Glo - National Museum Wales

Dwi wedi
colli ’nghoes!
Cefais fy ngeni ym 1936 a dechreuais weithio
ym Mhwll Glo Bargoed House ym 1952. Ar
ôl hyfforddi, es i weithio yn y pwll glo stêm,
fel gwas coed i ddechrau ac yna’n gynorthwyydd
colier. Fe ddes i’n löwr gyda fy stent fy hun pan
oeddwn i’n 18 oed, a oedd yn anghyffredin bryd
hynny gan nad oeddech fel arfer yn cael eich lle’ch
hun nes cyrraedd 21 oed. Bues i’n gweithio ar y ffas
lo am bedair blynedd ar ddeg, yn gwneud gwaith
‘cloddio cyffredin’ yn bennaf yn llwytho’r glo ar y
cludfelt, er i mi dreulio’r ychydig flynyddoedd olaf ar
sawl ffas lo lle’r oedd peiriannau torri a
llwytho.
Pan oeddwn i tua 17 oed,
diffoddodd fy lamp a dyma’r ffeiarman
yn fy anfon i’n ôl i waelod y pwll gyda
bachgen arall yn dal golau i mi. Wrth i
ni gerdded o’r ardal, rhedodd y bachgen
i ffwrdd i gael tipyn o ‘hwyl’ a ’ngadael
i yn y tywyllwch dudew. Bu’n rhaid i mi
deimlo fy ffordd mas gan ddilyn y
cledrau dan fy nhraed. Pan gyrhaeddais
i waelod y pwll, dyna lle'r oedd y
cythrel yn chwerthin ar fy mhen i!
Roedd dyn yn gweithio ar yr hewl
pan gafodd ei ddal yn sownd rhwng
dram lawn ac ochr yr hewl. Roedd
wedi anafu’i gefn yn ddrwg, a gwaed
yn pistyllu o’r briw. Gallai deimlo’r
gwaed yn llifo i lawr ei goes, ac roedd
yn gweiddi ‘Dwi wedi colli ’nghoes!’
Chafodd e fawr o gydymdeimlad fodd
bynnag, achos fe waeddodd rhywun
yn ôl, ‘Well i ti siapio hi a hercian o ’na
te, achos allwn ni ddim dy gael di
mas!’.
Un tro, cefais innau fy nal gan
gwymp am ryw dair awr. Wrthi’n agor
ffas newydd oedden ni, ac yn
defnyddio sled fawr newydd wedi’i
chysylltu â rhaff halio ddiddiwedd i
gludo’r deunyddiau i mewn. Roedd y
bachgen a reolai’r injan braidd yn
wyllt, a llwyddodd i fachu rhai o’r
props ac achosi i’r to gwympo. Lwcus
mai pibelli metel 4 modfedd oedd yn
dod â’r aer i mewn i’r sia, yn
hytrach na’r pibelli hyblyg
diweddaraf, neu byddai pob un
ohonom wedi’n llorio gan y cwymp
ac wedi mygu i farwolaeth. Soniais
i’r un gair wrth mam am hyn – fyddai hi ddim wedi
gadael i mi fynd i lawr y pwll byth eto!
Gadewais y diwydiant pan oeddwn i’n 32 oed, a
mynd i weithio i British Nylon Spinners ym Mhonty-pŵl;
a hynny am sawl rheswm, ond yn bennaf
oherwydd bod fy nhad a’m hewythrod wedi dal y
dwst ac roeddwn i’n poeni y byddwn i’n dioddef
hefyd. Sbardun arall oedd y ffaith fod Nylon Spinners
yn talu’r un faint o gyflog â’r pwll glo.
Ron omas
My leg’s off
Iwas born in 1936 and started work in Bargoed
House Coal Pit in 1952. Aer training I worked
in the Steam Coal Pit, first as a timber boy then
as a collier’s assistant. I became a collier with a stent
of my own at 18 years of age which was unusual then
as you normally didn’t get your own place until you
were 21. I did 14 years as a collier at the coal face,
mostly ‘conventional mining’ filling coal onto a
‘shaker’ or belt conveyor, although I worked the last
few years on ‘power loading’ (mechanised) faces.
When I was a lad of about 17 my lamp went out
and the fireman sent me back to pit bottom
Yr helmed gardbord gywasgedig a
ddefnyddiodd Ron Thomas gydol ei yrfa yn y lofa.
The compressed cardboard helmet which Ron Thomas used from
the time he started until the time he finished in the colliery.
accompanied by another boy to show light for me. As
we were walking out from the district the other boy
shot off in front of me as a ‘joke’ and le me in the
dark. I had to feel my way out by the rails under my
feet. When I got to pit bottom he was there laughing
at me!
A man was working in the roadway when he got
caught tightly between a full dram and the side of the
road. His backside was cut badly and there was blood
pouring out of him. He felt all the blood running
down his leg and shouted “My leg’s off!” He didn’t get
much sympathy though, someone shouted back
“You’d better ‘hec it’ (hop) out
of there then, ’cos we can’t get
you out!”
I was trapped by a fall for
about three hours one time.
We were opening up a new
face and were using a large
sledge attached to an endless
haulage rope to bring in
materials. e boy operating
the engine went a bit wild and
managed to pull some props
out and brought down a fall.
We were lucky because we had
4 inch metal pipes bringing in
the ventilation, if we had the
newer flexible ducting it would
have been flattened by the fall
and we would have all
suffocated. I never told my
mother that I had been trapped
– she would have never let me
go down the pit again!
When I was 32 I le the
industry and worked for British
Nylon Spinners in Pontypool;
there were a few reasons for this
but mainly it was because my
father and uncles had contracted
dust and it was starting to play
on my mind that I would end up
the same, also the money in
Nylon Spinners was about the
same as I was getting in the
colliery so I finished.
Ron omas
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