Bruce Springsteen: 'Why I backed the striking North East miners in 1984/85'

The Boss became a saviour in the eyes of the North East pit workers during the year-long Miners Strike.

‘My parents were working class people and I watched them struggle their whole lives’ - Bruce Springsteen

Bruce was due to play in front of 40,000 fans at St James’s Park in Newcastle.

But it was a behind-the-scenes moment which endeared him to families from the Durham coalfield forever.

He donated 20,000 dollars to the Durham and Northumberland Area Support Groups who were backing the pit workers in their fight to save their jobs and communities.

He told a BBC team how he’d read about the battles of the North East pit workers and how he came from a family where he saw his own parents struggle.

‘My parents were working class people and I watched them struggle their whole lives, and I had been reading about it in the newspapers, so it was just something that felt like it would be a good thing to do’, he added.

‘He is a hero to us. He didn’t do it for publicity. He did it because he wanted to do it’

Wearside woman Juliana Heron was one of those who got to meet the singing legend as he handed over a cheque for twenty thousand dollars.

Juliana Heron was part of a support group which was fighting on behalf of the striking pit workers of County Durham.

Her husband Bob Heron was doing his bit on the picket line.

Speaking about Springsteen, she said: “He is a hero to us. He didn’t do it for publicity. He did it because he wanted to do it.”

The Boss remembers his first UK visit

The film tells the story of how Springsteen and the E Street Band first arrived in the UK in November 1975 for a sold-out performance in Hammersmith, giving his new album Born to Run its European premiere.

BBC Two and iPlayer will celebrate Bruce Springsteen with a night of programming to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bruce Springsteen’s first UK concert.

The Sunderland Echo revealed how Springsteen supported the miners in an interview on the 40th anniversary of the start of the strike last year.

That backing was vital to the mining communities

Juliana told us then: “You just don't think that someone who is in America and has a very good career would do something like that.

"But it is surprising how many people actually did support the miners."

Paul Weller and North East legends Lindisfarne were big supporters as well.

That backing was vital especially as the strike dragged on through 1984 and into early 1985, said Juliana.

Springsteen explains more about the memorable donation in a documentary on BBC Two called When Springsteen Came to Britain.

It will be available to watch from 9.30pm on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer on Saturday, May 31.