A FORMER miner has hit out at stereotypes about mining communities in his new novel on the 1984 miners' strike.

The Enemy Within is set in a fictional mine but inspired by Robert MacNeil Wilson’s time at Birch Coppice Colliery from 1983 to 1985.

Mr Wilson, from Willersey, saw the miners' strike first hand and hopes his book will challenge prevalent views of the event.

“The book covers the 12 months of the miners’ strike. It’s not just about underground involvement, it’s about the community," he said.

“One of the things I want to make clear is the differences of Billy Elliot movie. Whilst there was a strong community, it was a merry community and they had diverse interests.

“The miners loved programmes about natural history, they would talk about it underground. They loved open spaces.

“It was the contrast between the confines of their dark environment and the countryside.

“People say it must have been awful but it wasn’t. I was more at home underground than at the surface at the time.

"It was where I belonged. That was taken away but we are all still pit men.

"The book is celebrating how brilliant that life was. It wasn’t terrible down there, it was an awesome and exciting way of life."

Mr Wilson, 60, said the miners had very close friendships despite the macho culture underground.

“You would go to the showers and the only way to get your back clean is for other men to scrub on your back with a sponge," he said.

“The women were very important because they were very active. They ran the strike kitchens.

"Some of them were going without food so their children could eat.

“That’s a big reason why I wrote the book. People tell me it must have been an amazing time to be a part of.

“It was only when I wrote it that I realised none of us had grieved the loss of community.”

Mr Wilson was put in charge of a coal face when he was 24-years-old and earned the respect of the other miners by knowing what he was doing.

“By the time of the strike I was in charge of half the underground workings of the colliery,” he said.

“The men didn’t like unfairness, corruption, weakness or lack of confidence.

“Warwickshire pitmen were the best in the country. They shifted 24-and-a-half tonnes per man per shift.”

Mr Wilson said he is sad at the loss of mining in the country, especially as we are importing 40 million tonnes of coal per year.

He blamed the NUM for the decline of the pits and said he understood the efficiencies that needed to be made.

“I was a product of the 1974 three day week, doing work by the candle light. But we didn’t need to close the coal industry down,” he said.

Mr Wilson entered the pits after studying at university in Nottingham.

The Enemy Within will be published on Monday, October 28, and can be bought online at www.troubador.co.uk/book_info.asp?bookid=4054