Aberfan

[Robertj21a]

There is an excellent article on the BBC website this morning:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-150d11df-c...

[hornetrider]

Robertj21a said:

There is an excellent article on the BBC website this morning:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-150d11df-c...

Ah, man

[hornetrider]

From the article above, I didn't realise the chapel where the children had been laid to rest had been destroyed by an arsonist.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wale...

I have no words.

[55palfers]

Humphreys did a very moving piece on Today this morning

[FredClogs]

Is it me or are the words "slag heap" being deliberately avoided?

My mum's family is from that area, she used to tell me stories about her uncles and grandfather being involved in the rescue and how it effected them, horrific tragedy.

[Evanivitch]

Felt the coverage for the minute silence was a bit hap hazard and, well, rushed!

FredClogs said:

Is it me or are the words "slag heap" being deliberately avoided?

Slag means something different these days. Spoil heap is perfectly acceptable alternative.

[NDA]

Robertj21a said:

There is an excellent article on the BBC website this morning:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-150d11df-c...

“I do remember one of my colleagues - an amazing man who’d won a military medal in the war and was one of the hardest detectives I’d ever worked with.

“Each night before we left and the night shift took over, he would go round cwtching (a Welsh term for cuddle or comfort) the children and tuck in the blankets covering their bodies. It was a long cold night ahead.”

Can you imagine?

Utterly horrifying - so sad. The deaths of so many little children is devastating.

[Mr Snrub]

hidetheelephants said:

Nimby said:

Welshbeef said:

... so much worse was the diabolical stance of The Coal Authority/British Coal. Firstly trying to deny any streams existed when it had been reported to hem countless times & the risk it could result in. Then finally when they did accept responsibility the offer to the families for each death was a disgrace.

I just happen to be reading about it in the new Bill Bryson book. He says the NCB offered families £500 but only if they proved they were "close to their children". WTF? Meanwhile they secretly appropriated £150,000 from the disaster fund to pay towards the cleanup.

I saw the documentary the BBC showed about it; the venal behaviour of the NCB was disgusting, particularly with regard to the money raised charitably. I'd compare the NCB's actions with the Ford memo about the Pinto's propensity to set itself on fire and how rectifying the problem would cost more than compensating those burned or killed by the known design fault.

Didn't Robens go to a gala dinner even after he heard of the disaster?

[KrazyIvan]

Such a sad situation. The actions of the NCB after are akin to something from the Victorian work house days. They simply didn't see their actions as really being all that bad.

It is right that what happened that day is never forgotten.

[spaximus]

Robertj21a said:

There is an excellent article on the BBC website this morning:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-150d11df-c...

Wonderfully written and produced piece of work. The pictures seem to meld into the words and some of the quotes like the detective one is so telling how this affected even the hardest people.

The NCB never changed its attitude to be honest, they saw miners as just numbers to be dealt with even up til the end of the NCB.

To steal the money given to help to re do the tips, and to rebuild the chapel even today is shocking.

[Derek Smith]

About two or three years after the horror a friend and I saw a sign for the village as we we en route to our pub for the night. We asked the licencee if it would be OK to go into the village to put flowers somewhere. He said that flowers were transient and that money would be better. My friend mentioned the NCB taking the money and it led to a bit of an emotional rant by the chap. He had a collecting tin behind the bar and there was no doubt in my mind that it would go to the 'parents' as he called them.

The union rep who organised the collection at my firm just after the deaths was furious with the theft, as he put it, of the money. You can appreciate why the miners' relationship with the NCB was fraught.

I was impressed by the dignity of the parents and relatives at the time and since. Quite remarkable.

All those kids, all from such a small catchment. What a way to die.

One of the worst peace time tragedies in my life.

[matchmaker]

Eric Mc said:

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

I was only 7 & I can't really remember much from that era (not even winning the World Cup), but I remember this graphically.

It was terrible, just terrible.

Same here. I think it affected us at home because our parents were so upset by the scenes being shown on TV.

I was 9 - I remember it well

[The jiffle king]

I've read about this tragedy over the years. I can't say anything which has not been said. RIP

[Mr Snrub]

If there is anything positive that can be said it's that it never happened again, and did help us to begin to understand PTSD and the psychological trauma such events have on people.

[Digga]

The effect on Aberfan must have been indescribable. Mining communities are generally very close, as a function of a shared industry. Even the ones around here where the pits are nearly 25 years shut, you still have (ex) pit families and friends networks, accompanied by all the stories surround the pit and the characters.

To have so many people touched by tragedy, either first (their own children) or second hand hand (through losing children of friends and relatives), and for so many deaths to be shared in this way, the grief must have been all encompassing for the area. That the cause of the loss was also the main source of income of the community was horrendous. The only consolation was that it appears it was a lesson well learned, insomuch as we have seen no repeat since.

RIP and my sincerest respect to the survivors.

[StottyEvo]

Guardian said:

They brought out the deputy headmaster, still clutching five children, their bones so hardened that they first had to break his arms to get the children away then their arms to get them apart.

I'm sitting quietly in the corner hoping nobody notices me at the moment. Very dusty in here

[Digga]

StottyEvo said:

Guardian said:

They brought out the deputy headmaster, still clutching five children, their bones so hardened that they first had to break his arms to get the children away then their arms to get them apart.

I'm sitting quietly in the corner hoping nobody notices me at the moment. Very dusty in here

You are braver than I am. I don't have kids of my own, but it takes no effort whatsoever for me to be touched by the plight of others. I simply cannot bring myself to read the accounts - the overall picture of the event is tragic enough.

[so called]

matchmaker said:

Eric Mc said:

2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:

I was only 7 & I can't really remember much from that era (not even winning the World Cup), but I remember this graphically.

It was terrible, just terrible.

Same here. I think it affected us at home because our parents were so upset by the scenes being shown on TV.

I was 9 - I remember it well

I was 8. I don't remember the World Cup at all but remember Aberfan.
I can't say I understood very well other than people all around holding their heads in their hands. It was the first time I saw grown ups crying.
Surprisingly enough, I remember the anger toward the NCB.
Terrible, terrible, cruel tragedy.

[ikarl]

StottyEvo said:

Guardian said:

They brought out the deputy headmaster, still clutching five children, their bones so hardened that they first had to break his arms to get the children away then their arms to get them apart.

I'm sitting quietly in the corner hoping nobody notices me at the moment. Very dusty in here

Reading that I had to keep looking over my right shoulder so the girl sitting opposite doesn't see me well-up.

Unlike most on here, I'd never heard about Aberfan until lunchtime today when I read the piece on the BBC website.

[gooner1]

If I've got it right, this mine wasn't closed until 1969, so presumably it carried on as a working mine.
Where on earth did the miners find the mental strength to re enter the place?
Especially on the first shift back.