19/10/2026
"You Keep the Pencil, I’ll Keep My Shovel": Heartbreak in the Valleys as Beloved Cwm Colliery Legend Ronald ‘Ginger’ Parsons Dies Aged 104 💔 R.I.P. 🕊️
A deep sense of loss has settled over the South Wales Valleys following the passing of Ronald ‘Ginger’ Parsons, the heart and soul of Cwm and one of Britain’s longest-serving coalface miners, who died peacefully over the weekend at the remarkable age of 104.
Born at home on Oak Street in Cwm in 1922, Ginger spent his entire life in the Blaenau Gwent village he adored. To his neighbours, family, and friends, he was far more than a centenarian—he was a living link to the golden, gritty era of Welsh steam coal and a man whose warmth lit up every room he entered.
From Cheeky Teenager to Coalface stalwart
Ginger’s extraordinary 52-year career at Marine Colliery began when he was just 13 years and 10 months old, initially working "on top" at the surface.
When he turned 14 and asked to join his uncle underground at the coalface, the colliery manager looked at his slight frame and told him he was too young and too small.
Refusing to be deterred, Ginger took a friend’s advice and cheekily told the boss, "I’m taller than you!" The manager laughed and replied, "Okay, start Monday."
That exchange launched 47 gruelling years on the coalface, working six days a week in the dark beneath the Valleys. In the mid-1970s, Ginger nearly lost his life when a heavy roof fall trapped him underground. His pit comrades—including fellow miner Christopher ‘Bamba’ Williams—frantically dug him out from the rubble and fashioned a makeshift stretcher out of pit timber to carry him to safety.
Even buried beneath stone, Ginger’s spirit never wavered; when rescuers called out to check if he was alive, he famously shouted back from the dust: "Bamba, I’m okay!"
When offered a move into colliery management later in life, Ginger’s loyalty to his fellow working men shone through. Turning down the promotion without hesitation, he delivered a line that became local folklore: "You keep the pencil, I’ll keep my shovel!" He finally hung up that shovel at the age of 65.
Cwm’s ‘Music Man’ Who Never Made an Enemy 💙
Away from the dust and danger of the pit, Ginger was a devoted husband, a proud father of five children—three boys and two girls—and a born entertainer. Known affectionately around the village as "the music man," he boasted of being the very first person in Cwm to own a microphone, crooning his favourite tune, South of the Border (Down Mexico Way), and sharing jokes over a pint in the local pubs well past his 100th birthday.
Asked in his final years for the secret behind his incredible longevity, Ginger’s answer was as humble and gentle as the man himself.
"I loved everybody in Cwm and I never argued with anyone and never made any enemies. If I close my eyes tomorrow, I’ve had the most wonderful life and been truly happy."
As Cwm bids farewell to its cherished son, the lamps of Marine Colliery may have been extinguished decades ago, but the pride, humour, and comradeship that Ginger Parsons embodied will echo through the Valleys for generations to come.
