Aberfan

[crazyg]

Can't see any other thread, and apologise if there is.

50 years ago today, 144 people lost their lives when a mountain of coal waste slid onto a school in the village. Of that total, 116 were schoolchildren.

I was in the 5th form at school that day, and can still remember it vividly.

RIP all those who died, and my condolences to those who lost loved ones that day.

 

[Uncle Wally One Ball]

We had a minutes silence here in Wales this morning, dont know if it was a national thing. Was chatting to my GP this morning who was from nearby and was 6 at the time. He went yesterday to visit there. He was very moved by the graves and said that many of them are now shared graves with their parents, which I thought was very touching.

 

[Uncle Wally One Ball]

This is a very well put together account of it
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-150d11df-c541-44a9-9332-560a19828c47

 

[stony]

I watched a program on it a few years ago, absolutely heartbreaking.

 

[Why Always Ste]

Damn that's messed up. Can't say I have ever heard of this disaster before because I haven't but that's shocked me.
All those kids eh :(

 

[BimboBob]

Max Boyce has done a programme about this. Poignant and very moving.

A horrible tragedy in anyone's book but especially so considering that amount of kids that died that day. If it had happened a few minutes earlier they would have all been in the playground and not in a classroom.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

A tragedy which gave rise to the wonderful piece of legislation that was and is the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, the greatest Act of Parliament in the last 50 years imo.

An unthinkable and avoidable disaster. Heartbreaking.

 

[Gray]

A disaster fund was set up to help the families of the bereaved and it raised a sum of money equivalent to £20 million in today's money.

The government of the day raided the fund to enable them to pay for the removal of the slag heaps.

A disgraceful state of affairs.

 

[malg]

Stunned this hasn't got more publicity.

 

[Dirty Harry]

I worked with a few Welsh lads in the 80's who were miners at the time and were involved in the attempts to rescue the kids that day and subsequent searches, now bear in mind these were real hard, tough, no nonsense blokes, but whenever it was the anniversary, or the subject came up, without exception, they shed a tear and a short silence followed, must have been horrific to have had anything to do with this tragedy and something that's always stuck with me, R.I.P.