Dunblane

Why would you want to watch that? Surely you can remember the horror without a tv programme going over it. Let it rest.

It was important to watch , as many bereaved parents haven't spoken before. They deserve a voice. It was very moving and as an aside, gun laws were changed in this country, because of Dunblane

I have relatives living near Dunblane, for me it would have been disrespectful not to watch it. Now, as then, the people of the village show great courage and enormous dignity in the face of terrible tragedy. Their suffering deserves to be remembered.

I agree. Their pain and suffering must be ongoing but they have faced it with such courage and fortitiude. We must never forget events such as this.

I did see a preview of the program but couldn't bring myself to watch those poor people still suffering I can't imagine how painful it must still be.

I think we all remember where we were on that day when the news broke, how we felt and no doubt how we shuddered to ourselves that that could easily have been any one of us. The TV programme did not go over the horror of it in a sensationalist manner, I thought the parents, teachers, police etc. all spoke in a very measured and compassionate way. The mother at the end summed it up well, "It is what it is."

Tegan, I agree we shouldn't forget. I feel the same about Aberfan.

Yes Aberfan really got to me. That would have been avoidable if they had paid more attention to the safety of the piles of mining waste piled up on the high sides of those valleys.

I was at the Aberfan disaster, I lived there. It was not the piles of waste on the tips, all the valleys had them. The cause was the tip had been placed on on underground stream, my father attended that school as did I. For years the main road would have slurry on it. The year before the disaster the head of the school was photographed on the front page of The Merthyr Express handing in a complaint regarding the slurry . The village knew the stream was there but the N.C.B. denied all knowledge . The people who died in Aberfan were killed by the N.C.B. Unlike Hamilton there was no question of an unstable mind, the deaths were caused by the owners of the pit who started the tipping and the N.C.B. Who took over the pit. Fifty years ago this October, doesn't seem fifty years , seems very recent.

I feel so deeply for the people of Dunblane

I remember our school sending books to Aberfan. I suppose it was to re equip the new school.
I also remember a vague feeling of surprise at the feel of tears rolling down my cheeks as I read the newspaper reports of Dunblane. We learned from it and amended laws accordingly. How miserable and frustrated the parents of all the children killed in all those similar school massacres (not too strong a word) in America must feel. Obama certainly is very distressed about it but can't seem to get those rednecks to understand.

I did not watch the programme as I did not feel up to all that sadness. What a terrible time it was for the whole village; and how very sad.

I watched the programme with trepidation, hoping it would not be sensationalist - which it wasn't - and trying to discern why it was made.

I felt it aimed to mark a significant historic event - which also led to gun law change in our country - in a respectful way and gave a voice to those involved. As a bereaved parent myself, approaching the tenth anniversary of loss this year, I am increasingly aware of the poignancy of significant year markers and 20 years on, I hope that in the making of this programme, the bereaved families that took part will have found it a helpful process.

I felt the university lecturer, who had lost his wife to breast cancer, before losing his only child in the shooting, was particularly inspiring.
Yes, a very sad programme, but he is an example of someone who has come through tragedy with a really positive attitude and I loved the fact that he said "I still want to offer things to life and see what it has to offer me" - not a word for word quote, but my sentiments exactly!

I so admire that head teacher too.

I was going to watch it, but then decided against it, as I knew it would upset me, and that I'd keep going over it in my head. That sounds a bit pathetic, perhaps.
Having small grandchildren or great-grandchildren makes it hit even harder, doesn't it? We identify with the horror of that terrible day.
As with Aberfan, we probably all remember what we were doing when we heard the first news reports.

When the shooting happened, my DS2 was the same age as those children. I remember crying as I carried him up to bed and tucked him in that night. We take so much for granted when our children are happy and well.

The poor mother, whose child was injured, but died without her in hospital - presumably because they weren't able to identify who was who - I understand how that will mark her for the rest of her life. I wasn't with my daughter when she died and wasn't able to see her ever again as she was so badly injured in a car accident. These things get in the way of grieving.

We are a society that is very uncomfortable with grief. I do not think it is maudlin or wallowing to have programmes like this. I am aware of my own 'fascination' for how others grieve, partly because there are few opportunities to explore my own feelings and so it is helpful to hear of others stories and to reflect on their journeys in relation to my own.

I am really fortunate - I have found a happy life again - and so have my other children. We will always carry what as happened in the fabric of us, but it hasn't defined us in negative ways. But it must be so very much harder if you lose someone because of an act of violence.

So true. If a person you love dies because of illness, an accident or even suicide, I guess you finally learn to accept it and carry on. If a person's life is taken away by someone else, however, as in murder, I'm not sure you can ever come to terms with it.

I watched it too - I think it is important to remember and reflect on these events. Like numberplease I really felt for the Headmaster, feeling guilt over something for which he was in no way responsible. My DD who was 11 at the time, remembers their teacher sitting them all down in the afternoon and explaining what had happened - she recalls their disbelief and sadness - and fear that the same could happen to them.

It made me think of wee Andy Murray hiding under the headteacher's desk and all the criticism he has to take now for not smiling enough. They love him in Dunblane.

I think it is so important to remember, we should never forget these events. I can remember exactly what I was doing when I heard about Dunblane. I was in a shop with a childminded child in a pushchair, and it came over the shop radio. I used a four letter word in a phrase out loud and had to apologise to a lady standing nearby. I never swore in front of children usually. It was such a gut response of total horror.

I also remember Aberfan, very, very vividly, as I was a schoolgirl in South Wales and the same age as some of the children who died. The National Coal Board behaved appallingly. Of course they knew about the spring above Pantglas School.

I think I shared my family memories of Aberfan here previously, so won't repeat them. Perhaps in October. We should all remember then.

I didn't see the programme, but Dunblane marked me in its own way . In the Eighties I learned to shoot target rifles and loved the hobby, hoping to take it up again one day. The desire totally left me after Dunblane.
One of the reasons I love the tennis playing Murray brothers is that theirs is a positive connection with Dunblane. We had a holiday near there when my children were small, lovely part of the world. Hence my swearing, I guess.

Imperfect27 my heart goes out to you, and anyone else who has lost a child or grandchild. I watched the programme to hear the stories; of the survivors, bereaved and all the others caught up in this awful tragedy.
I thought the headteacher an amazing and inspiring man, he could never have dreamed of ever having to deal with such an atrocity and he did so with such dignity - and in front of the world's media.
Andy Murray was a pupil in the school at the time, which I think is one of the reasons he feels such a connection with his home town.

Didn't see the programme, but agree with Lynnie1. A quotation from Santyana carved in marble at the exit to Dachau concentration camp quotes "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" So very very true, and if remembering Dunblane keeps our gun laws in the status quo then bring it on.

Watched it and wept, again. So glad that the evil person who carried out these killings was barely mentioned.

Nothing wrong with our gun laws. You are never going to avoid the pathetic nutty loner. Well, at least schools are, at last, hotter on security.

If we can make it as hard as possible for pathetic nutter loners to get guns in the first place the laws have worked. Unfortunately they didn't at the time of the Dunblane atrocity. They've been tightened up now thank God.

I'd taken my P7s for PE to the hall at the same time and came home to hear the news.. our school security was made 100% better after it happened, but to late for Dunblane.