Aberfan - 40 years on

Bazf · 21-10-2006, 20:59

Saturday marks the 40th anniversary of this horrible tragedy which killed 144 people, 116 of them children.

This website will tell you more about it, be warned that it isn't nice reading - http://www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/politics/aberfan/chap1.htm

On Tuesday Cardiff and Southampton fans raised nearly 5 grand to go towards the upkeep of the graves, which gets no public funding. Norwich have agreed to have a minutes silence and wear black armbands for the game on saturday.

Saddest.Quote.Ever.

Quote:
We didn't go out to play for a long time because those who'd lost their own children couldn't bear to see us. We all knew what they were feeling and we felt guilty about being alive.

Pupil, Pantglas Junior School

R I P.

grannyclaret · 21-10-2006, 23:06

i remember that day as if it was yesterday,,, it was soo sad,,,i had a little boy nearly 2 and a new baby,,, it made me feel how precious life is.....
those poor mothers in wales losing all their little ones like that..

jimmi5bellies · 22-10-2006, 13:27

Before my time but i still knew about it, possibly from the 25th anniversary.

Tragic.

garinda · 22-10-2006, 13:30

It was a terrible, terrible tradgedy.

I remember growing up in the seventies, and whilst at the Rovers, when they played any Welsh team, the Blackburn End used to chant 'Where were you at Aberfan?'

Sick beyond reproach.

bullseyebarb · 22-10-2006, 17:13

I remember it well. Can't believe it's been 40 years!

ANNE · 22-10-2006, 21:22

I was only 10 at the time but I remember it like it was yesterday. All those lives lost and their poor grieving parents.
It was an awful tragedy.

katex · 22-10-2006, 22:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by grannyclaret

i remember that day as if it was yesterday,,, it was soo sad,,,i had a little boy nearly 2 and a new baby,,, it made me feel how precious life is.....
those poor mothers in wales losing all their little ones like that..

Me too, G-C, my daughter must have been about the same age and you do personalise such a distaster and imagine if it were your own child, don't you ?
They would now be in their 40's/50's and all the parents must be thinking of this just now ...... can't say nowt else .. sorry .. too upsetting to complentate.

Doug · 22-10-2006, 22:21

I remember seeing the aftermath on the news at the time. Something that will stay in many memories for many years. God Bless those who still suffer the hardship of those lost and those passed.

Busman747 · 24-10-2006, 09:22

I am sure that I read somewhere in the past week that they are trying to claim back £150,000 that was taxed by the government at the time of the tragedy. This would have been a huge amount at that time!

Busman747 · 24-10-2006, 09:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Busman747

I am sure that I read somewhere in the past week that they are trying to claim back £150,000 that was taxed by the government

Sorry, misinformed by the media - the money was used to CLEAR UP the slag pile and as stated below, was returned in 1997

The removal of £150,000 from the disaster fund was only rectified when Ron Davies became Welsh Secretary in 1997.

It was one of his first acts in office and he stated at the time: "It was a wrong perpetrated by a previous government - a Labour secretary of state.

"I regarded it as an embarrassment. It was a wrong that needed to be righted."

Insurers and institutions wrangled over liability the ruins of the school and nearby houses were left to stand for a year.

In contrast, parents of children received £500 each from the NCB and had to 'prove' that they were 'close' to their children before any payment for mental suffering were made.

Lord Robens, ex-Labour Minister and Chairman of the National Coal Board (NCB), refused to go immediately to Aberfan.

He preferred instead to proceed with his installation as Chancellor of the University of Surrey.

He later blamed the disaster on 'natural unknown springs' and later ran a media campaign to maintain his position as NCB chairman ahead of the inquiry report.

Cliff Minott, chairman of the Aberfan memorial fund, said he was delighted by the book.

'Wrong perpetuated'

He said the study confirmed that the government had no right to take the money for the removal of the tip out of the fund, which raised the equivalent of £18m.

Mr Minott said he believed thee would have been less bitterness if responsibility had immediately been taken by the Coal Board, which was found responsible after a public inquiry.

"They did return the £150,000, but there was not a halfpenny of interest from the money that was lost," said Mr Minott.

Aberfan had to wait nearly 30 years for an apology from the Charity Commission.