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AmeriCymru spoke to Welsh writer Ralph Jones ( author of The Silent Wheels and The Deceit ) about his work and future plans. Ralph lives in Merthyr Tydfil and his first novel ( The Silent Wheels) is the story of the 1984/85 British miners strike and how a group of striking miners survived one of the most bitter industrial disputes in the history of the British trade union movement. A story of some of the comical things that happened during the year long dispute, and how they managed to survive.

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AmeriCymru: Hi Ralph and many thanks for agreeing to be interviewed by AmeriCymru.. What first inspired you to write?

Ralph: I had the idea for the book about the miners strike for a long time, but I never got around to it. Myself and my work colleagues used to discuss the strike and reminisce about the stories. We always said that somebody should write a book about it, so one day I decided to have a go. The main character in the book Big Jones was my best friend, a real great man and I was as close to him as a brother. He sadly passed away three years ago and I then lost interest in doing it and almost deleted the file. One evening my son asked me how the book was going, "I can''t face doing it", I replied to him. He then replied to me, "I think you should finish it as a tribute to uncle Brian, (as he always called him,as he was Brian''s godson), he would have loved that".

I thought then, yes he would so I knuckled down and finished it.

AmeriCymru: Can you provide a little historical context to the events behind your novel The Silent Wheels ?

Ralph: The book is based upon the events of the 1984 British miners strike. I decided not to go down the political route, as it had been done many times before. So I thought that I would try and put into words an alternative side. The stories are all true and are written as I saw then happening and all the main characters are really friends of mine, although some have now sadly passed on.I have tried to capture the camaraderie of a group of workmates who were also friends and the bond that was between them that is still there to this day.

AmeriCymru: I know the book is not really about the political situation surrounding the strike but concerns itself more with the way that people survived the whole ordeal. Care to expand a little?

Ralph: As I said I don''t want to touch upon the political side of the strike. I have tried to show that the mining communities in Wales where I am from,and I suppose everywhere, will always stick together. The strike was not about money it was about saving jobs,most people we spoke to understood that if the mines were closed down there would be a knock on effect on the community that they lived in. Also with a lot of the steel works and other places also being earmarked for closure we were fighting for other people as no one seemed to be safe.

AmeriCymru: What, for you was the most poignant episode you experienced during the strike?

Ralph: The attitude of some people really shocked me. Although in general most people supported us,there were the odd few who would call us lazy and troublemakers. Also some of the things that went on at the picket lines shocked me .I am not saying that the miners were innocent but some of the police tactics were really brutal, with a lot of them just charging in and swinging the truncheons at some of the mass protests.

AmeriCymru: What, for you was the most humorous incident you experienced during the dispute?

Ralph: There are too many humorous stories to pick one out and I couldn''t pick a favorite one. But one story will always stick in my mind and I have told it often.We were up in Oxford and there was a lady sitting on the floor on the pavement and we looked at her and she had no legs. One of the boy''s walked over to her and emptied the contents of the bucket he had,as we had been around the town asking for people to donate to help the miners. We were staying in the students union in the university and when we told the students they all laughed at us and we didn''t know why. A week or two later we were walking down the same street,she was still there, when a car went past and a gust of wind lifted her skirt  up, it was then we saw that she was standing down an open manhole cover with her skirt arranged in such a way that it appeared that she had no legs.
 
AmeriCymru: A little bit off topic I know but still I think many readers will be curious. What do you think is the most essential prerequisite for economic recovery in the former Welsh mining valleys?

Ralph: Personally I don''t think there is a lot of hope for the Welsh valleys as no one will invest anymore. In the town where I live (Merthyt Tydfil), there is a lot of unemployment and the big businesses have pulled out and gone to more economic countries.The government will tell you to go and look elsewhere for work, but there is no work around in the valley''s. If the youngsters want work they have got to leave the valley''s, and when they do they don''tcsome back as there is nothing here for them.

AmeriCymru:  Your second novel is titled The Deceit . Can you tell us a little more about the book?

Ralph: The rage within is a purely fictional story,although some people might think that they recognize some similarities. It is a story about a young boy named Jake,who was born when his violent and abusive father was in prison. Subsequently the father would not accept the boy as his and he resented the child as he was growing up. The boy, although he had a hard childhood, grew up with the love of his mother. He was taken to a boxing gym by a school teacher who had grown up in a similar position to him, after he got into trouble for fighting in the school yard.

Jake was taken in by the owner of the gym after he saw potential in the youngster and he was soon making a name in the boxing ring. But trouble was not far away from the young Jake and he had an injury which finished his boxing career. After this he started to drift into different things.He was given a job working on a farm and this was where he met Fran a girl older than he was. Fran was the girl who taught him about sex, she also used him as her own personal thing. When she moved away without telling Jake it broke his heart and this was when the downwards spiral started. Jake was then taken in by Alex a Londoner, an East end gangster who gave him a job firstly as a debt collector and a bouncer on the door of the club that he had opened in Wales. Alex had an associate, Andy a brutal and vicious man who took an instant dislike to Jake. This dislike led to many brutal fights between Jake and Andy and the two had a mutual contempt for one another.

Fran eventually returned but unknown to Jake she brought her new boyfriend with her, although she continued to taunt Jake. As Jake made his way up in Alex''s company he was drawn into a complex web of corruption which would see him travel to London with Alex, which Jake thought was a start in moving up the ladder in Alex''s empire, this was not to be the case.

The story takes a lot of twists and turns along the way with Jake eventually being framed for the murder of his best friend Slugger, a man who had looked after Jake during his early criminal days.

The story travels from the Welsh valley's to the East end of London and along the way there is a lot of greed, corruption, blackmail, deceit and also a bit of lust, with a few murders thrown in.

AmeriCymru: What''s next for Ralph Jones? Are you working on a new book?

Ralph: At this exact time I am working on a book about the history of Dowlais rugby football club. It is my home club as I was born in Dowlais and it is a subject close to my heart. I am about 75 per cent finished,the only thing is that when I think I am getting close to finishing, one of the older players wil come up to me and tell me some more stories. I have also been trying to write about a local pub I used to go to. There were a lot of real characters there, and I am thinking about doing part 2 of The Rage Within.

AmeriCymru: Any final message for the members and readers of AmeriCymru?

Ralph: I would just like to thank you for giving me this interview and would like to say that if any of the readers and members of Americymru would like to buy the book it does need a good editing, but I thought that the publishers were going to do it. But it is written from the heart, and if anybody would like to send me any questions I will be more than happy to answer them.