William Griffiths was telling me that there was 45 on the bus and they had to put a plank in the passage between the seats as there was no room for us all to sit and as Charles Jones came on in Cilfor he had to sit on it.
The irony of this is that it was my father and Charles Jones who arranged to have a workmans bus in the first place.
There was another bus from Harlech. I can remember Griffith Edwards, Pencerrig and Llew, Edward Jones, Pantmawr `Ned' and Morris, John Williams and Meirion, Richard Williams, Dafydd, Dick and Stanely, Hugh Williams (?) John Williams, Tynffrwd. Some of the men bought motor bikes and after that they thought one bus would be enough. They kept the bus on the drive up to Rhosigor as it was easier to start in the morning after running it down to the main road. William Griffith, Bryn Moel was the driver and Richie Pugh from Blaenau the Conductor. They came for the bus in the morning on their motor bikes and that was my alarm clock.
I had to be ready by six, that was the time the bus was by the Ship. We stopped to pick up on the way and if there was room we had a few coming up in Maentwrog and Rhydsarn. Some men had a good walk from the bus to Maenofferen and Graig Ddu but I was lucky the shed that I used to work was near the road, not far from the Railway tunnel. It was the Oakely Quarry then. We worked from 7a.m. until 4p.m. and 7a.m - 11.30a.m. on Saturday.
There were heavy smokers on the bus, amongst them was Ellis Owen. He put his pipe in his mouth when we started from Talsarnau and he would go to sleep with his pipe still in his mouth. There was another who would go to sleep with his eyes open, he is the only one who I have seen doing that.
William Jones, Cei Newydd worked in the Lord. He would go down at the bottom of Lord Street and he would go to Davies the Barbers Shop for sixty Woodbines every morning and more at the week end. We paid eleven pence for the bus (six pence for y rhybelwr (apprentice) and I dont think the price changed during that time. There was a lot of accidents in the Quarries and there was one Quarry they called it the slaughter house because there was so many accidents there. I remember David Gwilym Williams, Soar having a bad accident in the Oakeley, the hole had misfired and when he went to have a look hours later it went and caught him and he was in the Quarry hospital for a long time.
Laura Roberts, Soar, who lived in No. 1 Tanymarian, her husband Robert Roberts was killed in Llechwedd Quarry in 1903 and the choir from Blaenau came down to his funeral as he sang with the choir. John Jones, Capel Fawnog lost his life in the Quarry during the last war. There was another three from Talssarnau who lost a leg through accidents in the Quarry. The Quarrymen were very good for helping anybody who had an accident or was ill. They had a concert every month either in Blaenau or Penrhyn and they would distribute the tickts to all the Quarries and they sold them at six pence a ticket and nobody asked what it was for but bought a ticket. The men who had been chosen as needing help that month would have the proceeds of the Concert.
Robert John the garage had a serious accident by Gelli Grin on his motor bike. He had done the bus driver a favour that day by riding his motor bike, as he wanted it at Talsarnau, and he knocked a man down who was in the middle of the road and Robin was in the hospital unconsious for I think ten days.