Mollie´s father
Posted on: March 4, 2012
Mollie’s dad was a quiet, nice man – a gentle man. He was a hardworking man throughout his life. He was about 55 when I got to know him. He was a boiler-fireman at a local coal mine, Ynyscedwyn. He retired aged 72. During his working life he worked a seven day week. No days off at all except once every three weeks when he would have a free Saturday. For this day off he would work on the following week a double shift, 2pm Saturday to 7am Sunday, so that his mate on the other shift also had this so-called day off in his turn. He even worked on official bank holidays so that the coal mine could be kept ticking over with enough steam power to keep the pumps going and ensure that the pit would not be flooded. I never heard him complain of what I thought were the intolerable conditions he worked under. Most of the years he worked the pits were in private hands, with a few years under nationalisation.
I remember, before Mollie and I were married, on a nice summer Saturday night instead of our usual visit to the Astoria Cinema in Ystradgynlais, we would decide to walk on the mountains. On the way, if it happened to be the weekend her father worked the double shift, we would call and see him for a chat. With the 2/6d we would have spent on the pictures I would call in a pub a get a flagon of beer for him. This we did many times, even after we were married.
He was a contented man. I can see him sitting at home by the firs, with his cap on his head. He only took it off to go to bed, I sometimes thought. He would be reading a Western and oblivious to all that went on in the room, and there was always a crowd there.
A Swansea Valley Man 
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