Aberfan disaster in south Wales, Friday 21st Oct 1966

[butchersapron]

S4C is definitely on FreeSat in England.

Never heard of it before, but seems to be on 120.

 

[dessiato]

If anyone could link me to it so I can watch it later in the week I'd be very grateful.

Aberfan is one of the first memories I have of a UK disaster. I remember JFK, and Churchill funeral but nothing like this. My father always made us watch big events, the moon landing, England winning the world cup etc. He believed it was important. But not this. He said it was too much. He was right in some ways, but I saw it in the papers. It still upsets me today.

 

[butchersapron]

Bump for this - performance on at 7-30.

 

[StoneRoad]

Aberfan was just about two months after my tenth birthday, some of those kids would have been the same age as me ...
I try not to think about it too much, most years I get away without too much distress. But these major anniversaries get me blubbing.

E2A - I'm from Bristol, originally - that's one of the places that supplied coffins for the child victims.

 

[butchersapron]

Don't know if anyone watched it but that was powerful stuff - the piece where the different choirs sang out the names of the dead whilst another one and BT sang Buried alive by the National Coal Board ( part 6 i think) was brilliant.

 

[editor]

It still resonates deeply with me. I've never been able to shake off the sadness and the anger.

 

[Sprocket.]

I recall as a nine year old all the adults crying on the awful day, I remember our bread rounds man Alan sobbing on my mums' shoulder on the Saturday morning. We lived in a mining village in South Yorkshire and many of our close neighbours who moved from Wales to work in our local mines had family or friends around Aberfan.
So sad, I have a heavy heart just typing this. The worst thing I saw as a child.

 

[butchersapron]

If anyone could link me to it so I can watch it later in the week I'd be very grateful.

Aberfan is one of the first memories I have of a UK disaster. I remember JFK, and Churchill funeral but nothing like this. My father always made us watch big events, the moon landing, England winning the world cup etc. He believed it was important. But not this. He said it was too much. He was right in some ways, but I saw it in the papers. It still upsets me today.

Here.

 

[dessiato]

Here.

Thank you. It won't work in Spain at the moment. I'll get my VPN running and try again. But thank you very much for this.

 

[ginger_syn]

A heads up for any one interested , Surviving Aberfan is on BBC 4 at 9 tonight, and the film poem The Green Hollow being shown on Friday at 9 on BBC1 Wales and BBC4 on Sunday at 8.

 

[StoneRoad]

It is just after 0915 on 21st October 2016 - I, and some friends, have observed a minutes silence for the 144 people, including 116 children, buried alive by the NCB when tip7 at Aberfan collapsed and buried Pant Glas school and surrounding houses in coal waste and tailings slurry.
Rest yn Heddwch
Tonight, and over this weekend, we will fly - in mourning - our Welsh courtesy flag and the red duster will be at half mast.

 

[mwgdrwg]

Aber-fan

I Hamelin erstalwm,
Os yw’r hen stori’n ffaith,
Fe ddaeth rhyw bibydd rhyfedd
Yn gwisgo mantel fraith.

A’r pibydd creulon hwnnw
A aeth â’r plant i gyd
A’u cloi, yn ôl yr hanes,
O fewn y mynydd mud.

A Hamelin oedd ddistaw
A’r holl gartrefi’n brudd,
A mawr fu’r galar yno
Tros lawer nos a dydd.

Distawodd chwerthin llawen
Y plant wrth chwarae ’nghyd,
Pob tegan bach yn segur,
A sŵn pob troed yn fud.

Trist iawn fu hanes colli
Y plant diniwed, gwan –
Yn Hamelin erstalwm,
Heddiw yn Aber-fan.

[T. Llew Jones]

 

[High Voltage]

Bloody hell - I can "just" remember this, I would have been about 5 and I think Blue Peter did their annual collection for the children, I think, of Aberfan - we didn't have a TV at home at the time, so I don't know why I've got black and white TV images in my head, but I have, vague images that I didn't really understand at the time, I knew it was bad, but I just didn't comprehend the true horror of what had happened

My thoughts are with those who lost anyone in this disaster

 

[ElizabethofYork]

I've just seen this on the BBC website. It's very moving.

Aberfan

 

[planetgeli]

It is just after 0915 on 21st October 2016 - I, and some friends, have observed a minutes silence for the 144 people, including 116 children, buried alive by the NCB when tip7 at Aberfan collapsed and buried Pant Glas school and surrounding houses in coal waste and tailings slurry.
Rest yn Heddwch
Tonight, and over this weekend, we will fly - in mourning - our Welsh courtesy flag and the red duster will be at half mast.

My school in Wales too held a special assembly and a minute's silence at 9.15 today for those who died. I hope every school in the UK did so too for this was a truly national tragedy, a tragedy designed by the National Coal Board who behaved despicably in the aftermath.

There are no words. Perhaps silence and remembrance is all we have.

 

[butchersapron]

Here.

Just to say again, the piece i talked about that week is here. A great piece for people to watch tonight. Maybe.

 

[newbie]

I had a paper round. Cold morning, early, front page of the Daily Sketch, people in tears. And all the others I suppose but that's the one I remember.

Seeing the pictures over and again at every house, knowing how those the other side of the letterbox would receive it.


RIP

 

[planetgeli]

The pupils of Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni, Caerphilly, have dedicated a room in memorium to the victims of Aberfan. My daughter who is 12 has taken great pride in taking part.

It is a fact that this Labour Government whilst paying back what was stolen from the funds raised for the people of Aberfan, have not payed back the true full amount that should have been returned.

I was, very young at the time; I remember my uncles, who were miners, dropped everything and rushed up to Aberfan to help. When They left, they were strong muscular men who stood tall, big and powerful. Weeks later when I saw them next, they were broken men who sat down in their chairs and cried and did not speak. My aunties knew not to ask questions.

I remember speaking to one of my uncles 30 years after, how did he cope with what he witnessed. He cried, and I never asked again because I think his tears said it all. All of my uncles are now dead and none of them spoke to anyone of what they saw. They returned to work, down the mines and dug for the very thing that had killed so many and life for them continued.

That is horribly beautiful(ly written) and worth quoting again even though you wrote it ten years ago. I just read it to my partner and it made us both cry.

 

[editor]

I was the same age as many of the victims. As a child I remember the great, great sadness that the disaster cast over everyone and everything and it's still impossible to talk about it or watch documentaries about it without feeling tears well up. And fuck the NCB. Not one cunt lost their job over this outrage and the families were cheated out of the money that was so generously donated.

 

[butchersapron]

Would anyone have any info or experience of the school boycotts that took place in the weeks/ months after the 21st?

 

[Red Cat]

Just to say again, the piece i talked about that week is here. A great piece for people to watch tonight. Maybe.

That was beautiful. Really great.

 

[ginger_syn]

The Green Hollow was a beautiful piece, simply done and very moving and well worth watching.

 

[butchersapron]

That was beautiful. Really great.

There's another program about the making of the work, what it meant to the writers/performers/community etc at the bottom here.

 

[dessiato]

I've just seen this on the BBC website. It's very moving.

Aberfan

That's hard to read. I had tears in my eyes reading it.

 

[Red Cat]

There's another program about the making of the work, what it meant to the writers/performers/community etc at the bottom here.

I'll watch that. Thanks.

 

[ElizabethofYork]

That's hard to read. I had tears in my eyes reading it.

Indeed. I defy anyone to read that and not feel emotional.

 

[DotCommunist]

emotional

rage as much as sadness. The shit they do to us. For what, another 0 on the end of the numbers in the bank balance.

 

[StoneRoad]

Another year on ... and still I remember.

 

[Ralph Llama]

One obvious factor in my radicalization.
My great grandparents were beaten for speaking our language, they had to keep livestock and work themselves into the graves just to feed the kids.
Their children were cracked by the war; My Nan worked in catering during the war and was given blue pills to go to sleep and white pills to stay awake. This daily abuse of Dexedrine and valium broke her mind. They were not informed of the danger. My memories of her are not good. Then there was Aberfan, my hometown. My mother survived if you can call it that. She saw everyone crushed to death around her. I don't want to know how many generations of my family will carry the trauma. None of us are very well. There was no compensation. Makes me realize the reality of industrial feudalism and colonialism and how far through history the after effects flow.

I was living in the area recently (i`m a traveler). Was really nice to do some community work, and engage with people who feel it as I do, but it sickened me to my very bones how the people are still being treated. But oh my, are they resilient, positive and community orientated... as travelers (i didn't tell them at first) we had a very warm reception. As soon as we landed the entire community came out to have a nose. We were showered with crates of beer, cakes and you name it(i didn't tell them). I am very proud of where I am from.
It's really nice to see everybody showing respect and remembrance here. Thank you, it's really nice

 

[planetgeli]

Welsh librarian jailed after theft of Aberfan disaster files

A librarian from south Wales has been jailed for stealing books and documents including precious records of the 1966 Aberfan disaster in which 116 children died.

Elizabeth McGregor, 57, took hundreds of books from the public library where she worked in Pontypridd and tried to sell them online to help clear her debts.

When she realised she was under suspicion she tried to destroy some of the books she still had by burning them and attempted to get rid of others by putting them into her green recycling bin.

“She’s a lady in her late 50s who, having had a low level of social interaction for many years, is a lonely individual with her share of physical and mental issues.”

McGregor was given six months in prison for theft and two months for perverting the course of justice.

..............................

A librarian with a low level of social interaction, lonely, with mental health issues? I was shocked.