When We Were Miners is a book by Ian Isaac published to co-incide with the 25th Anniversary of the miners strike. It is an account of his role in the South Wales coalfield and NUM from 1974 to 1989. The book recounts the build-up to the 1984-85 strike, the colossal struggles, solidarity and humour of the miners and their communities during the strike, and the enduring bitterness that the defeat of the strike brought, along with a devastating economic and social aftermath in the vastly changed world of the former mining communities