posters on the bus, which reference the Russian revolution, and Steph’s use of the word ‘comrade’ when collecting buckets.

The group pauses at the base of the castle to note an incoming convey of police cars. Cliff points out that the police have deviated from their sanctioned powers. Having had experience with police harassment, Jonathan explains the rights around unlawful arrests. Inspired by the group to exercise her newfound legal knowledge, Sian immediately heads to the police station and secures the release of two unlawfully detained miners who live on her street. As predicted by Dai, as the group has mixed, there has been positive outcomes.

The two miners released from jail, Carl and Lee, join their friends in the miner’s hall. As the LGSM group enter, the place falls instantly silent. Lee starts to leave, calling the group ‘faggots’. Dai explains to him that it was on the group’s advice that he and Carl were released. Carl heads towards the LGSM group and, in a show of gratitude, invites Mark for a pint of bar and shakes his hand. Symbolically, a close up of the hand resembles the lodge banner Dai had previously mentioned.

As the communities mix, the questions the townsfolk want answered are not so much about sexual orientation but trivial issues such as who does the housework and are all lesbians vegetarian. This shows that some of the LGSM members had misjudged the miner’s town perceptions of them. Contrasting this, Maureen does display typically ill-informed prejudice, equating the hosting of members of the LGSM with the possibility of acquiring AIDS. Hefina counters Maureen with a more educated response, that it would be impossible to catch AIDS from a few sleeping bags. Hefina enforces the socialising of the groups.

Music playing is more reminiscent of a London bar; a Boy George song is played, contrasting the preceding tradition music of the town hall. Jonathan is the only male on the dance floor and is informed by the local women that Welsh men do not dance. Despite being urged by the group earlier to not be too flamboyant, he launches into an evocative but fun solo dance routine, inviting some of the women to join. The men look on from the bar in bewilderment, drinking their beers, while the women, of all ages, have complete and unabashed fun. At the end of the routine, Jonathan is applauded by some of the men. Despite the warning, his bold move seems to have combined the groups.

The night spills out onto the streets. Maureen is seen peering from behind curtains in her living room, engaged in a bitter monologue directed at her two sons.

Scene 10 Quotes

‘Everything will be alright once they start to mix.’ (Dai to his wife, Margaret) Scene 10

‘…I’m a member of LGSM and I’m going to do what I set out to do. No hiding, no running away, no apologies.’ (Mark) Scene 10

‘I grew up in Northern Ireland. I know all about what happens when people don’t talk to each other. That’s why I’ve never understood, what’s the point of supporting gay rights but nobody else’s rights, you know?’ (Mark to Dai) Scene 10

‘They’re pulling the lads in for anything now.’ (Cliff) Scene 10

‘That’s the same whether you’re standing on a picket line or trolling down Clapham High Street in full drag.’ (Jonathan explains to the committee the limits to police powers) Scene 10

‘I’m sorry, not me. I’m concerned about AIDS.’ (Maureen, when Hefina states the committee needs to start hosting the LGSM group) Scene 10

Scene 11: LGSM’s second trip to the Dulais Valley (44:53-104:38)

As the LGSM group returns to London, they drop Joe at the end of the street so his parents won’t see the bus. In contrast to the acceptance the group has managed to forge in the Dulais Valley, Joe must return to keeping a secret in his own home. Jonathan has thoughtfully bought Joe some choux pastry so that he can pretend he has made it and support his rouse. Joe describes the experience as the best in his life (his mother thinking he is referring to ‘making pastry’), and develops the pictures that he took while away with the group.

A montage of scenes show struggling miner picket lines, the LGSM group collecting money, and the committee counting the proceeds.

Joe hides the photos of the group’s activities in a children’s nursery rhyme book on his bookshelf. Jonathan, Steph and Joe brave the snowy conditions to continue collecting and meet continued struggles and resistance, showing their resilience.

In Joe’s home, a TV advertisement orients the viewer to the increasing prevalence at the time of HIV and AIDS and the apocalyptic ads that were broadcasted at the time.

There is a stark contrast between Christmas in Joe’s house and that of Gethin and Jonathan’s. Gethin takes a phone call for Jonathan from Hefina, who detects Gethin’s Welsh accent. Her wishing ‘Nadolig Llawen’, meaning Merry Christmas in Welsh, triggers emotions for Gethin who hasn’t returned to Wales for some time or connected with his family there.

A news voice over explains that the strikes are in their 42nd week, and that benefits have been cut to striking miners and their families. The union claim Thatcher is trying to starve the workers back to work.

True to the their word, the LGSM continues to bring money and goods to Onllwyn and are seen driving through thick snow to deliver it. The town is visibly changed, closed shops and a derelict car highlight the deterioration of the town. Dai meets the group as they embark from the bus and a cautious Gethin also emerges. Dai explains that the miners are starting to fracture, some wanting to return to work under the belief that the pits of returning workers will be saved while other pits in the country will be closed in their place. Rounding out a desperate situation, the miner’s bus has broken down, Dai and his wife don’t have the gas on and need to take baths next door, while canned goods are prizes at the hall.

Gethin is introduced to Hefina, Cliff and Dai as coming from North Wales (the Dulais Valley is in South Wales). The three feign that although they may be happy to accept gays and lesbians they are not happy to accept people from North Wales. Gethin looks immediately uncomfortable until their laughter breaks the ice.

Mark sees the need to raise more money to meet the desperate needs of the mining community while Stella advocates for women’s group to address female issues, showing slight divisions and agendas. Mark’s and Stella’s different focal points demonstrate the complexities that exist within groups around prioritising competing issues.

Cliff’s conversation with the group, in which he sadly recalls how his brother died in a pit and how the villages are reliant on the pits for their livelihoods, leaves the viewer with compassion for a group that is being oppressed by Thatcher’s government. Mark makes a speech saying he feels the LGSM have let the miners down, that sometimes you need to go beyond justifying your position and push further in order to make a stand. Mark’s resounding speech is followed by one of the miner’s wives singing a haunting traditional folk song. The women stand and join the soloist. Gethin becomes emotional as he connects with childhood memories of his time in Wales. Eventually the men stand and join in song. The lyrics, that it is bread they fight for but they also fight for roses, means that it’s not just money they are fighting for but for the preservation of their way of life and dignity.

Lee and his brother burst into the hall and tell the LGSM group to go back to where they came from but are not heard over the rousing applause at the end of the song. Dai and Martin forcibly remove them from the hall. This was Martin’s chance to show that he wasn’t prejudiced, as he had previously claimed.

At the after-party, Carl, who has separately been taking dance lessons with Jonathan, dances with Debbie, the barmaid. Another local, Garry, seeing Carl’s success with Debbie and approaches Jonathan to ask if he could teach him to dance. Gethin declares out loud that he is in Wales and doesn’t have to pretend about his identity anymore. His outburst is well received. He explains to Hefina the reason he hadn’t returned to Wales is because of his religious mother who he hasn’t spoken to in 16 years. Hefina challenges Gethin that he could make the first move in reconciliation with his mother.

Maureen is once again positioned at the curtains, refusing to be involved, listening to her son read from the paper that people have been fed ‘an agenda’ that has represented homosexuals first as victims now as heroes. Maureen, upon hearing this, hatches a plan to use the media to highlight the support from the LGSM to embarrass the miners and fracture the relationship that has started to build, as shown in the previous party scene.

In the early hours of the morning, Gethin takes the group’s bus to visit his mother. Joe watches from the window and reflects on the situation between him and his own parents and his inability to be honest with them.

Scene 11 Quotes

‘AIDS. Anally. Injected. Death Sentence.’ (Jason, Joe’s brother in law in response to viewing the TV ads regarding AIDS) Scene 11

‘… when are you going to address my question about a Women’s group?’ (Stella) Scene 11

‘But without it, these villages are nothing, they’re finished.’ (Cliff, regarding mining) Scene 11

‘… it’s not enough to always be defending. Sometimes you have to attack to push forward …’ (Mark) Scene 11

‘Yes, it is bread we fight for but we fight for roses too!’ (Song lyric) Scene 11

‘I’m in Wales. And I don’t have to pretend to be something that I’m not.’ (Gethin) Scene 11

‘The homosexuals have been told that it is us, the normal population, and not them, that is out of step. Any society that accepts that sick deception is swirling headlong into a cesspool of its own making.’ (Newspaper article) Scene 11

Scene 12: Negative publicity mobilises the groups (1:04:38-1:11:24)

The LGSM group returns to London, dropping Joe at the end of his street and giving him his pastries as part of his fabricated story as to why he is spending time away from home. He receives a letter from the catering institute notifying him that he will be suspended as he has failed to meet the attendance requirement.

Back in Onllwyn, the miners are mocked as they attend the daily picket line. One of the miners hands Cliff a copy of the paper that alerts the public of the connection between the miners and their gay and lesbian support group. Although Dai and Cliff have been supportive of the LGSM within the closed community, facing a wider community with their convictions will be tougher. The newspaper’s reference to an alliance with gays and lesbians as ‘bottom of the barrel’ or ‘desperate’ deliver heavy connotations of prejudice. A union man informs Dai and Cliff that continued association with the gays and lesbians would have to come to a vote. Although Dai reminds him that the LGSM are out collecting for them every day, the union man feels that this is a matter of pride and dignity. He feels that the men have already suffered a blow to their dignity as they had to rely on women, their wives, to support them and now they are relying on ‘gays’.

The blowback from the media article, planted by Maureen from Onllwyn, reaches London and a brick-shaped package, with fire crackers attached, is thrown through the glass door of the bookshop where Mark and the group are discussing the upcoming vote.

The juxtaposed scenes between London and the Dulais Valley continue. This splicing of the communities gives the impression that as the groups have been divided, Dai, Cliff, Hefina and the LGSM are still fighting but not as strong as when they were all together. Maureen and some other women are complaining about the connection with the LGSM group. Hefina overhears and challenges them with their own traditions that ‘there used to be a tradition in Wales of honouring your guests’.

Returning to London, we see Mark encourage the group by owning the slurs printed against them. He mobilises the community for his fundraising concert. All of the members of the group pull together to produce t-shirts, posters and other paraphernalia in order to make the night a success. Upbeat music supports the montage of the LGSM group assembling an impressive concert as a group from the Dulais Valley arrive for the night. Joe has gone from outsider to integral part of the group and smiles at his sense of belonging and participation.

Scene 12 Quotes

‘It’s the men, Dai. They’ve already got their wives support them, and now this. Gays. The whole country laughing at us. It’s about dignity.’ (A union man, addressing Dai and Cliff) Scene 12

‘And then there’s the children. I mean, what example is it for kiddies to have gays and lesbians roaming around. It’s unnatural.’ (A Dulais Valley woman, with Maureen) Scene 12