A gay rights activist who inspired a BAFTA award-winning film is set to return to his home town of Accrington to give a talk.

Mike Jackson, 60, originally of Willows Lane, was a founding member of the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) group which came to the unlikely aid of a Welsh mining village in the midst of strike action during the 1980s.

The extraordinary story of LGSM was recently told in feature film ‘Pride’, which is set to have a screening at Accrington Town Hall on June 4 followed by a talk from Mike.

Mike, who has lived in London since age 16 and is a freelance lecturer in horticulture, said: “I am really looking forward to coming back to Accrington for the event.”

Mike and his fellow activists saw the miners as another group who were seemingly being ostracised by society; particularly after Margaret Thatcher labelled the strikers as “the enemy within” during the bitter Miners Strike of 1984-85.

The group raised thousands for miners in the Dulais Valley in Wales and forged a friendship that would ultimately result in the National Union of Miners supporting gay rights and paving the way for future equality legislation.