To remind people of the minute silence

[Famalam13]

Posting here due to traffic.

Today is 50 years since the Aberfan disaster in which 116 children and 28 adults died. A minute silence will be held at 9:15am.

I remember this horrible day so clearly. I was at school (in Northern England, not far from Manchester.) I would have been about 6 weeks off my 10th birthday. Our area had several coal mines.

I remember the headmistress coming around to inform each class. Our teacher, at that time, was from South Wales and I can recall that she cried and had to be taken out of the classroom.

Nobody spoke about it - we just sat quietly trying to figure out what had happened. When I got home that night my Mum hugged me....a lot!!

As the years passed my Dad used to be very upset on each anniversary of the disaster. His father had been a coal miner. As I got older Dad used to tell me how badly the people of that village were treated.

The only word that describes how myself and my classmates reacted when we heard about the disaster was 'overwhelmed.' My love and thoughts go out to everyone in Aberfan - especially the bereaved families xxxx

I remember - I was 10 years old and at school in Cardiff. I was terribly shocked that it could happen and I remember the disaster fund and donating my 2 shillings pocket money. Now still in South Wales I feel a terrible anger both at how it was allowed to happen and the way they were treated afterwards. I kept the silence this morning and my thoughts are with the valley

Thank you for posting . I watched the tv show and cried the whole time. Cried reading that letter. Cried for all those lost that day and those left behind. Utterly devastating.

I'm struck with the similarities with Hillsborough in that those who were bereaved had that grief compounded by appalling injustice. I honestly don't know how they kept going.

MissHoolies

Yes and no one was sacked or demoted let alone prosecuted. They eventually and begrudgingly paid each family £500 in compensation the absolute minimum.

Utter bastards.

it's disgusting to think that all those people from all over the world gave money to go to the grieving families and then instead the government took it to clear up the remaining tips.

And that the Charity Commission were worried about giving too much of what was left to the families because they weren't used to having money, so to work out how much to give actually considered asking grief-stricken parents ‘exactly how close were you to your child?’; those found not to have been close to their children would not be compensated.

They didn't want to give them more than £500 because of faux concern that it would be too much for their poor working class minds

I watched a report on this on TV and one man said how this week was the first time he had ever spoken to his family about being in school that day and seeing his friends die. He had kept it inside all those years. No psychologist on site that time. Another survivor said as kids they couldn't play as it seemed wrong to be outside playing when other families were grieving so he grew up with no play. The whole thing was so heartbreaking.

anotherone yes i just read that the fund set up to help the families was used by the NCB to help pay for the removal of the coal tips and told the trustees that the tips would not be removed otherwise. They only got the money back in 2007 apparently. As for the how close they were to the child.I am just amazed that people can be so disgusting.

The UK rallied round. Children from all over the country donated their pocket money. A huge amount (for the time) rolled in from the public. Amazing people.

I'm sure I read the fund raised the equivalent of 20m in today's terms. Surely that 150k would have been worth more in 2007?

I grew up in South Wales so was always aware of Aberfan. I am just about old enough to have been at school myself in another mining community twenty miles away on that day.
How did those people keep going?
Despicable treatment by the NCB and the Government.

Not wanting to take anything away from the tragedy and disgusting way the Government and NCB behaved, £500 was probably enough to buy a house in South Wales 50 years ago.

I've always been aware of Aberfan despite not being born until the 1970s but that's probably because I come from a mining family. My dad was lucky to escape another high profile mining disaster just before I was born and I remember several occasions as a child where he came home from work early because someone had been killed at work .

I don't think it would have been - my grandad bought his in the early seventies and it was £7000, that'd be quite some inflation.
And even if it was enough for a house, imagine compensation being capped at £80k now for the working class. Because working class people would get all dizzy at such an amount of money.
From the BBC article...
"A more substantial sum, it was advised, would have destroyed the working class recipients not used to large amounts of money."

It was always 'there' growing up in s Wales, I don't remember when I was first told - though I do remember school projects.

That letter is so moving. I find it incredible that no one was held to account or prosecuted for negligence - not in the modern "looking for someone to blame" sense, but the fact that the headmistress who sadly lost her life and many of the parents had already submitted a petition voicing concerns about the safety of the site. Absolutely heartbreaking.

I know house prices are hard to compare because they fluctuate all over the place, but £500 is apparently £6800 in today's money. But it's not the amount that bothers me, it's that they thought it would affect their working class sensibilities. Like a middle class child's life would be worth more, iyswim?

Dontpanicpyke - I've read that the Queen didn't visit sooner as she didn't want to get in the way but regrets that decision but it seems it was meant well.

Re the toys - not all the children died so weren't there some who could enjoy them?

I was told about Aberfan as a child by my mum who would have been about 12 when it happened. So appallingly sad :( Those younger than their 40s or 50s might well not have heard of it unless their parents had specifically mentioned it, but it made a huge impact on people of that generation (and above - my grandparents had spent the war as evacuees in south Wales and always remembered Aberfan.)

Did anyone watch Owen Sheers' The Green Hollow on BBC tonight? Very poignant.

I watched - very moving

Read this BBC article, but be warned you will need tissues.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-150d11df-c541-44a9-9332-560a19828c47

The part about the policeman who "tucked the children's blankets in" because it was "a cold night" utterly destroyed me

Me too Cave.

The children in the Green Hollow singing 'All Things Bright and Beautiful' made me weep along with a scene where they named their playground games, which were the same as my playground games.

I don't remember learning about Aberfam, just knowing. I grew up ont north east during the 80s so just remember the miners strike and there were still open cast drift mines that we visited.
So sad that it was preventable. It was bad enough that the NCB often didn't do the best for miners, but this is something horrific.

Cave thank you for the link. I wept all the way through it but learned more a little more about it from the bit about the NCB. I find it horrific that not one person was punished for their behaviour before and after. That despite the enormous loss of life all the NCB and government cares about was the money.

This is so, so sad. I was trying to hold back my tears but when I read the bit about the deputy head found holding tightly onto 5 children that was so heartbreaking. The poor parents.