Dai Collier: Rhondda’s Forgotten Hero

David John Collier lived through the most turbulent years of Rhondda’s history. A haulier at the Glamorgan Colliery, Llwynypia, he found himself in the eye of the storm that broke over Mid Rhondda when coalowner D. A. Thomas (Lord Rhondda) locked out the workforce at the Ely Pit in the Naval Colliery, Penygraig. The ensuing violent confrontations between striking miners, police and the military gave rise to the looting of Tonypandy and the death of a striker.
When the strike ended in bitterness and defeat, David, a talented sportsman, signed for Mid Rhondda Athletic, ’the Mushrooms’, who were determined to become a rising force in the burgeoning game of Association Football. Yet dreams and aspirations were shattered when war clouds gathered over Europe. David enlisted in the Cardiff Battalion and soon found himself in France on a journey that would take him to the horror that was Mametz Wood.
This is the inspirational story of a man who would not be denied his dream whatever obstacles fate threw in his path.