00:00:06 [Abrupt beginning, no introduction, no context]. Family background, early years and a move to a bigger house at age three

00:01:00 Remembering Treorchy Fair; grandmother had a connection to a flannel trader from Llandysul who traded at the fair

00:01:50 Evan begins work in Abergorki Colliery, Treorchy, in 1903, aged 13; details of installing props and "lids"; after a few weeks, Evan has had enough of the working conditions in Abergorki and goes to work with his father at the "Prince Level" weighing (? Unclear audio)

00:04:40 After a month or two working there, Evan found the conditions too damp and seeks work at the Ocean Colliery, Blaengarw, to work as a "door boy"

00:07:03 Changes in Treorchy; the route of where the coal travelled through Treorchy; remembering the fair (dancing girls, pipe organs and side shows)

00:08:43 Evan gets a temporary job on the coconut shy and earns a few lumps on the head for his trouble; early school years

00:10:30 Starting work on the coal face at the Ocean Colliery; the "cracking" of the coal when working; dangers and accidents underground

00:12:30 The language of the miners underground, terrible cussing; the fear in working underground; conditions underground

00:14:45 Expectations of you as a worker relating to drams; describing the seams of coal and the efforts they would go to to follow it

00:19:53 Evan gets a new role and a pay rise to five shillings a day, making him the best paid boy (aged 17) in the district

00:22:12 In 1911, following a trip to Edinburgh to watch Wales play Scotland, Evan is taken ill with a bad cold, his health does not recover and he never returns to work underground; his doctor’s advice is to climb the mountain at day break

00:25:30 Evan comes into contact and is impressed by "staunch, trade unionists"

00:28:00 In 1913, having cured himself by following the doctor’s advice, Evan then gets a job as a railway porter in Treherbert which is the beginning of 42 years of working on the railways

00:30:12 Evan goes to Cardiff for a medical, which he passes and then goes to Queen Street Station to collect his new Taff Vale Railway uniform; Evan describes the uniform

00:31:43 Evan joins the NUR railway union, costing six pence a week and also joins "the hospital" and the "convalescence home", both costing a penny a week

00:32:37 Evan describes his duties and his increasing understanding of railway operations

00:34:33 A change from oil to gas for lighting the railway carriages

00:37:48 Evan finds a sleeping passenger on the last train of the evening and accompanies him home

00:40:46 Using horse "brakes" (carts) for travel; on Good Friday, 1907, Evan travels by "brake" and plays Pontypridd All Blacks at football at the Mill Field and spends the evening watching the Merry Widow being performed at Treherbert Opera House

00:43:19 Evan remembers the first trams in the area and the roads before pavements

00:45:34 Remembering the 1904 Welsh Revival Festival (the largest Christian revival in Wales during the 20th century); Evan refuses to be baptised as he felt he did not understand it, he eventually got baptised when he got married

00:51:09 Evan watched political leaders give speeches, including, Vernon Hartshorn, Noah Ablett [referred to here as Tom Ablett] and William Abraham (otherwise known as Mabon); union meetings in the Bute Hotel; hard work on the railways

00:54:14 The First World War begins; the railway company would not release Evan to join the fighting and instead he works the signal box for Bute Merthyr Colliery as part of his training

00:56:35 During the First World War, Evan works long shifts at the signal box at Ynysfeio Colliery and Nant Dyrys

00:58:23 [Recording comes to an abrupt end]