Aged 16, Elliot Dixon held the pride of Murton village on his shoulders. “They said, ‘Elliot, carry this’ and harnessed the banner on to me. I was walking behind the bass drum and brass band with everything bouncing, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up, and all I could think was, bloody hell, this is amazing.”
For Dixon, now 32, that first time carrying the banner at Durham Miners’ Gala is something he’ll never forget. The annual event – also fondly known as the Big Meeting – is held on the second Saturday in July and lays claim to being the largest celebration of working-class culture in the world, attended by 200,000 people from across the UK and beyond.
