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.

It's heartbreaking still.

Any student who does the AQA English paper will be aware of it as it is an article in a sample paper. At first I was uncomfortable with it as a topic, but every class I have taught it to have been full of sadness and questions - they want to know more and to understand. Many have gone home and talked to family about it. It keeps the memory of those poor children and adults alive.

Ashamed to say I'd never heard of it before today but just looked it up. So tragic. All those innocent people and children 😢.

Undoubtedly lessons were learned that have gone on to save many many lives. Lord Robens was Chairman of the National Coal Board at the time, and had to eventually admit that the disaster was foreseeable. He later wrote the Robens Report which eventually established the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 which is the foundation of health & safety legislation today, and the HSE to act as the authority. Terrible things still happen but many things have been prevented.

Just to add to my post above 8, I've got a haunting photo of my mum and her classmates playing in the playground. Very poignant.

It never stops being devastating. The grief and horror of it.

I can never get over that the slag clearance costs were covered partially by the taxpayer and the rest by all the funds raised by the public. WTF? Lord Robens slunk back to his stately home and millionaire lifestyle and didn't pay a penny? The royals visited, how nice, but did they cough up any cash? Makes me sick.