Aberfan

There is nothing I can add to the sentiments expressed already. I have thought about Aberfan and felt so sad all week. I was 13 on the day the tragedy occurred and my family were having a huge birthday get-together that night. Needless to say, our hearts were just not in it and most of us left early.

I watched the rescue operation on our grainy black and white TV on the Saturday afternoon and again on the Sunday. I had never seen my Father cry before.

It was a terrible time and I just can not imagine what those people must have gone through, some of them frantically searching for their own children. It's unthinkable.

This should never have happened ......it should never happen again.

Thank you all.

Aberfan was betrayed from the start of the opening of the pit , I will not speak of it on this thread , so many kind words must not be overshadowed by the deeds of the self serving . I would advise if anyone visits the village , never mention Lord Robbins @ Co. Not wise !

I'd just turned 21 a few days prior to the Aberfan disaster; the black and white tv pictures can never and will never be forgotten, a tragedy so huge as to be almost incomprehensible.

Went off to my job in central London the next day and one of my colleagues (a woman!) remarked on the number of deaths and expressed the view that it was better that children had died than adults, as the adults had families to look after. 50 years on I still go cold with horror at such a sentiment ....

Annieb thank you so much for your words and for the flowers on our behalf. I was 19 and remember the event so vividly. Totally heartbreaking. I weep now for all those families.

At the same time I am still angry that no one was held responsible in any meaningful sense. I saw on tv in the last few days that Lord Robens was appointed chairman of the Committee for Health and Safety at Work just months later. Quite appalling!

Annieb thank you for sharing. I have and never will forget Aberfan. It must have been only a few days afterwards that we were travelling to Ynysybwl to see my grandparents. I would have been 15 and my sister 13. I have no idea why, but a policeman directed Dad's car off the main road and that took us straight through the village. The memories of that drive stay with me. So many people just standing in the roads, many in tears, many just vacantly staring and above all the absence of children. My grandfather was a miner at The Lady Windsor Colliery and my family spent many happy weeks every year in Ynysybwl. The memory you shared of your father's anguished cry is truly heartbreaking. Sending you a hug x

So many families torn apart and so many children, victims and survivors, robbed of their childhood. Sadness for all the suffering, which didn't have to happen, and anger at the incredibly grasping and insensitive attitude of the NCB. I can only guess at how hard it was to suffer all that grief and have to bear the terrible treatment by those responsible.

At last I've found this thread! I posted how I feel on another thread as I didn't realise this was here till ab told me, so won't repeat except to say how deeply saddened I was and am at this terrible tragedy.

I have found yours posts very moving Anniebach thank you for posting so eloquently. I have watch the t.v programs. I was horrified at the way the villagers were treated and saddened by the personal stories and amazed by the stoism of the people who fought so long for justice while suffering from unbearable, unimaginable grief. Thank you again.

The people of Aberfan have been in my thoughts all week. Annie thank you so much for the flowers, a beautiful thing to do. Mr C was close by when the disaster happened and did his best to help, he says little about his experiences and hasn't been able to bear to watch the programmes. You were brave to go today, hope you were able to get comfort from your friends and family. So many lives lost and damaged, so many people who must not be forgotten.

Oh, Anniebach, how kind of you to place flowers on our behalf, what a lovely thought.

I have only just seen this thread, but have had Aberfan and its people in my thoughts and prayers this week, and kept the silence today, along with so many others. I come from a Durham mining family and remember my mother railing against the "bloody Coal Board" and all its works when we heard the awful news. Her father and his family before him were Welsh miners, and even though they were estranged, this hit her very hard. What a waste, what a tragic waste.

Terribly sad watching the 50 year anniversay of Aberfan on the news tonight. One man who was one of the few child survivors recounted how people didn't really talk about it afterwards, that enforced stoicism had obviously affected him. Another man remembered his little brother and said how he missed growing up without him. I was a child when it happened but I do remember the newsreel and my mother saying it was an avoidable tragedy. Heartbreaking all those young lives that ended before they had begun.

I have found myself thinking a lot about it today. It feels different at the age I am now to when I was a busy teenager with less understanding of life, 50 years ago.

Thank you Tegan, l too light candles , the light which glows in the darkest of times.

Well, I went home , was at the memorial garden for the minutes silence , very peaceful , many tears flowed . Then went up to the cemetery , families of those who died were there, lots of flowers ,ours was among them .

The village had rather a lot of police around the centre and the garden because Charles was visiting. Tv cameras seemed everywhere .

There is still anger, the programme on the enquiry brought back the injustice .

Chatted to relatives and friends , they were moved that so many around the country remembered the children ,those who survived and those who died .

I am now glad I went, I got the courage from here , told myself I was there for my family now dead and for those here who care so much for the people of Aberfan

Thank you x

Annie;My computer stopped working yesterday so I'm catching up with all this today. I watched the programme last night; didn't intend to...felt it would be too painful, but it was very sensitively done and, after watching the first few minutes couldn't move from my seat; I was transfixed. I was thinking of you throughout the programme....knowing that you would have known all the people in it. It made me want to go to the memorial garden and lay some flowers one day, so thank you so much for arranging some gransnet flowers. It was strange seeing people being interviewed that have been faceless and nameless to me for the intervening years.There's no such thing as a'good' accident, but accidents that should never have happened are by far and away the worst . I'll go and light one of my candles now....love and hugs to you..

gettingonabit and anniebach. Thank you for reminding us. Thinking of all those lost and those left behind today. ?

Thinking of you today anniebach and all those who, like you, have suffered

So much sorrow anniebach, my thoughts are with all those affected by this dreadful event. I was at school that morning and a special assembly was called to tell us what had happened. I have never forgotten.

Yes indeed, God Bless all in Aberfan, they are not forgotten.

Nothing whatsoever on London Tv today except highlights of the concert. They have mentioned Aberfan on Breakfast this morning and John Humphrys did quite a good piece.
My daughter will record lots for me.
God Bless all in Aberfan today

Just listened to a moving item on Radio 4.

Watched the Hugh Edwards prog. on catch-up and it all became dreadfully clear!
My thoughts will be with you Anniebach and the many from the village who suffered because arrogant men refused to acknowledge that there was a problem, tried to shift the blame when it became clear that there had been one, and then had the effrontery to suggest how the charity money should be spent.

There is programme tomorrow night called Green Hollow, thought you may like to know in Welsh it means Pantglas which is the name of the school

Having seen it on Iplayer yesterday I just could not face watching it again. OH will have to do it on catchup. It has made me feel very sad all this week.

I remember hearing the news on the day, such a tragedy. The people of Aberfan who lost their lives, and their families, will be in my thoughts tomorrow.

wot, the minutes silence is at 9.15am , the time the tip hit the school and houses. There is a service at that time up the cemetery .

Lully, it would have cost them money so they ignored the many complaints , there was water seeping into the road over seventy years ago when my dad was a pupil and still leaking when I was a pupil .

There are no tips there now so it's a case of How Green Is My Valley now, but - How Happy Was My Valley

You have all been so kind to my beloved village and to me , thank you