Brassed Off at 30: ‘Community spirit has kept Grimethorpe going’

With its story of pit closures and brass bands wrapped up in pathos and northern humour, the 1996 film Brassed Off thrust the village of Grimethorpe and the nearby town of Barnsley into the international spotlight – and exactly 30 years after its release, its lasting impact can still be felt in the area.

Grimethorpe Colliery shut in 1993 and just three years later the village where it had stood at its heart was immortalised in Brassed Off as Grimley.

The Bafta-nominated film, starring Ewan McGregor, Sue Johnston, Pete Postlethwaite and Tara Fitzgerald, portrayed the fictional village’s struggle to survive against the backdrop of mine closures across South Yorkshire.

“Grimethorpe was the most industrialised village in Europe at that time and when the colliery closed, it became the poorest village in Europe,” explains Johnny Wood.

“Brassed Off tells you about the devastation it caused within the community.”

If there is one person who knows about the impact of pit closures on the area, it is Johnny.

He worked at Grimethorpe Colliery and now, at the age of 68, he is chairman of Grimethorpe Miners Memorial and Reunion, an annual gathering of 300 ex-miners from the former pit.

As he stands by a marble memorial outside St Luke’s Church in Grimethorpe, an unexpected cloudburst interrupts the sunny autumn day and briefly lashes it with rain. It is perhaps symbolic of a community which has weathered plenty of storms.

Over the road is Grimethorpe Working Men’s Club where a large glass cabinet displays a National Union of Mineworkers flag and a framed poster listing all the pits which closed down in the 1980s and 90s.

“I would suggest everybody watches that film because it is historical and educational,” Johnny says.

“This community wouldn’t have existed without the collieries, and we have a memorial with 163 miners’ names who paid the ultimate price.”