They were hungry and suffered the indignity of the soup kitchens. The coal owners predicted the strike would not last eight weeks. That the miners would be forced to accept their terms which meant a cut in the wages of those miners working in difficult seams. Most of the Rhondda coal, although among the best steam coal in the world, was often difficult to mine, and so most of the miners came into that category. In spite of the coal owners predictions the miners did not stay out for eight weeks they stayed out for nearly eight months.
History records that the miners lost their struggle.
They were forced to accept the coal owners conditions. But the struggle was not in vain since in a few years time a Bill was passed in Parliament guaranteeing miners a minimum wage for working in difficult seams. During these times of social strife many of the Parc and Dare band were to be found in various parts of the country. They were the first of the buskers. But the money they were given for playing in the street did not go towards extra pocket money for them, or to buy a few pints of beer, it was sent back to their hungry families in Cwmparc.