This week year 7 got the chance to work with Prof. Natalie Thomlinson from Reading University. Natalie is a historian (originally from Donny!) and specialises in feminism and gender in modern Britain and is currently a co-investigator on AHRC project ‘Women in the miners’ strike, 1984-5’. Natalie gave a lecture on the miners strike and explained the importance and role of ‘oral histories’ in understanding the impact the miners strike had on our local communities as well as the role of women during this time period. Our students got to see how historians like Natalie find out about the past and inspired us at XP/XPE to conduct our own research about the Miners’ Strike by speaking to our own family members about this very significant and emotive part of our history in Doncaster.