Sixty years on since the Aberfan disaster

[Accy cyclist]

I couldn't let the anniversary pass without a mention. Most of us on CC are probably like me old enough to remember it. I remember as a five year old the black and white BBC news that day with a solemn Richard Baker reporting about it.
60 years on: The Aberfan disaster through the eyes of those who survived - BBC News https://share.google/gq0p8MWbRW0AN9KOI

 

[SuperGalactian]

Well done. There have been so many awful tragedies since then, but none so heart-wrenching. I was only in my early teens, but the grim pictures are seemingly etched in my head.

 

[Drago]

Im 16 months short of being born at the time.

Terrible, terrible incident, and the government didnt shower themselves with glory in the aftermath (not intended as political, just an observation of the different time it was then).

Let us fervently pray there is never a repeat.

 

[Chislenko]

Cysga'n ddawel plant bach.

(Sleep in peace little children)

 

[gbb]

Id have been 8 i guess and remember the sombre news reporting on B&W tv .
Didnt really understand at the time but having since witnessed one mother's anguish when her son tragically died, a memory thats stayed with me 50 years..you can only imagine the grief it caused to so many people.

 

[slowereveryyear]

My mum was born just up the road and was terribly upset when it happened.
She became very angry when none of the officials of the National Coal Board were ever prosecuted . Even more angry when the Coal Board demanded £250000 from the disaster fund to clean the site up.

Punish the innocent and reward the guilty at it's finest. It was ever thus and always will be.

 

[FrankCrank]

A news story I'll never forget. In fact, as a five year old, I thought this was the first news story that had been aired on TV, that news stories had just been invented, so to speak. My first junior school had only two classrooms, and the thought of all my classmates being wiped out in one fell swoop really left am impression. Such a terrible time for all those in Aberfan.

 

[Beebo]

I was told about it during school assembly in the 80s. One of our teachers was part of a local Welsh rugby team who volunteered to dig alongside the many other rescue teams.

He was visibly moved to tears during the assembly. For us children, in a school in Surrey aged 10, the whole thing seemed a long way from home and a long time ago.

For him it was only 20 years ago and he was probably suffering PTSD. (As an adult you realise something that happened 20 years ago can feel like yesterday)

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

It happened on my 1st birthday

 

[SuperGalactian]

I was only in my early teens, but the grim pictures are seemingly etched in my head.

Especially this one. It was the stlllness of exhausted men realising that there would probably be no more survivors recovered.
https://media.gettyimages.com/id/90...=hfOs8uKPpIb6Pu5es66wOwH_T_QRc1OJkX5gaVENqTU=

 

[Accy cyclist]

I think we had a little prayers and hymns service for the child survivors while at our nursery school. We made cards with messages on and gave toys, trinkets etc to be sent to them. I think this was part of a nationwide thing organised by the BBC's Blue Peter.🤔