About
The Durham Miners’ Gala has been running since 1871 and is the largest Labour Movement event in Western Europe.
It’s a fantastic day: last year, 200,000 people came to hear Jeremy Corbyn and other speakers, see the banners march, and have a great day out.
This year there’s an independent fringe conference to build a legacy that extends beyond Gala day.
We have to remember the past, and the men and the women and the struggles that won us the rights we have today. But even more importantly, we have to build for the future. The austerity and political climate we face is blighting the lives of millions in our communities, and we have to be organised if we’re going to change it.
So we’re bringing together the very best in community organisers, political trainers and alternative media to empower ordinary people to do extraordinary things. It’s time to step up.
Organisers (in alphabetical order)
Rachel Broadbent, Talk Socialism
Jamie Driscoll, Talk Socialism
Jessie Jacobs, We Are Our Media
Paul Mason, Broadcaster & Journalist
Grahame Morris MP, Chair of The Friends of The Durham Miners’ Association
Partners
Venue Accessibility
Durham Town Hall, The Burlison Gallery, Alington House, and Sanctuary 21 all have full wheelchair access and disabled toilets.
The Shakespeare Hall and the Assembly Theatre both have some disabled access.
Download accessibility information here.
Accessibility to People Pits & Politics Venues
Terms & Conditions
The People, Pits & Politics Festival is a multi-venue, multi-speaker, multi-day event, with lots of sessions running in parallel. We’re anticipating 1000 attendees, and the largest venue has a capacity of 220 people. Not everyone will be able to attend every session, and some sessions will be in high demand. When you buy a ticket, it entitles you to attend any event we run throughout the festival, without further charge, subject to capacity restrictions. If a particular session is full, you’ll be able to go to other sessions.
We will operate a booking system for those sessions we think will be highest demand, and we’ll send you the option to book for these sessions using the email you registered with us when you bought your Festival ticket. Those who buy their tickets first will get first dibs on booking for the high demand sessions. Once a ticketholder has booked for one or more high demand sessions, we’ll offer first choice to those who have not yet booked any sessions, so even if you buy the last remaining Festival ticket, you’ll be able to book for at least one high demand session. It’s the fairest way we could think of. Please note: you have to buy your ticket at least a week before the Festival in order to book places in specific sessions. After that time, it’s too close for us to administer. You can still turn up, most sessions will have capacity.
Some people who book for a specific event won’t turn up. Rather than have empty seats, we’ll give the seats to those waiting on the day. If you book for an event, you need to take your seat in the venue 15 minutes before the start time. Then any seats unfilled will be opened up to those who turn up on the day. Even if you have booked, your seat might be given away if you’re not there 15 mins before the session starts. Please accept this, and be nice to our volunteers.
We’re working to get the best line up of speakers, trainers and activists we possibly can. With such a full and diverse programme, some speakers might pull out for unavoidable reasons, so we can’t guarantee that everyone who we advertise on the programme will be there on the day. We will not refund tickets on the basis that an advertised speaker does not appear or that an advertised session does not go ahead. We can guarantee there’ll be loads of brilliant speakers, trainers and activists. This is People Powered Politics.
No literature or other products may be sold or distributed, no flyers handed out or placed on seats, no papers sold, in any Festival venues without prior written permission of the Festival organisers. Breaking this rule will invalidate your ticket, and you will be asked to surrender your wristband and leave.
Privacy Policy
When you buy a ticket, you’ll need to put in your personal details.
We will only use these to administer the Festival.
Specifically: we will email you your ticket, and in a separate email, your options for pre-booking sessions. We’ll also use your data to make sure we don’t send you reminders about things you’ve already done. This may require your data to be processed by partner organisations and services.
We will never sell your information or share it for any other purpose.
We’ll ask you if you want to receive additional information about next year’s Festival and other People, Pits & Politics events, which you can opt in to.
