Can I recommend the recently released DVD documentary "The Miners' Hymns"
http://filmstore.bfi.org.uk/acatalog/info_19661.html It is a superb piece of polemic film making that relies on nothing more than archive film from the Durham Coalfield(mostly sourced from the NCB film unit and regional BBC archives) welded together by the film maker Bill Morrison with a breath taking soundtrack by Jóhann Jóhannsson
There is an interview here with Morrison and Jóhannsson about the film here:
http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/exclusive/miners-hymns.php http://vimeo.com/21476387 ) accompanies archive footage of the Big Meeting which for me is really poignant as in the first instance as in the final chords there is archive footage of a black draped lodge banner being carried down the nave of Durham Cathedral (? following the 1951 Easington Colliery disaster) and the sudden realisation that amongst the vast crowds filmed from the 1920-1960s must have been generation of my own family!
Highly recommended!