A Miners Son Growing Up

A Memory of Pen-y-bank.

IT'S DIFFICULT TO IMAGINE OVER 55 YEARS HAVE PAST SINCE I WAS LAST IN PEN-Y-BANK. MY FATHER WAS A COAL GETTER IN MORGANS LEVELS, A HARD MAN THAT WENT BY THE NAME OF LEN THOMAS, OR BETTER KNOWN AS LT. I WAS ONLY 8 YEARS OF AGE WHEN I TASTED THE ANTHRACITE IN MY THROAT BUT IF THAT MEANT GETTING THE HORSES TO THE COAL FACE SO BE IT. OF COURSE I GOT PAID BUT I WOULD HAVE DONE IT FOR NOTHING AS I LOVED THE JOB. MINERS HAVE THE REPUTATION OF HAVING GREAT VOICES AND I CAN REMEMBER LISTENING TO THEM SINGING IN THE LEVELS ALL DAY SO THEY HAD PLENTY OF PRACTICE.
MORGANS FARM WAS THE PLACE WE ALL HANGED OUT, BOTH CHILDREN AND ADULTS, AS IT WAS THE IN PLACE. THEY WERE THE FIRST TO HAVE TELEVISION IN THE EARLY 50'S AND IN THE SUMMER WE COLLECTED HAY AND HAD GREAT TIMES.
I STAYED WITH MY GRANDPARENTS WITH A TOILET AT THE BACK OF THE GARDEN, NO HOT WATER AND STONE FLOORS. GOD IT WAS COLD IN THE WINTER BUT WE NEVER COMPLAINED IT WAS THE WAY OF LIFE THEN. A JELLY NOW AND THEN WAS A LUXURY AS WE WERE GRATEFUL FOR WHAT WE COULD GET.
THE TRAINS PASSING CLOSE BY NEVER BOTHERED US IT WAS OUR WAY OF ESTABLISHING COMMUNICATION WITH OUR FELLOW MINERS IN OTHER VALLEYS. VERY POOR BUT CONTENTED WHICH IS MORE THAN WHAT WE CAN SAY THESE DAYS. MAYBE IT WAS THE COMRADESHIP THAT EVERYBODY CREATED AFTER THE WAR AS WE ALL PULLED TOGETHER TO SURVIVE THE HARDSHIPS.
UNFORTUNATELY THE LEVELS AND MINES HAVE ALL DISAPPEARED OVER THE YEARS BUT THE MEMORIES WILL REMAIN WITH ME UNTIL THE DAY I DIE. I WOULD HAVE BEEN A MINER BUT WITH MY NEW FAMILY MOVING ON AND MYSELF MOVING ABROAD THE DAYS OF A MINERS SON GROWING UP FELL AWAY AND I BECOME AN ACCOUNTANT FAR AWAY FROM THE VALLEY'S I LOVED. NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN.
THANKS PEN-Y-BANK FOR THOSE WONDERFUL YEARS.

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