Remembering Aberfan

[AngeloMysterioso]

58 years ago today. I feel so desperately sad thinking of those children and their families, of the adults who died saving or trying to save them. A whole village, almost every child lost, their lives literally swept away.

And still we bitch and moan about “health and safety gone mad”, and still large corporations are still constantly trying to cut corners and circumvent laws designed to keep people safe. To keep them alive. Really, were any lessons learned?

I just cannot imagine the grief. Especially now I have small DC of my own. I’ll hug them tighter today and think of those children and the people who loved them.

My mom is 95. She still clearly remembers crying in the kitchen about aberfan when the news came on the radio.

I have an indirect connection to Aberfan via my in-laws and the grief is still palpable.
Similar to the tragedy of the children who died in Dunblane.

It is so unfair and horrific you will never get your head around it, and I agree - on the days I think about any of these horrible events my kids will get an extra long hug from me.

I do think H&S lessons have been learned, and most people naturally think about risk these days; that doesn’t mean that unscrupulous and criminal activity still occurs.

Personally I only moan a little bit about H&S - for example the time I had to submit a 5 page Risk Assessment to HR for a staff picnic of 8 people! Even then I did realise that if someone sat on a bee and had an anaphylactic reaction, I should have thought about a response to that (find out people’s allergies in advance; make sure we have phones charged so we can call emergency services).

I remember it well. Me and my siblings came home from primary school and my mum was sitting on the sofa, weeping.
How did those parents ever come to terms with it? Heartbreaking.

Makes me weep every year. I remember as a child, the mother of one of my classmates was a child survivor of the disaster. You could tell she was still deeply affected all those years later.

58 years!
Growing up, I remember my mum talking about this terrible tragedy, and how upset she and my dad felt about it at the time.

I've since looked it up online; a most horrible way to die, and so very tragic for so many families.

Yes, hug your DCs tightly in memory of those many children, and adults, who could never hug, or be hugged, again.

How can so many years have gone by. Aberfan is one of my earliest memories, and I can still picture my Mum crying her eyes out when I got home from school, and the terribly distressing news and newspaper reports.

I had a book written by people who 'lived' it. I was very young when it happened. I remember my mum taking about it. I guess I remember the pictures on the front of my parents' newspaper (The Express) and wondering why it was so close to the school.

Very good point about people mocking "health and safety gone mad."

Just absolutely awful

I'm too young to remember it, but I've heard a lot from people who do to know just how truly awful it was.

I recently read a novel about it that was very moving - 'A Terrible Kindness' by Jo Browning Wroe.

Yes, a terrible tragedy but lots of H&S lessons have been learned and there's been a huge shift in standards since that time. The number of people who've died in workplace accidents since the 1960/70s has fallen by about 90% - see page 12 of:

https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/assets/docs/historical-picture.pdf

As well as the real life memoirs of the disaster, this is an interesting novel from the point of view of a fictional undertaker who helped afterwards:

[[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Terrible-Kindness-Sunday-Times-Bestseller/dp/057136831X/ref=sr_1_11?crid=2FW5IO1AFCL96&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.-cZqHzpGV9pasmANKTxB71o4ayJ5GED0BbBy-1K7hTf5IeYQj73X7cRUudFA0smISiv9OHrRr0L0r7PbBfWxEtX7mCcstJ6Os-4ZpMCqj11XNO-uC2ixfZiCPhKwztyx6mgtKBUwug7pO1sykvOxIsmJCkUmAGWc4u3qiAjJaN5l58OoyAOV8V8LljmREoc0EJ-kRNBG9VIKHp85pm68FDwa10CWKTfPmm_wx_xmL1I.BPAQ6iiMpsklQuPJLCf6wlvOSw7M_0kkujfN_2e_8I8&dib_tag=se&keywords=aberfan&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1729513289&s=digital-text&sprefix=aberfa%2Cdigital-text%2C70&sr=1-11-catcorr

Also, as the Grenfell tragedy and similar teaches us, in some respects things haven't changed as much as they should. Corporates wanting a profit or public bodies trying to save money still make decisions that can have tragic consequences.

I'm 58, it certainly resonates with me that whilst it can seem a long time ago in black in white, for those families and that community it's still very much part of the present.

I was going to mention this book as well. It's beautiful, so well written and moving.

All we can do with tragedies such as this is learn from the mistakes made, so future incidences can be avoided.

@Bjorkdidit Lessons learned here I agree.

It struck me we still need to work on the global big picture - take Bhopal where 8,000 people died in the first week after Union Carbide poisoned them with gas, and the Indian and US government responded woefully. Since that date at lease another 17,000 dead from that incident, not to mention the impact of illness and birth defects caused by the ongoing pollution.

We remember Aberfan lest we should ever forget that greed and stupidity can lead to the most tragic disasters you can possibly imagine.

I remember it. I am the same age as some of those children. Our headteacher was from Aberfan and I remember so clearly him coming into assembly in tears.

A few years later I went to Aberfan and it was such a sad, quiet place.

Remembering them all.

I remember this vividly.
I had started school in September 1966 so I was able to imagine what had happened. It was the first news story that I could relate to. Such a devastating tragedy. I still feel that sense of horror and disbelief today. I can't imagine how it those families, or indeed that community, coped.

I remember my mother and our neighbour discussing it over the fence and they were both crying.

Of all the details I have read, the one that sticks with me is the men making a line to pass the bodies out and a man realising one was his son. Pausing for a moment then carrying on. Heartbreaking.

A younger friend was telling me that he had to go and help with the rescue/recovery work. He was 16 I think. In the Army The Junior Leaders Regiment which was stationed near the Severn Bridge.
Those teenagers should not have had to do that work, totally unprepared for what they found.

I live a couple of miles away from Aberfan, and I regularly drive past the cemetery on the hillside. I think it's impossible to see it and not think about the horror of what unfolded. The memorial in place of the school is very moving.

I remember it happening. I was 6 at the time 😢

Yes, strong memories. Heart-breaking footage, scary images of the slag heaps, our teachers being visibly upset. The first time I remember of being off-timetable, we had long assemblies and wrote condolence letters to the 'people of Aberfan'. Hopefully lessons were learned extremely quickly about the movements and placements of these beasts.

I'm old enough to remember this awful tragedy. I also remember my mum sobbing her heart out, people really were stunned by the horror. You are quite right about health and safety. When some mock the regulations they should be reminded of how this happened. The complete disregard for those who lived near the slag heap and the complete lack of any attempts to dispose of the slag safely.
May their memories be forever a blessing. 💔💔💔

It's utterly heartbreaking. I don't think a community affected by such immense tragedy can ever truly recover from such harrowing loss.
Reading about it makes me cry. All those innocent lives lost when it could have been so easily prevented.

My dad grew up in a neighbouring village. He was mid teens at the time.

He and his dad went to help with the rescue effort. My dad recalls being given some chalk to carry to a hall and going in to find body bags - the chalk was to be used for them he thinks.

So horrifically sad. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

Thinking so much today of all those still affected