FORMER miners, their families and friends will today commemorate two miners who were killed on picket lines in the strike against pit closures of 1984-5.

The annual memorial lecture dedicated to Davy Jones and Joe Green takes place at the headquarters of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) in Barnsley in South Yorkshire at 10.45am.

It will include a report from NUM general secretary Chris Kitchen following the return of a delegation of trade unionists, academics and politicians from Ukraine.

Mr Kitchen and Aslef train drivers’ union general secretary Mick Whelan were among the delegation which met Ukrainian trade unionists, senior politicians and civil liberties groups on their visit, which began on February 19. They also met the Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

“The NUM has always had strong links with mining unions in the Ukraine,” Mr Kitchen told the Morning Star.

“We now have links with the unions we met.”

Meetings have been held in Sheffield in South Yorkshire to seek ways of sending practical help to Ukraine, he said.

“The NUM is currently looking at how we can do that.”

Look out for more on the NUM’s visit to Ukraine in the Morning Star next week.