Remember Aberfan

Very well. It was just tragic!

Remember the day. Living in a mining community and with miners in the family there was a great sadness all over. I used to play on one if those coal bings, rolling down, and my father would go absolutely mad when he found out. Couldn't hide it with the coal dust stuck to my behind..

Thankyou Anniebach, that’s a lovely thing to do.
I was 12 when it happened and remember feeling so bad for those little children and their poor parents.

Thank you ANNIEBACH

I was into my second day of labour with my son. The news, as I managed to pick it up, was devastating. 24 hours later he was born, 4lbs 6ozs, three week’s early and I could only think I was so, so lucky to have him. 58 today!

I was 9 years old and remember it well, seeing the devastation on the news, so terribly sad. 💔

It’s a news event we never forget
I agree with Susieq62 “ A terrible kindness “ is a beautiful book . I was nearly put off it by the tragedy of the initial storyline about a young mortuary technician whose life was changed after he volunteered following the Aberfan disaster . It doesn’t play down the sadness but is ultimately such an uplifting positive story .

I was 15 when I sat and cried with my parents when the news was on TV.
A few years ago I was on holiday in Wales and we made a special trip to the memorial garden at Aberfan. It's very moving and peaceful there.

when not one, sorry, clicked on post by mistake instead of review.

I was about the same age as the children who died in Aberfan on that day. I had grandparents living in Fife, so I knew very well what a coal bing looked like.

I can still see the expression on my mother's face when she told me what had happened.

I have been saddened by the fact that one other disasters concerning children occur and journalists are looking for comparisons that most of them seem to have forgotton (or never been told?) about Aberfan.

I was 16 and remember watching the awful scenes unfold on TV .
A very good book is “ A Terrible Kindness” by Jo Browning Wroe
which identifies the services used after the tragedy.
Yes it should have/ could have been avoided if assessments had been made and experts listened to.

I was living in Wales and the same age as the children of Aberfan and can vividly remember my Mum crying. It was so sad and living in a Welsh community made it more poignant. With the decline of the coal industry it should never happen again.

I was 11 years old and had just started at Grammar School. My Primary school was near two coal tips - almost certainly not as near as Aberfan, but I remember being very worried for my friends who were still at that school. Since then those tips have had trees planted on them to stabilise them, which seems to have worked. Co-incidentally Aberfan was the same day as my former headteacher was killed in a car accident and I remember sobbing my heart out at both disasters - I guess I was also still navigating the transition from primary to secondary schooling, which made me more sensitive.

It is one of my earliest memories. I can remember seeing it on the news. I would have only been just over 4 years old at the time but it really stuck with me.

I had never heard of this, i was only 3 then,and we lived in the west riding of yorkshire-but none of my family had ever spoken of it over the years, probably as we used to be from a mining family in barnsley, with my mothers father having died in the pit there.

Thank you, Thank you Blinko the link posted by pen50
is true, a year before the disaster Ann Jennings headmistress
of Pantglas school was given a signed petition from the village
regarding the slurry, she gave it to the council, it was on the front page of the local newspaper, a year later she died in the school.
Thank you pen50 for the link , it is the truth

Not quite two

I was not quite three at the time, so not old enough to remember it, but one of my cousins was born on that day. I saw a documentary about it a few years ago and the thing that struck me most was the interview with the headmaster. He had a photograph of the first eleven football team, who had won a trophy the previous day. Every single boy was killed. He also said that the following day was half term, so had it been just one day later, those children and teachers would have survived.

I was 10 when this tragedy occurred. My grandmother who was in the Red Cross was sent to help and manned the mortuary. It was only as an adult when I became a teacher that I really understood what had happened and how brave she was....RIP peace children and adults. We won't forget you.

Thank you Anniebach for your input to this thread, telling the real story. I have always wondered why no one was held accountable.

The flowers you give every year - such a beautiful gesture. Thank you so much

I was only 3 when it happened so don't remember the day. We did, however, learn about it in school many years later. I'm still horrified and upset by it. It's one of those awful events that never leaves you.

I was 9 years old and our headmaster came in to tell us of the tragedy. His friend was a headmaster in a neighbouring village to Aberfan. Our school was very near to our local pit and, though I couldn’t actually see the slag heaps from the high classroom windows, I remember in the following weeks staring up at the windows and being frightened, wondering if the same thing might happen to us.

My dear Grandad was brought up in a village very close to Aberfan & the tragedy affected him very deeply. Thanks so much anniebach

Doodledog

I was primary age, so the same age as the children, and I remember my mother being distraught.

Same here, it affected people across the countries of the UK. I was 8 at the time, my sister 5. I think everyone thought there but for the grace if God go I.

I was 7years old and remember going to my grans house after school and being hugged by my gran, my aunties and my mum. They had been crying since the news broke and were so upset at the losses these families had to endure. I couldn’t sleep for several nights thinking about the poor families trying to come terms with their loss. There was a coal bing no far from our street, but I never went near it after that, was too scared.

I was ten and remember quite vividly the news. I think the whole country was in deep shock.

There is an article here:

www.freespeechbacklash.com/article/aberfan-disaster-21-october-1966

about the tragedy and also, regrettably, the foreknowledge, the culpability, and the cover-up. It seems like a lot of people had a lot to answer for.