Aberfan silence today

[Chris116]

Although we lived near Wimbledon the Aberfan disaster made a big impression on my family. My father worked as a producer in BBC Radio and was in the studio when he had the control room contact him to say they wanted a 30 second news bulletin. My father agreed the time the next record would end and said they could do the bulletin then. At the end of the bulletin it was agreed they would go straight back into the next record. 

 

At no point did anyone say or ask what the bulletin was about but for some reason my father switched the studio output speakers to broadcast output and was horrified at what he heard as the next record due to play was by Lee Dorsey, Working in a coal mine. Thankfully he got another record on the turntable and played and not many people outside the studio were any the wiser but the whole thing made a big impression on my father who from then on always had broadcast output in the studio when a news item was being broadcast!

[phil-b259]

This is perhaps one of the most important things to remember about today. In the words of John Humphrys.....

 

"If Aberfan stands for anything today, apart from unimaginable grief, it stands as a reminder of this; authority must always be challenged."

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-37722474

[skipepsi]

read this very profound piece on the bbc http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-150d11df-c541-44a9-9332-560a19828c47 very much a lump in the throat read 

Tears never mind lumpy throat I was 10 and went to school in a pit village fortunately in Yorkshire and the tip was well away. I was an avid reader of newspapers as we didn't have a TV those pictures just brought everything back. Mainly black pictures with little light in them. 

[Phil Bullock]

Thank you all for the thoughtful and reflective contributions to this thread

 

The profound effect that the disaster had on many of us is echoed in the current coverage of the 50th anniversary - haven't had time to engage in the way I would like but will catch up with it...

 

Also most appropriate - and thank you all again - that politics did not enter the thread until after 9.15

 

Phil

[Joseph_Pestell]

I too recall the original event quite vividly. I was aged 9 and at boarding school at the time and remember everyone being very shocked and upset.

 

I don't remember any other news event in my childhood having quite so much impact in the UK although I do recall the emotions of both Kennedy assassinations, especially Robert.

[The Stationmaster]

One of the saddest stories I heard came seven years after the event from several of our staff when I worked in the Valleys.

 

Apparently an appeal was made very soon after the event for First Aiders to assist at the site and immediately considerable numbers of railway staff - often referred to in those days as 'ambulancemen' (although they were actually volunteer First Aiders) came in when they were off duty or managed to get relief at work and headed up the valley.  A considerable number - I don't know how many - from various of the South Wales ambulance classes made their way up to Aberfan although regrettably very few, if any, of them had any opportunity to practice their skills and as often as not did no more than assist with the digging or help in the removal of bodies.  All of them that I knew were still carrying the mental scars of that day those years later and although they had seen and in some cases dealt with far more serious injuries or deaths at work it was Aberfan, and their helplessness on that day, which remained in their minds.

[tamperman36]

I am not old enough to have lived through this terrible tragedy, however growng up in a yorkshire mining community was aware of it and saw how it affected people within that community around the anniversaries, how they cherished there children. However as our children these days no longer live within the sight of "the pit" and just see the blank spaces where the slag heaps once stood we can not let them forget this tragedy. It is our job to tell them what happened, to keep there story alive so it doesn't happen again.

 

God bless all of those lost that day.

[Derekstuart]

Incredible though that in the midst of such unimaginable carnage that we see displays of great honour and decency- people risking their own lives on a still unstable site trying to rescue survivors and later recovering bodies (can you imagine that- in a school? No, neither can I). Those who donated money and other things- some of whom probably could not really afford, those who opened up their homes to those who had lost theirs.

 

Sometimes it takes something like this to bring out the good in people. Out of respect for Phil's comment, there's no need to contrast that with the actions of those behind the tragedy.

[stewartingram]

Such a terrible tragedy, I remember seeing it on the news at the time. Thgough as it was so far removed from the flatlands of the Fens, the true depth of tragedy never really reached me at the time. Pehaps advancing years and seniority have now made me realise more.

Such a moving thread once again from RMWeb. One thing does strike me though? The misuse of the word heroes. Completely relevant to the rescuers of the day, but so often used today for the likes of sportsman, and the rewards of honours lists etc, to those who have really done nothing more than follow their hobby in an intensive way. They are not the heroes.

R.I.P. those who suffered.

 

Stewart

[DLT]

I was 8 years old and we lived in North Wales at the time, it was all over the Welsh and English media.

Its still horrifying today, but one of my abiding memories was just how upset my Mother was by the events.

Dave.

[Happy Hippo]

The current chief constable of South Wales, Peter Vaughan was an Aberfan boy, and should have been at Pantglas school on that fateful day, but missed school because both he and his brother had a dental appointment that morning.

 

We came out of our primary school in Rhiwbina, and were met by an army of tearful mothers determined to take their children home to safety, when most of us usually walked to and from school unaccompanied.

 

The teaching staff all knew, but the Headmaster, Mr Walters, decided it was best that we were not told until school ended for half term.

 

My father worked for the BBC, and had been called out to set up outside broadcast links from Aberan back to the main transmitter at Wenvoe.   All the OB units were available and were dispatched to various sites in order to get live broadcast out as quickly as possible.

 

After they'd set all this up, they asked if they could help, and were asked if they could just help the mine rescue teams with the digging.  They were told at the time that there was little hope of any more survivors being found, and it was just the very sad recovery work they would be doing.

 

Along with many others, they stayed and dug.

 

I remember my father's boots standing in our garage for weeks afterwards, still covered in a grey and very heavy coating of coal slurry.

 

He never could never face cleaning them, and eventually threw them out.

 

Recently my mother told me that he'd come home at past midnight , dumped his stuff in the garage and come into the house in his underwear as the rest of his clothes were ruined.  He looked into both my sister's and my bedrooms, then cried.

 

I don't think he was ever quite the same after that.

[rob D2]

Horror.

Just no other words

[jjb1970]

The event was tragic and I do not think words can capture such a tragedy or the pain which must still be felt. However, the tragedy is made worse by the absolutely appalling actions of the government and NCB.

[65179]

I wasn't born until 9 years after the disaster, but learning about it at some point in my childhood it had a real effect on me. When I moved to Cardiff 14 years ago from Manchester I always intended to go to Aberfan to pay my respects. This summer my son and I were heading back down the valley after his first spot of wild camping in the Beacons, and it just felt right to take the small detour and go. I explained to my son what had happened there as we stood in the memorial garden, and then we headed up to the cemetery. The size of the memorial is striking, but it was only close up as I read the names of those who had died and their ages that I was overcome with emotion. I held my 10-year old son, thought of my 7-year old daughter, and wept. Oh the blessing that they are to me and there before me a whole village's little blessings' lives cut needlessly short.

 

My thoughts and prayers are with those who still mourn.

 

Simon

[Devonbelle]

I work on the big railway and was in Cardiff for a meeting yesterday morning for the 50th anniversary - Network Rail did us proud - big image of Aberfan village now projected on the large screen in the meeting and the minutes silence observed at 0915 - very touching, same in the wider NR offices at Cardiff. 

 

My Dad took me as a twelve year old to the Cardiff Valleys and notably Mountain Ash colliery complex in 1979 and I saw an Austerity and Llantarnum Abbey in steam at the colliery, he drove me upto a few other pits (we just wandered round) - he then took me to Aberfan explained to me about Aberfan Disaster - we didn't go into Methyr Vale Colliery - my Dad was sensitive to what had happened as he remembered the disaster occurring.

 

When I think of what happened I still get get a sense of gloom and deep sadness for the poor folk, needlessly robbed of life.