You heard very good stories in the Quarry and I can remember one very good one. There was a man in Blaenau who was always in the pubs and the minister had a word with him and old `Nowtyn' as he was called, promised the minister that he would keep off the drink.
But one evening, as the Minister was walking over the Queens Bridge, who came along but `Nowtyn' and the Minister said, "Drunk again" and Nowtyn said, "and me too".
When we started a new month all the men had clean trousers, which were white corduroy and a white coat as well, but the rock men and the miners were wearing fustion as they had chains to hang on while working on the rock and it wore better than the corduroy. It was hard work for the women then. I can remember how my mother used to scrub our working clothes and if there was any mending to do she used to make sure that the patches were square as the men always passed remarks and praised the tidy ones.
You could always tell if the men were working under-ground as they carried the candle in their hand in a lump of clay and the grease from the candles would be on their clothes. Ellis Owen, who lived in the village, used to go to the traeth near Draenogau and he would take a bag of clay to the quarry and the rockmen would pay him 2/6 as it was a better clay than they had in the quarries.
I can remember when we were boys in the `Caban', (that was the place where we had our food), and of course there was a lot of bad language amongst some of the men but if William Owen, Dolwyddelan was near nobody would dare swear. He was a deacon and the father of the Rev. Robert Owen and the Rev. John Owen.
It is a pity that men like him are not with us today. The minutes book of one Caban survives today that of `Sinc y Mynydd' in the Llechwedd mine. Discussions and competitions were organised daily, grievances aired and money- raising concerts were organised for injured colleagues.
The `Sinc y Mynydd' programme for October 1902:-
- Owen Morris talking about his holidays.
- A competition to sing the words `O fryniau Caersalem' to the tune of `Crug y Bar'.
- A lecture on the topic `How much greater is man than a sheep'.
- Discussion on the Education Act and the need to oppose it.
- Solo singing competition.
- A competition to read aloud a piece which had not been punctuated.
- A spelling contest. A contest to create Welsh words.
- A general knowledge quiz.
- Recitation of pieces of the poem 'Dafydd Brenin Israel' - this was all week.
- A quiz on biblical knowledge.
- A competition to name places which all began with the same letter.
- A debate on whether Ministers of Religion should be appointed for life or for a certain time of office.
- A competition to interpret the meaning of a particular poem.
- A lecture on vanity.
- Twm o'r Nant Rhwng cyfaill stiwardiad a balchder Gwyr Mawrion. (Between the law of the steward and the friend of the great.)
- Mae tenant i'w ganfod fel rhwng diawl a'i gynffon. (The tenant is caught between the devil and his tail.)
I heard my mother saying about Hugh Williams, who lived in Garth, and worked in the Quarry, he came down to Penrhyn one Saturday with the Ffestiniog Railway and as he was leaving Penybwlch a man was standing with a little monkey on his shoulder, he asked Hugh if he wanted to buy it and they bargained for five shillings and off went Hugh with the monkey, but as he was passing the Griffin the man whistled and the monkey started to scratch and he had to let him go, I'm sure this had been done several times before.