Every day throughout May, you will be able to visit the Library of Wales website to download your free story, drawn from Story, vols I and II - a collection boasting the finest Welsh short fiction ever written and featuring some of the most talented literary names from both past and present, including the legendary Dylan Thomas and the award-winning Rachel Trezise, as well as read all about the chosen author.

Day 19: 'Boys of Gold' by George Brinley Evans

(Taken from Boys of Gold, 2000)

George Brinley Evans was born in the mining village of Banwen, in Dyffryn Cellwen, in 1925. He began working in Banwen Colliery, the local Onllwyn coal mine, at the age of 14, in 1939. He joined the army at 18, during the Second World War serving in Burma with the 856 Motor Boats, first with the 15^th India Corps then the 12^th Army. He returned to work in Banwen Colliery mine after the War, married and raised a family before losing an eye in an accident in the Cornish Drift, when he had to leave mining. He began to produce work as a sculptor in addition to his painting after his accident and also wrote scripts for independent television and the BBC. He returned to industry and finally to opencast mining in 1977. His fiction, painting and sculptures have been widely published and exhibited. He published his first book, the short-story collection Boys of Gold, to critical acclaim in 2000, at the age of 77. His autobiography, Where the Flying Fishes Play, is a record of his time as a young man of eighteen, when he joined one of the last major campaigns of World War II. He still lives and works in Banwen, where he is involved in the local community and concentrate on his writing.

You can download the story in PDF format here. (If download does not start, then right click the link and select 'Save link as'.)

Selected bibliography

When I Came Home (Parthian, 2012)

Where the Flying Fishes Play (Parthian, 2006)

Boys of Gold (Parthian, 2000)

Contributed to

Story I (anthology) (Library of Wales, 2014)