General Chat

a JFK moment - we all remember where we were and what we were doing on this day - RIP <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <

Coincidentally 14 years ago today my lovely husband died

AnnC <3 <3

I was only 13 at the time but do remember watching those black & white television pictures as the tragedy unfolded and the utter despair on the faces of the waiting families and those frantically searching for those lost....a very sad day <3

Lots of memories for you Ann. <3

In 1966 I left work at 2pm on Fridays, I had my 18th birthday money + wages burning a whole in my pocket. Walked into town from work, through the bus station and into M & S and bought a couple of things - next Smith's for records but also look at the 2 shoe shops near Smith's.

Saw the news boards outside Smith's - I don't know how long I stood there trying to take in what the boards said. Went home couldn't shop anymore and put on the radio, burst into tears when the newsreader talked about what had happened.

Still makes me tearful. Cost saving that cost lives again.

Remembering all those who died. <3

Can anybody from Wales please tell me how different Wales is now the spoil heaps have been cleared?

I didn't go there until the nineties when the industry was gone and the country had been sanitised. I love the valleys and have to get a dose of them from time to time but I always feel that they were much darker places then with the overshadowing tips.

Maybe I am very wrong about this but I would love to know how the scenery has changed.

<3 <3 <3

A terrible tragedy.

Strangely one of things I remember is 'another news item' which was announced, possibly by Cliff Mitchelmore, from Aberan.
A number of people had been killed in a major town by falling scaffolding.

So sad I remember it unfolding on TV and the disbelief that it could have happened.

AnnC <3 <3 <3 <3 A sad day for you, remember the good times, I am sure there were many from what you say.

Sharron - the scenery has changed in as much as the hills which were black are now green, so a much nicer outlook

Ann <3 I remember the terrible tragic event .we were in work & they turned the radio up. we couldn't believe the tragic story we were listening to .its one day I will never forget .Remembering those who Died .Family & Friends <3

We have been discussing this on our village site for the past week as many families have parents/grandparents who helped with the recovery afterwards.

Last night a list of every victim's names was posted and it's when you read the ages that it all hits home hard again.

I remember the news reports very clearly and the discussions at school about the tragedy.

In the dark Welsh Valley
On the mountain side
Lay the little children
Close to where they died
Their little lives are ended
Before they reach their goal
Tender little children
Have paid the price of coal

We will never forget Aberfan 21-10-1966

Were there other, artificial hills, black ones made of waste?

Wales is beautiful now but I always had the impression that it was kind of overshadowed by it's exploitation really in that the quest for coal overshadowed everything and brought a lot of shadow into places where there should be sun.

Sorry if I seem to be turning into D.H. Lawrence for a moment but I always had a mental picture of the valleys being dark and overshadowed by coal waste.

Were there other, artificial hills, black ones made of waste?

Wales is beautiful now but I always had the impression that it was kind of overshadowed by it's exploitation really in that the quest for coal overshadowed everything and brought a lot of shadow into places where there should be sun.

Sorry if I seem to be turning into D.H. Lawrence for a moment but I always had a mental picture of the valleys being dark and overshadowed by coal waste.

there were coal tips which were turned into hills

coal was king at one time and there is evidence of the coal industry all across Wales - what angered everyone at the time was not only the fact that the NCB denied they were responsible for the disaster - they were ultimately proved to be responsible - but the fact that they used the disaster fund, made up from donations sent from all over the globe, to pay for the removal of the tip - after years of fighting the money was repaid into the disaster fund

It was terrible. Remember it very well.

I was living in north wales and we started to wonder if the slate heaps from the quarries were going to fall onto the road.Anyone who has come over the Crimea Pass at Blaenau Ffestniog and seen the slate right near the road will see what I mean.

The terrible thing was that the so many young lives in the school were lost.
My children were of school age at that time and for a long time we could not forget this tragedy....it will never be forgotten.

<3 <3 <3

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I remember seeing the news reports when I got home from work. The whole country went into shock. A moving mountain of waste from the mines engulfed the school in Aberfan.
Prior to that hardly anyone had heard of Aberfan. But from that day onwards, the word "Aberfan". brings back the horror, despair and disbelief of that day.
Slag heaps were part of the landscape in (at least some) mining areas.
I lived in the West Midlands and there were still a couple of mines in the area in the early 1960's. There were some slagheaps close to the mines, but they were not up a hill, looming over a village and its school.

I believe that some people in the Aberfan area had tried not get the huge slag heaps moved, long before the 21st October 1966. But had been repeatedly turned down.

R.I.P. all the victims, my thoughts go out to the friends and families of all the children who never got to grow up. And all the adults who died at their side.

This (unnatural) disaster, along with several others show just how important Health and Safety is

I was only 9 years old when this horrific disaster befell Aberfan.
I can remember crying when I watched it unfold on the news.


Remembering the children and adults of Aberfan, who lost their lives on that heartbreaking day, 50 years ago <3 <3 <3

And also their loved ones who mourn <3 <3 <3

Aren't the mothers of the lost children wonderful? They have been featured on the television a couple of times in the last week and you can't help but marvel at and admire their strength and dignity.

In fact, everybody who has spoken of their involvement with the disaster has done so with such quiet dignity and calm.

We must all have steel inside. Lucky those who never have to find it.

Also thinking of you today AnnC <3