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50Th Anniversary Of The Aberfan Disaster
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On the 21st of this month, it will be the 50th Anniversary of the Aberfan disaster.
Sir Karl Jenkins has composed a wonderful new choral work, to commemorate the event :::::::
http://
Sir Karl Jenkins has composed a wonderful new choral work, to commemorate the event :::::::
http://
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“Co-incidentally, I seem to remember that Welsh singer, Tom Jones record of The Green Green Grass of Home, was No 1 in the Hit Parade at the time.
Number one in the Hit Parade at the time of the disaster was “Distant Drums” by Jim Reeves. It had been at No. 1 since 22nd September and was the best selling single of the year. On 27th October this was replaced by “Reach Out (I’ll be There)” by the Four Tops. The Beach Boys took over on 7th November with “Good Vibrations”. It was not until 1st December when Thomas Jones Woodward topped the charts with “The Green, Green Grass of Home” where he remained for seven weeks.
Sorry to trivialise such a terribly tragic event. My father worked with a chap who was from Aberfan. He returned home for a week or so to help out. Though he had not lost anybody, the tragedy had a profound effect on him. Upon his return he could speak of nothing else for weeks and said that there was barely a family in the village that had not lost a child or were not close to a family that had.
Number one in the Hit Parade at the time of the disaster was “Distant Drums” by Jim Reeves. It had been at No. 1 since 22nd September and was the best selling single of the year. On 27th October this was replaced by “Reach Out (I’ll be There)” by the Four Tops. The Beach Boys took over on 7th November with “Good Vibrations”. It was not until 1st December when Thomas Jones Woodward topped the charts with “The Green, Green Grass of Home” where he remained for seven weeks.
Sorry to trivialise such a terribly tragic event. My father worked with a chap who was from Aberfan. He returned home for a week or so to help out. Though he had not lost anybody, the tragedy had a profound effect on him. Upon his return he could speak of nothing else for weeks and said that there was barely a family in the village that had not lost a child or were not close to a family that had.
early example of planning cock up
the school was built on ground that was cheap ( because it was prone to flooding) in this case there was a spring up the hill which pushed up the *** and made it mud ( liquified the earth )
had by the end of the sixties the highest proportion of new cars in England
All the parents got a pay out ( £2500 I think now £25 000) and the found they had nothing to spend it on .....
the school was built on ground that was cheap ( because it was prone to flooding) in this case there was a spring up the hill which pushed up the *** and made it mud ( liquified the earth )
had by the end of the sixties the highest proportion of new cars in England
All the parents got a pay out ( £2500 I think now £25 000) and the found they had nothing to spend it on .....
I was 18 at the time still living at home and the on night shift,at the pit.I got up and mum was really up set watching the news on the TV. I watched and in the end I just had to get out so I took the dog for a walk but I couldn't stop thinking of those poor kids.I called in the local welfare for a pint,and it was quite full but I can't describe the atmosphere, nobody was talking,nobody was playing cards or dominoes, or even talking.All they were doing was sitting there watching the TV as the news kept getting worse and worse.
A truly preventable tragedy.
At the Inquest, the following exchange was heard, between an aggrieved father and the Coroner :::::
Anger at the National Coal Board erupted during the inquest into the death of 30 of the children. When one child's name was read out and the cause of death was given as asphyxia and multiple injuries, the father said "No, sir, buried alive by the National Coal Board". The coroner replied: "I know your grief is much that you may not be realising what you are saying" but the father repeated:
I want it recorded – "Buried alive by the National Coal Board." That is what I want to see on the record. That is the feeling of those present. Those are the words we want to go on the certificate"
One can only feel for the poor parents, that not only had to endure the unendurable loss of their children, but also had to sit and listen to the whitewash of the aftermath.
But at the Davies Inquiry, the following conclusion was reached :::::
"Blame for the disaster rests upon the National Coal Board. This is shared, though in varying degrees, among the NCB headquarters, the South Western Divisional Board, and certain individuals … The legal liability of the NCB to pay compensation of the personal injuries, fatal or otherwise, and damage to property, is incontestable and uncontested"
An entirely avoidable disaster.....not an accident or Act of God.
At the Inquest, the following exchange was heard, between an aggrieved father and the Coroner :::::
Anger at the National Coal Board erupted during the inquest into the death of 30 of the children. When one child's name was read out and the cause of death was given as asphyxia and multiple injuries, the father said "No, sir, buried alive by the National Coal Board". The coroner replied: "I know your grief is much that you may not be realising what you are saying" but the father repeated:
I want it recorded – "Buried alive by the National Coal Board." That is what I want to see on the record. That is the feeling of those present. Those are the words we want to go on the certificate"
One can only feel for the poor parents, that not only had to endure the unendurable loss of their children, but also had to sit and listen to the whitewash of the aftermath.
But at the Davies Inquiry, the following conclusion was reached :::::
"Blame for the disaster rests upon the National Coal Board. This is shared, though in varying degrees, among the NCB headquarters, the South Western Divisional Board, and certain individuals … The legal liability of the NCB to pay compensation of the personal injuries, fatal or otherwise, and damage to property, is incontestable and uncontested"
An entirely avoidable disaster.....not an accident or Act of God.
-- answer removed --
paddywak...I am interested in your post of 23:38.
What mine were you working in, in October 1966.......I take it wasn't Merthyr Vale ?
When I met the sister of a little boy that was killed in the disaster, about 3-4 years ago, she told me the following tale.
In the summer 1966, she was 16 and went out to work, at a nearby clothing factory in Merthyr, about 3 miles away. The morning of the 21st was a real pea-souper.......the fog wallowed in the valley and made visibility very bad. The bus that took her work at 07:30 that morning could only proceed very slowly and they barely got to the factory in time to start work at 08:00.
About 09:30, the Supervisor came around to all the Aberfan girls and women, looking very worried. She told them to go straight home, as something had happened in Aberfan. The women were all married to colliers, or their fathers and uncles were colliers, so they expected another accident down the pit.
They tried to get a bus home but with in a little distance, the bus ground to a halt, as the road was completely blocked by other vehicles, amongst them Fire and Rescue. So they started to walk the rest of the way. They were still unaware of exactly what had occurred. ( the A470 that now by-passes the village had not been built then )
She met her Mum, standing with all the other women of the village, waiting for news, where the school had once stood. Of course, it then became obvious what had happened.
She always reckoned that her parents never really got over the loss of her little brother Peter. She showed me a school photo that was taken that summer. It was in B+W of course, and he looked just like every other 9 year old boy of the 60's......a side parting in his hair and he was wearing a hand-knitted school jumper, as we all did back then. I said that he looked lively and not a little cheeky, as he was trying not to grin too much when the photographer took his photo.
She replied that, yes, he was a little begger, and was always trying his older sisters patience !
She also told me a strange story about the tip that had slid down that day. Although she was now in work, she was still only 16, and every Saturday in the summer, she and her friends would go for a swim in what they called the Black Pool, up on the tip. This unofficial bathing spot had been there for many years, but about 2 weeks before the disaster, they couldn't find it again. It had disappeared and the very landscape where it had once been, looked different somehow.
Of course what had happened was that the underlying tip had changed....not much but enough to drain the pool water away.
What mine were you working in, in October 1966.......I take it wasn't Merthyr Vale ?
When I met the sister of a little boy that was killed in the disaster, about 3-4 years ago, she told me the following tale.
In the summer 1966, she was 16 and went out to work, at a nearby clothing factory in Merthyr, about 3 miles away. The morning of the 21st was a real pea-souper.......the fog wallowed in the valley and made visibility very bad. The bus that took her work at 07:30 that morning could only proceed very slowly and they barely got to the factory in time to start work at 08:00.
About 09:30, the Supervisor came around to all the Aberfan girls and women, looking very worried. She told them to go straight home, as something had happened in Aberfan. The women were all married to colliers, or their fathers and uncles were colliers, so they expected another accident down the pit.
They tried to get a bus home but with in a little distance, the bus ground to a halt, as the road was completely blocked by other vehicles, amongst them Fire and Rescue. So they started to walk the rest of the way. They were still unaware of exactly what had occurred. ( the A470 that now by-passes the village had not been built then )
She met her Mum, standing with all the other women of the village, waiting for news, where the school had once stood. Of course, it then became obvious what had happened.
She always reckoned that her parents never really got over the loss of her little brother Peter. She showed me a school photo that was taken that summer. It was in B+W of course, and he looked just like every other 9 year old boy of the 60's......a side parting in his hair and he was wearing a hand-knitted school jumper, as we all did back then. I said that he looked lively and not a little cheeky, as he was trying not to grin too much when the photographer took his photo.
She replied that, yes, he was a little begger, and was always trying his older sisters patience !
She also told me a strange story about the tip that had slid down that day. Although she was now in work, she was still only 16, and every Saturday in the summer, she and her friends would go for a swim in what they called the Black Pool, up on the tip. This unofficial bathing spot had been there for many years, but about 2 weeks before the disaster, they couldn't find it again. It had disappeared and the very landscape where it had once been, looked different somehow.
Of course what had happened was that the underlying tip had changed....not much but enough to drain the pool water away.
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