Aberfan 60 year anniversary :(
Discussion
Felt compelled to start a post about the Aberfan disaster, I was only 4 years old when this happened, but the loss of those children was chilling and heartbreaking, and has stayed with me…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/crd930p80900t
There’s a great, hard hitting documentary on IPlayer called Aberfan: The Village That Fought Back, which covers the disaster and the injustices that followed.
All those poor children… and, their parents
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/crd930p80900t
There’s a great, hard hitting documentary on IPlayer called Aberfan: The Village That Fought Back, which covers the disaster and the injustices that followed.
All those poor children… and, their parents
I'd never heard of it until today, how utterly harrowing for everyone involved and connected.
It's getting to the point where even the child survivors are getting into their late 60's/70's - my parents age.
It's something that'd traumatise you as a kid and I don't believe you'd ever truly get over it.
It's getting to the point where even the child survivors are getting into their late 60's/70's - my parents age.
It's something that'd traumatise you as a kid and I don't believe you'd ever truly get over it.
AB said:
I'd never heard of it until today, how utterly harrowing for everyone involved and connected.
It's getting to the point where even the child survivors are getting into their late 60's/70's - my parents age.
It's something that'd traumatise you as a kid and I don't believe you'd ever truly get over it.
I guess it's fair enough you'd not heard of it since it's your parents, not you that are that age. I'm in my early 60s and it's one of those sad stories that was always somewhere in the background. I probably heard about it on Blue Peter. Along with the coat hanger Christmas lantern, dog birthday cake and pooing baby elephants they had some pretty serious stuff here and there. It's getting to the point where even the child survivors are getting into their late 60's/70's - my parents age.
It's something that'd traumatise you as a kid and I don't believe you'd ever truly get over it.
How the people of Aberfan coped with that, especially the children that survived and parents of those children lost, I cannot begin to comprehend.
The one positive thing that came out of this tragedy was that it ultimately lead to the creation of the Health and Safety at Work Act, which has prevented countless injuries and deaths since.
The one positive thing that came out of this tragedy was that it ultimately lead to the creation of the Health and Safety at Work Act, which has prevented countless injuries and deaths since.
I lived in South Wales as a kid in the 1980's, it was still very raw even then 20 years or so later, absolutely heartbreaking, terrible thing to have happened. Not just the people (mostly Children) who died on the day, but the multitude of health issues that the people of the village suffered in the years afterward. The timing of the disaster was tragic as well.
My brother was born six months before the disaster and I was born the following year. My first awareness of the disaster was when I was nine reading the newspaper of the ten year anniversary with my Father and he burst into tears. As a young Father the deaths of 116 children had obviously deeply affected him and the anniversary brought back all the emotions he had obviously felt that day.
Thinking back to my own childhood I couldn't even start to comprehend the devastation that an event such as this would affact a survivor let alone the multitude of parents, siblings and the rest of the close knit families that lived so deeply intertwined in the Valleys at that time.
Thinking back to my own childhood I couldn't even start to comprehend the devastation that an event such as this would affact a survivor let alone the multitude of parents, siblings and the rest of the close knit families that lived so deeply intertwined in the Valleys at that time.
One very upsetting aspect of the tragedy was the utter and complete b
ds at the government end didn't want the oal board to give any compensation. At one stage they actually considered sending someone to the grieving parents and asking "how much did you love your child", seriously wanted to find out how to dodge payments. It took years to get anything, they even trousered public donations. bds.
I'm Welsh, my dad went down the pit at Porth when he was only 14, they were neighbours. I'll never forgive them.
ds at the government end didn't want the oal board to give any compensation. At one stage they actually considered sending someone to the grieving parents and asking "how much did you love your child", seriously wanted to find out how to dodge payments. It took years to get anything, they even trousered public donations. bds. I'm Welsh, my dad went down the pit at Porth when he was only 14, they were neighbours. I'll never forgive them.
It was before my time but I feel like I've always been aware of it, even though I haven't always lived in Wales. I read the live coverage on the BBC at lunchtime and found it very moving, but one post (on page 3) tipped me over the edge into tears:
She went running home but her parents weren't there, with her dad digging, looking for survivors.
"He found my sister Edwina and she was alive but he couldn't get her out because the roof would have fallen in," she said.
"My father laid by her side, held her hand and she suffocated."
It's beyond comprehension how a parent comes back from an experience like that. Appalling.
Thanks for posting this thread, though, OP.
She went running home but her parents weren't there, with her dad digging, looking for survivors.
"He found my sister Edwina and she was alive but he couldn't get her out because the roof would have fallen in," she said.
"My father laid by her side, held her hand and she suffocated."
It's beyond comprehension how a parent comes back from an experience like that. Appalling.
Thanks for posting this thread, though, OP.
gazza285 said:
An entirely preventable tragedy, preceded and followed by disgraceful behaviour from the government and the NCB.
Yup. And we need to recognise the spivs and chancers who want to turn the clock back on H&S so these disasters might happen again. They're already trying to roll back measures to limit the insidious child killing effects of urban pollution.gazza285 said:
An entirely preventable tragedy, preceded and followed by disgraceful behaviour from the government and the NCB.
There was a collection at the firm where I was working at the time. It's the only one I remember where everyone wanted to contribute. We collected a fair old sum. I can't remember anything that hurt me more. Kids. Not only that, an entirely preventable disaster. When the information about warnings, etc, came later, it just made it worse. When we found out some of the money had been given to the NCB, there was anger at my firm. How could anyone think such behaviour acceptable? Stealing from the comunity the NCB had so hiddeously harmed!
We had another collection and the organiser went to the village, I assume to hand the cash over.
When I saw the advert for the TV programme I wanted to look at it, but I can't. I lived through those times, I read the horror in the newspapers and saw the TV news. Can't go through that again. It was formative, and for many I assume.
Legacywr said:
zetec said:
I've recently been watching The Crown (yes I know, late to the party and all that). The Aberfan episode was particularly touching, how do you cope in such circumstances
The Crown on Netflix handled the subject brilliantly. Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff