00:00:04 Introduction

00:00:24 Emrys is born in Penrhiwfer, 1925, his father being Joe Davies “The Coal”

00:00:59 A childhood spent playing up the mountain

00:01:53 Childhood games – rhythm games, hook and wheel, whip and top and much more

00:03:37 The poverty of the 1930s; hobnail boots and wooden clogs

00:05:16 Emrys leaves Graig-Yr-Eos school at 14 and briefly gets a job at Edwards & Short, a printers in Tonypandy as an “Ink Monkey”, before low pay and disillusionment lead him to seek a better job

00:07:42 During his lunch break, Emrys applies for and gets an apprentice position at the Maple Trading Company, a grocery store with a branch in Tonypandy

00:09:50 The manager operates a strict regime at the shop – inspections, paying for breakages

00:12:35 Staff make-up of the shop; weekly stock-takes and regular inspections led to high standards

00:16:57 Emrys is occasionally sent to spy on other shops and their prices

00:19:46 Emrys joins the LDV (Local Defence Volunteers) based in Llwynypia, where he is given weapons training and joins a special unit which would operate as guerrillas in the event of an invasion

00:24:03 The war, for Emrys, was a time of excitement rather than fear and an extension of what was seen in the cinema; cinemas of Tonypandy and the “penny rush”

00:25:56 Emrys is called up to serve in the forces; initially trained in Brecon before being stationed in Herne Bay, Kent