I am 66 years old, living in Pennsylvania, USA. To this day, 11/08/2024, I remember as an 8 year old child reading an article in a monthly periodical that my Mom subscribed to titled Guidepost about the Aberfan Disaster. I was horrified as these were children my own age who died. I had nightmares on and off for years, and have NEVER forgotten the impact that article had on me. At that age I wasn't even sure where Aberfan was, but you can be sure I scanned through our set of Encyclopedia Britannica to find out (no internet back then). I just watched this video and all of my memory came flooding back. My hope is that someone on this comment string whose family lived through this devastating tragedy will read my piece and know that a small child, now an old lady, living thousands of miles away, has kept their tragedy in my heart and have ALWAYS remembered those in the village of Aberfan on that fateful day in 1966. Bless you all.
I am from England. My father's cousin lost two of his children in the Aberfan disaster. A truly terrible day for Wales and the whole world. It will never be forgotten. Rest in peace little ones, and God bless the families that were left behind.
@@MOGGS1942 "About what you hear from the Master, never say it is wrong because, my dear, the fault lies in your own incapacity to understand Him." Hafiz
@@MOGGS1942 No God could stop the selfish and greedy Coal Board officials behaviour over many years. Those were times when there were no effective laws to protect ordinary citizens. The wealthy made their money by being their own rule makers. Thankfully things have radically changed. Nobody could get away with that now. Citizens were proud people. They grieved hard but kept their chins up. The mothers met and helped one another. Those women are the backbone of their community. These days people go before cameras howling. They find Solicitors who will immediately sue for millions. Each will embellish their story for the highest payout and there is to unity.
@@MOGGS1942 it's also quite stingingly arrogant to speak like that to someone who was actually personally affected by such an horrific disaster. Who are you to criticise this ladies faith, especially in such a mocking way. Have you walked a mile in her shoes? Shame on you for being so scornful and rude to someone carrying such grief.
I'm from Liverpool. I remember Aberfan. I had turned 6 in the September. This disaster opened my eyes to horror, real horror. The children were just like me. They'd gone to school just like me. I went home and they didn't. I was empty and numb. Bless all those souls who passed that day.
I would have been nearly four, and at home with my mum. I remember her talking with her friends in quiet, serious voices, different from usual as she was such a cheerful person. She must have shielded me from the details, but it's strange how the impression of an awful event has stayed with me, and i still remember it.
I'm from Liverpool and also remember this disaster, I was 10 at the time and I remember our school having a collection to raise funds for the families.
I have never heard of this disaster before. What heart wrenching footage this is. I think the miners punished themselves in their searching because they felt in some way responsible. How very sad for all.
I'm in the United States, and just watched this documentary. How utterly evil the coal board was. To take advantage of the monet sent by people all over the world, and those company men lined their pockets on the grief of the parents, the families, that endured such a loss of their precious children. Seems all to typical of people of "power".
@@karenshepherd2412 Surely Hillary Clinton keeping the money sent from around the world to the HAITI Disaster. She created a Foundation and still hasn't given the money to the tune of BILLIONS to them. Chelsey is living high with Facial realignment and million $ Wedding and Hillary too must have had facial work done as 10 years ago she was HAG now seems to have had a rebirth at the poor's expense. 😢 😅😊
For the last 17 years I’ve been keeping an eye on my 80 year old neighbour. Last night out of the blue she started talking about ‘the disaster’. I turned to her and said ‘The Aberfan disaster?’ (As she’s Welsh) it turns out, she lost her eldest son, her house, her dog & cat in the accident. And she was one of the nurses on scene. I was gobsmacked.
I remember the day this happened very very clearly. My dad came home and said a slag tip has hit a school up the valleys and probably killed most of the children. He said he was going straight there to help dig. He was gone maybe 12 hrs. He came home exhausted and filthy, my mum threw his clothes straight on the fire, coal slurry can't be washed out. I was two years old, it was like a sword in my heart Now I'm 60 yrs old and crying as i type this, it still breaks my heart. My geography teacher in our high school had lost his two children in the disaster. We lived in cardiff It made an enormous impression on me
Bless your dad and all others who helped during the disaster. It had to be traumatizing for all, especially loved ones. Horrible way to die 💔 thanks for sharing
Wow. Amazing that you remember it so well. I had not heard of this event before and as a mom with 2 kids in school, it really hit home. You send your kids to school every day with the expectation that they will return safely and it’s frightening to imagine a scenario in which that doesn’t happen. Unfortunately due to school shootings this reality is something I have become hyper aware of and I don’t ever take for granted the fact that my children are happy, healthy and safe. I appreciate every minute with them and tell them I love them about a hundred times a day so there will never ever be any regret or question about this fact. I really feel for the parents who lost a child that day. It’s such an unfathomable tragedy and loss. So kind of your dad to help! ❤
i grew up hearing Pete Seeger sing The Bells of Rhymney, a song by Idrys Davies, the Rhymney Poet. that song has always stayed with me, as it encapsulates the unspeakable and cruel unfairness of the coal industry in Wales.
My husband, who has unfortunately passed away last year, told me how he came to work at the disaster. He drove a bulldozer but he said it was so difficult that he gave up on the machine and had to take to a shovel so as not to hurt anyone still alive. I was a teenager then but in England it was such a such a shock and everything was silent for such a long time. Love of God be always upon all of us. Xxx
I’ve read and watched quite a lot about the injustices the people of Aberfan suffered. The government of 1997 did return the money from the relief fund when they were in power, but it should be understood, they only returned the original £150,000 the people of Aberfan were forced to contribute for the cost of removing the coal tip that had killed their children in 1966. That money was worth £1.5million in 1997 and in my view that is what those people should have got back. The way the coal board and, to a degree, politicians, tried to avoid their responsibility for what happened is a disgrace. The simple fact is that they did know tip number seven was built over a stream and they did know it posed a risk to Aberfan because it had collapsed before. In 1963 it collapsed, but the material that fell just narrowly missed the school. Since my late mother told me about Aberfan and I started to read and watch things about it I have long thought that there should have been criminal charges of corporate manslaughter. My heart bleeds for all those who died that day, the 116 children and 28 adults. I pray they rest in peace.
You are correct. All of the men, especially that fat cat at the top that said he had nothing whatsoever to do with the Tips. He was, as I understand it, the main reason the families didn't get the donations. He's the reason "they" took a sizable chunk of those donations to pay for the clean up. He did that so his stockholders would be out a cent. It's all just a filthy crime. It happens over and over in every country to all of us who work and vote and raise our children and families in order to keep our communities alive. "They" leave us bereft. Take our money, our resources, our children our lives. Will they become deaf and dumb to the horrors and hardships they place upon us. Believing they have done good by us, after all we wouldn't have what we have at all if it were not for "them".
I went to Abervan and visited the graves of the children it was shocking to see so many graves with siblings in and so young. I cried my eyes out, and now i heard this disaster could’ve been prevented as the disaster happened at around 9am but at 7-30am the slag tip had moved and the coal board new but didn’t warn the people down the village below, if they did then nobody would’ve died . How sad is that
My great grandad Reg was apparently one of the volunteers at the site after it happened and my dad is the exact same age as some of these children growing up in merthyr tydfil right next to aberfan so these stories always hit home. It's horrible what happened and I hope all those poor children are resting in peace now 🤍
I remember as a boy hearing of this on the News and Blue Peter. I felt so helpless seeing everyone working so hard rescuing those poor victims and seeing the distraught faces of parents and all those witnessing the tragedy. Years later, I was on holiday in Herefordshire and made it a point to visit Aberfan, not realising it was the day after the 50th year since it had all happened. To see all the tributes and to walk around the memorial garden where the school was, was very moving. Then to go up to the cemetery and pause at each grave as a mark of respect for each person lost on that awful day. So many had been children my own age. It was heartbreaking. And, to see that now, many of their family members lay alongside them. May they all rest in peace. I never knew any of them, but still think about them and all those affected in so many ways.
I was living in England ,my father stationed at Lakenheath Air Force Base when this tragedy happened.I was eleven years old.I remember crying watching the news coverage on British television. God Rest Their Souls.❤🙏💙
As a Mississippi River resident of West Tennessee, this disaster was unknown to me until I first watched The Crown as a grandmother. Since, I watch this particular episode several times a year. This night, the last October of 2024 is the first time viewing this documentary. Such tragedy breaks hearts and enrages the lies and audacity of the coal board to skirt any responsibility. God bless the survivors, the families, the helpers.
My dad and uncle, both miners from another valley, went over to help uncover the children. I was only 6, but I have never forgotten their tear streaked, soot covered faces from the day they came home. So much tragedy.
I was 5 years old at the time. As a child it's terrifying to see all the adults crying and not understanding why. We were in the same generation that were affected by thalidomide. My clearest memory is a while after the tragedy, listening to adults discussing how much children's lives were worth. What a horrible world? Tbh, I had a lot of flash backs to Aberfan when I was a mother myself and Union Carbide killed thousands in Bhopal. Nothing's changed. Nobody's ever accountable for the harm they cause.
My father worked in broadcasting, and was handed an emergency news reel to go out on October 21st, 1966. He put it into the machine and, before pressing the button, was privy to the opening frame. - a skewed roof - the school. He and his team watched from the HTV broadcast room as that newsreel went out in stunned silence. He’s never forgotten that moment and still tears up about it
I do remember coming home from my primary school in Yorkshire and walking into the house to see my mother crying. She had been watching the BBC news about the Aberfan disaster and I realise now that I was the exact same age as some of those poor children who were killed that day, their lives wiped out by greed and carelessness from above.
I was a paper boy and couldn't believe the newspapers front pages with those awful pictures of the slag heaps and the missing buildings and buried. Children...l was young but felt sick...l lived in Sussex and though my area was privileged compared to Wales. and the North England...this was very. Shocking...l visited Aberfan many years later and had such emotìon...God Bless The Families of these children may they RIP. 😢13:08 13:10 😅
Honering those who lost there lives 58 years ago today my prayers are with those who still remember, for those who still suffer, I remember you every year 🙏
I lived in a different area in Wales at that time and Gretta Bates taught in my junior school. She was my teacher through the years' which led to our final exam (The 11 plus). She was and remains the only teacher who learned what my interests and ablilities were and gave me responsibilities which furthered and encouraged those interests. That has stayed with me all my life and lead to my choice of career. The year we all started at our new secondary schools Mrs Bates started at Pant Glas. I had felt the loss of her, as a supportive and caring teacher, already but thought others would benefit from her skills and i was moving on, as all the class were. That she was lost to all, especially her family, who we used to encounter at our school, was so upsetting and I often think of them and how the years may have been for them and wish them well. Mrs Bates looks very serious in the photograph here but I remember a warm and encouraging smile.
I was eight years old and a pupil of a junior school in Cardiff in 1966. We gave our sweets money to a collection being taken for Aberfan. My father worked in Treharris at the time. He sent any picks and shovels he could find down the valley to help others dig for the children. The day is seared on my memory. It was the first time I remember feeling part of a grown up world of tragady.
I remember this disaster vividly. I was 19 years old, and I had never felt such helplessness in my life, not then, and not now. I feel those involved were treated badly, and how quickly those in power appeared to be aloof about the disaster. My heart truly goes out to all those affected. I know how I felt when in 1997 I lost my youngest son because of a brain tumour. There was never an ‘if only’ scenario with my son, but there will always be that scenario with the Aberfan disaster.
An event that I will never forget. I was 12 years old and at my school in England. This was at a time when news travelled slowly. We knew nothing had happened. At lunchtime, I went home. There was a strange atmosphere. I saw people out and about as usual, but some were crying, and most looked unbelievably sad. It was rather frightening, and when I got home, I was not surprised to find mum and my Welsh grandma crying. They told me what had happened. I couldn't believe it. I didn't want lunch after that and went straight back to school. There, pupils were in groups. Someone had brought the news to the school. I'd never seen the school playground so quiet. Friends came to me to ask if it was true. There was a mixture of horror and disbelief. Until the end of the day, it was as if the whole school was on autopilot. We moved around the school almost silently. Staff were struggling to keep control of their emotions, many failing. Teachers tried to explain to us what had happened, but, looking back as a retired teacher myself, I can understand how they could not cope. At the end of the day, I remember more parents than usual waiting for their children. It's strange how some memories stick in the mind. I walked part way home with a group of friends. We were quieter than usual. Maybe it was the same at other schools, I don't know, but my school had a lot of Welsh teachers, and, like me, many pupils had Welsh family members. One of my most shocking memories is that it was the first time I had seen men cry. Back then, it was something that you never saw. One of my proudest achievements is that a poem that I wrote was selected for a memorial book of children's poems. All these years later, I can not think of any achievement that means as much to me. Over the years, I've experienced many tragedies, either secondhand, like 9/11, or personally, but none have the same effect as Aberfan. As I wrote this, tears streamed down my cheeks...
Whenever a documentary is made of a disastrous event it is usually made up of statistics, reenactments, and explanations. All of this is a cool way to explain the event. THIS is so different. I became so emotionally invested that I had to pause several times just to clear my vision. Heartbreaking but so vivid and warm. This is a must-see film.
I was. A young girl when this happened. It was so so sad my father was from merther. He use to tell us about the mines. It was a terrible disaster. Disaster will never forget. Rest in peace. Not forgotten always in our hearts.
Fabulous documentary. I didn’t know about this disaster until I watched a retrospective on Queen Elizabeth. What bloody appalling arrogance! Asking bereaved parents to “prove” they were close to their children before they could get money? That’s one of the worst things I’ve ever heard, absolutely loathsome. 🤬
I was fourteen years old. I came home one day and my parents were sitting in front of the old black and white TV, both in tears watching miners and their wives digging their children out of the coal slag with their bare hands. This scene has stayed with me all these years, I could never forget it. The Coal Board never took responsibliity as they should have and the compensations offered were in insult. The Queen couldn't rouse herself to attend the funeral of 116 children and 28 adults, Prince Philip did. Heartfelt wishes to surviving members of these families. Our family mourned with you from Scotland.
the Queen didn't go as she didn't want the attention focusing on her and so visited afterwards. She was a very decent woman and knew when to and when not to attend. The ones that should be blamed wholeheartedly is the Coal Board who were merciless, ignorant and moneygrubbing men.
@@boojay111 Say what you like, she should have gone, she sent her husband instead and has been reported that she regretted it. It had nothing to do with not wanting attention. Before the Coal Board existed, the Coal Masters were the tyrants from the upper classes.
The Queen and the whole structure of the City of London that the empire is a part of, was a whole sale criminal and not a “decent woman”. She was a regent head of the entire kit ant and kaboodle of the City of London which the coal board is a part of.
@@boojay111 That's the fictional version offered up by the tv program "The Crown". I wish you would all remember it's a fiction. There was plenty of attention focused on the Duke, however it in no way overshadowed the utter tragedy of Aberfan.The National Coal Board were no worse than their predecessors the coal masters from the upper classes.
I worked at a biscuit factory back in mid eighties. A chargehand there lost 5 of her kids , one son played truant that day and survived he worked there too
Heart wrenching. At 14:00 when you realize an entire classroom of children suffocated in the dark when the slurry blocked the air from coming in. My God.
I was a surveyor on the new development of the old colliery site run by Lovells. And other areas in Aberfan! I visited the cemetery on numerous occasions and it always broke my heart walking past everyone who was taken because of the incompetence of the NCB? I remember my Dad taking me there as a young child and it had a ever lasting memory in my on me, that life is so fragile..NCB were the catalyst in this otherwise avoidable nightmare? God bless all who suffered in this shameful mis- courage of justice! Gob Bless all! Always in our thoughts
I live about 15 minutes away from aberfan and always heard the stories growing up. After watching this I went to visit the memorial garden and the cemetery. The garden was very peaceful and the cemetery was very beautiful with white arches. I read every grave and as a father of 4 it broke my heart. I like to think that the garden and cemetary were so peaceful because the beautiful souls aren't there and all in heaven
We remember dearly how much all of us cherished every single child that lived and adored them. WE STILL LOVE THEM WITH OUR WHOLE HEART, sincerely from our hearts. Those few children left alive were our future and the small amount we witnessed AND PRAYED NON STOP
I wasn't born until 1971, but I almost feel like I can remember this. My mother was a young primary school teacher in a neighbouring village, newly married and not yet a mother. In our house the name Aberfan was only ever spoken in a choked whisper. The most awful thing imaginable. All the love and heartbreak of those who could only watch is no compensation for those who lost their children in such horror. Awful.
Could this village and its people have been put through any more in the wake of this disaster?! Not only losing your children but physically having to dig for them and their friends and just wait for each to be found. Then being robbed blind of any support, fighting for justice while grieving and no doubt their poor men, husbands and fathers, knowing that their only livelihood was the one thing that produced the waste that rushed down that hill. As I once heard Phil Scraton say in regards to Hillsborough, “Justice delayed, is justice denied”. It’s beyond disgusting that the government would try to cover themselves in these instances. I bet everyone in the country would have happily given one coin to have helped that village and kept them safe from more heartache, especially for how much the minors themselves put themselves at risk all the time. I can’t imagine how it must have been for an entire village to attend a mass funeral like that. May they all rest in eternal peace 💔
What always strikes me is the dignity of the bereaved parents and those who worked to recover the children. How they maintained that dignity in such a horrendous situation is beyond me. A terribly sad event and aftermath.
I'm now 75 years old. The morning of this tragedy . I was working for Wimpey a massive builders. One of our Drivers (Jimmy Duncan ) had returned to our offices and told us he could get into Merthyr Vale as there had been an accident and the road was cut off. At that time we had some men working with us from up around Aberfan. I remember the panic that went around the yard. I myself was 17yrs At the time. After a few months, we had the gates from the school in our yard. I remember standing looking at them and thinking. How many children just hours before they were Murdered by the Coal Board . Would have been swinging on them gates like children do.
In certain areas of Kentucky we called them gob dumps. There was an old small near my uncle’s house that I played on a few times as a child. The top was a bit crusty and I always had a feeling it was going to collapse at any moment. Now over about 65 years later it has completely disappeared. It was dome shaped at the time and I have no idea how long it had been there. It was most likely from a single long abandoned mine. It stuck out like a blackened sore thumb on that hillside.
Every year, I watch documentaries on Aberfan, in remembrance. I'm early this year. And I'm grieved once again. Sickened. Saddened. A hopeless sympathy for the victims and their families. As though it was yesterday. I'm from Port Talbot (we've had a share of tragedy) born 1970. But I feel for them deeply. My father said that he and his friends raised funds for the families but that it had been stolen in the charities distribution. Insult to injury. Disgusting. Love to the village from me and my dad. Nobody can take that away ❤
It seems always that way. Our home was destroyed in Hurricane Harvey and the Red Cross took in millions of dollars. In our city of Dickinson, Texas, not one family got a single bit of help out of the Red Cross. I despise that organization.
My heart 💜 is broken, I’m watching this in 2022 and it still resonates the pain of the whole village, RIP to all who recieved their wings that day, and I hope those that survived had joy in their lives. And I hope there was a cold place in hell for the heads of the coal board
The man who said I know where my son is he’s buried in that classroom at the end the poor man was in shock he’s doesn’t want to except it R.I.P to all who lost there life in this disaster 🥺
Those who govern never cease to amaze me in their callousness and complete disregard for the people who suffer because of their absolute negligence and arrogance. What happened at Aberfan is the ultimate tragedy ~ never to be forgotten. 😢
I was a 5 year old Welsh girl when this tragedy happened living in a similar community .The grief of the Welsh people over losing their children in this horrific still remains.
My heart goes out to all those parents, the siblings, the friends, and the community. My Father was a proud Welshman, and spoke of this tragedy to us, so it wouldn't be forgotten. Today we pray for the souls of those lost, and those broken by this obscene tragedy. Those in positions of power should have been held accountable. Actions speak louder than words. Reat in eternal peace angels. Cymru Am Bith 🏴🏴🏴
I stay in a small mining village beside Edinburgh . Every year they lay wreaths and have a wee ceremony at the miners memorial to remember the Aberfan disaster 😢 RIP
My Grandad worked down that mine. My Dad's brother's went to that School. I was living outside London. A Welsh friend went to Wales to help. Never forget it. Bless them al😢
I am from the States. I have been haunted by this tragedy since I read about it in 1995, specifically Pentglas student Eryl Mai Jones. It was touching that she was buried between classmates Peter and June. My condolences to their families. Rest in Peace, friends!* There is a memorial plaque- I know I read it and saw it in media- inscribed, "To those we love and miss so very much." I remember reading an article from a contemporary newspaper where a father and son who lost their little girl looked at the night sky and decided one of the stars was "our Sandy." Again, my condolences. Rest in Peace, Sandy. This video puts everything I have read about Aberfan into perspective.
My uncle was called in to dig people out etc. never the same spoke about it once just after then never again. The pain in his eyes was heart breaking even though I was a youngster
Such a terrible disaster that should have been preventable. I was ten years old at the time and couldn’t imagine how those children went to school like any normal day yet never returned home. To this day I still think of this disaster with sadness as if it were yesterday. God bless and keep safe all the innocent victims, may they rest peacefully. ❤
I live in S.A. and the morning of the Abervan disaster I dreampt about this disaster about 3 hours before it happened. I was hysterical when I woke up. In my dream I watched the whole side of the tip come down and cover the school.I told my parents about my nightmare. In 1970 I flew over to England and hired a car and drove to Abervan. My car broke in Abervan and had to stay over at a B'nB in Merthyr Tydvil. 6 years later we bought our first TV. One night a documentary on this disaster was on TV. As it started all the electrical plugs in our lounge blew.. My husband eventually got the TV working and I was shocked to see how real my dream had been.
This is a very fascinating insight Lynette, and I can relate to it very well. It was only by coincidence that you recall a similar situation that actually happened to my aunt and something which I've never forgotten. I believe it was during the early 1970's when she and her husband, with my 3 cousins had made a detour via this village on their way to catch a ferry over to Ireland. Apparently the car in which they were travelling stopped abruptly and would not restart. She said that they felt and heard a giant thud sound on the roof of the vehicle and an atmosphere so sickly that they were desperate to get out of it quickly. She then noticed that the 3 children in the back of the vehicle were fast asleep and completely unaware of the circumstances. For what seemed an eternity that dark cloud of doom surrounded them and naturally they were extremely frightened. By the time the car did miraculously start up they were never so glad to get back onto the nearest motorway and thank their lucky stars that nobody was hurt. The vehicle received no damage or signs of being hit, but that episode has haunted them ever since, and one I have always remembered. For some unknown reason this documentary appeared on my screen and it gave me goosebumps, I was instantly drawn into it and had to recall the disaster myself by listening intently to the details. Your account is certainly accurate.
@@guru66honorhope10 After this happened , I read different accounts of some of the children dreaming about this days before it happened. Obviously they didn’t want to go to school. The parents weren’t to know they were having premonitions. So sad.
I was 6, remember walking in from school and seeing my mum in floods of tears watching it on the tele, such a terrible disaster, and is engrained in my mind to this day knowing a lot of those children would be my age now😢
It's one of those disasters that's etched in your mind forever. Hearing the name Aberfan brings it all back. I was 19 and had just got married a few days before the disaster, living in rooms, we watched the horror of it all unfold on the old black & white tv.
This happened before I was born. I was watching bits of the crown and saw this. How absolutely horrific. I tried watching twice to get the details, but couldn't stop crying. God, just no words. The fact that they had to fight the NCB. How stupid to put that above a town. Anything like that is unstable. I hope they didn't drown in that muck, and God was merciful. Those poor children. I live in the U.S. my heart goes out to the victims and survivors.
27th October 1966 the day of the mass funeral was my 9th birthday, I remember this disaster as it were yesterday, I remember all my school friends reaction and the address from the headmaster at morning assembley. Stayed very vivid in the mind as we were the same age group as the majority of those innocent lives lost.
I remember. I'll never forget our Welsh Headmasters wife running around the playground screaming until he came out, listened, then they both ran home. My school was similar , but in the East of England. We had lots of fundraisers for Abefan. I had no idea how much of a disaster it was until I was older. 🥀🥀🥀🥀
Absolutely disgusting how these people were treat. Not only did all these children and adults die because of the slag heaps that were just left for years but they were denied any help whatsoever. How these so called people at the top lived with themselves i don't know, and to go round to every house to see how much they loved their children before given any money is just evil. Im so glad things have changed. I cant even imagine the depression of that town and they all needed help, they all had to help each other in the group they made, no professional councilling nothing. My heart breaks for them all. God rest those teachers and children ❤ 🙏
I can remember the day this happened, I was 10 years old and it must have been our half term, because I remember being at home with my mum, who was deeply saddened, as we watched it unfolding on the news during the day and it is still emotional seeing it today. This catastrophe shocked everyone in the land, that saw it. Absolutely heartbreaking.
My Grandma lived up in Maerdy in James Street a row down from the top of the mountain. My Dad and his friends used to play up the mountain when they were children. It was full of streams and water, as all Welsh mountains are due to geological features and high rainfall. Luckily the coal mine was further to the right of the mountain and somewhat down the side away from the residences. However you could see ‘slag tips’ on the opposite side of the valley which was vacant of houses. It was after seeing these tips as a child that I was first told about the Aberfan disaster. Everyone in Wales knows this disaster and we still mourn it today. The community of Aberfan will never get over this, a whole generation of children were lost and few got away unscathed. Everyone knew someone who’d lost a child or multiple children as well as parents and you can never get away from that…..
Watched this multiple times but it’s still heart wrenching to think of how these children/ teachers/ residents died, the sheer volume of deaths, what the parents went through and how preventable it was. 💔💔💔🏴
I was a young boy at school in North London when this happens. We were all called into the assembly hall and the headmistress told us what had happened. We were then lead in a prayer. I have never forgotten it.
Love how media will never change, this house has just come down, people digging with bare hands too help and there the news broadcaster just shoving microphones into the faces of these people 😫 that dude like "yeah my mother might be in there" really hit, you could see the annoyance he had towards the reporter.
Yes seeing a capable man standing there when he coukd have been helping dig them out. Poor man lost his mother and the reporter was doing his job as the country wanted to know about it. It was something noone in the UK coukd ever forget
If only it had happened the following day when half term started .But in reality it should never have happened the coal company were totally responsible for this disaster.
Very sad. This happened in puerto rico too in October 1986. Months before people were complaining about a broken water pipe and it was making mud but the local workers didnt listen and did nothing. Then the weekend before it happened it rain several inches and it saturated the ground even more. So the entire mountain fell on the valley below. Over 300 people died and most could not be dug out cuz of the mud. So they were legt there and today is a memorial ground. A big plaque is placed there with everyones name that perished that day. RiP ❤
Thank you very much for posting this. It is an excellent eyeopener for those naive enough to believe that corporations care about their workers and that governments care about their constituents. May God grant eternal rest to those who needlessly lost their lives, and peace to those they left behind. God bless Wales and her people.
I will be visiting here soon with my husband to lay some flowers something I have wanted to do for years my grandmother was heartbroken and talked about this terrible disaster for years 😥💜💐
So sad, I've been to Aberfan. When I was a kid all our holidays where spent in different parts of wales and we visited the cemetery, it's heartbreaking to see them all in a row 😢
This is exactly what I thought of when the Oso landslide happened. You just knew that unfortunately, no one was coming out of homes that had been overtaken by the mud. I can't imagine the trauma caused by witnessing such horror. You thunk it can't get worse, but then the "charity organization" wgere all the donations went, waltzes in with their asinine rules for payments based on CLOSENESS! 😵
My son worked in the props department of The Crown. The episode that covered the disaster was extremely moving for him and other members of the Production Crew. He and his lorry had the incredibly difficult task of delivering the coffins for the production… he and others in the production team were offered counselling to help with their grief!!
I was 9 when this happened and i can vivid remember prince philip walking around at the site of devastation smiling, i said to my dad why is he smiling, my dad just grunted, always remember that. Juhaptergee
I'm a Londoner.. I'm 73 now,but I'll never ever forget this terrible tragedy.. We watched the news on Telly... I was a child... we watched in disbelief.. RIP,the children.the teachers..🥺🙏🏿❤❤❤❤❤❤
I was 11 when this happened, living nowhere near Wales. But I remember it so clearly, as do many others it seems. It was the first shocking event of my life. I can still see my mother sitting on the sofa watching the news and crying her eyes out. The fact that the mining company was never held to blame is beyond unbelievable. If any of those responsible are still living I hope they bow their heads in shame and have never had a good night's sleep since. I hope they are forever haunted by the images of those poor parents.
I was 6 and in school in South Wales, it was the day before half term. A cloudy, drizzly autumn day, but we were all excited about the upcoming holiday. Then, around midday, we were all called into the assembly hall and one of the teachers, very very gently and wisely, explained that something terrible had happened a few miles away. I remember the other teachers crying, and, when I got home, so were my family as we all came together to grieve.
I was 10 at the time,so many children were my age,I always remember the reporter saying that one boy had to have both his legs broken,in order to get him out,the tragedy was entirely avoidable.
I am 66 years old, living in Pennsylvania, USA. To this day, 11/08/2024, I remember as an 8 year old child reading an article in a monthly periodical that my Mom subscribed to titled Guidepost about the Aberfan Disaster. I was horrified as these were children my own age who died. I had nightmares on and off for years, and have NEVER forgotten the impact that article had on me. At that age I wasn't even sure where Aberfan was, but you can be sure I scanned through our set of Encyclopedia Britannica to find out (no internet back then). I just watched this video and all of my memory came flooding back. My hope is that someone on this comment string whose family lived through this devastating tragedy will read my piece and know that a small child, now an old lady, living thousands of miles away, has kept their tragedy in my heart and have ALWAYS remembered those in the village of Aberfan on that fateful day in 1966. Bless you all.
😔
Wow! Thank you for sharing your story😢💕
The Coal Board should be reprimanded for wrongs they have done.
Your a gift of memory.
66 isn't old.
I am from England. My father's cousin lost two of his children in the Aberfan disaster. A truly terrible day for Wales and the whole world. It will never be forgotten. Rest in peace little ones, and God bless the families that were left behind.
Jeez, wtf. Well, the god you invoked didn't do much blessing on that day.
@@MOGGS1942 "About what you hear from the Master, never say it is wrong because, my dear, the fault lies in your own incapacity to understand Him." Hafiz
@@MOGGS1942 No God could stop the selfish and greedy Coal Board officials behaviour over many years.
Those were times when there were no effective laws to protect ordinary citizens. The wealthy made their money by being their own rule makers.
Thankfully things have radically changed. Nobody could get away with that now.
Citizens were proud people. They grieved hard but kept their chins up. The mothers met and helped one another. Those women are the backbone of their community.
These days people go before cameras howling. They find Solicitors who will immediately sue for millions. Each will embellish their story for the highest payout and there is to unity.
@@MOGGS1942 it's also quite stingingly arrogant to speak like that to someone who was actually personally affected by such an horrific disaster. Who are you to criticise this ladies faith, especially in such a mocking way. Have you walked a mile in her shoes? Shame on you for being so scornful and rude to someone carrying such grief.
🥺😢💔🫂
I'm from Liverpool. I remember Aberfan. I had turned 6 in the September. This disaster opened my eyes to horror, real horror. The children were just like me. They'd gone to school just like me. I went home and they didn't. I was empty and numb. Bless all those souls who passed that day.
I would have been nearly four, and at home with my mum. I remember her talking with her friends in quiet, serious voices, different from usual as she was such a cheerful person.
She must have shielded me from the details, but it's strange how the impression of an awful event has stayed with me, and i still remember it.
I'm from Liverpool and also remember this disaster, I was 10 at the time and I remember our school having a collection to raise funds for the families.
I have never heard of this disaster before. What heart wrenching footage this is.
I think the miners punished themselves in their searching because they felt in some way responsible. How very sad for all.
I'm in the United States, and just watched this documentary. How utterly evil the coal board was. To take advantage of the monet sent by people all over the world, and those company men lined their pockets on the grief of the parents, the families, that endured such a loss of their precious children.
Seems all to typical of people of "power".
@@karenshepherd2412
Surely Hillary Clinton keeping the money sent from around the world to the HAITI Disaster. She created a Foundation and still hasn't given the money to the tune of BILLIONS to them. Chelsey is living high with Facial realignment and million $ Wedding and Hillary too must have had facial work done as 10 years ago she was HAG now seems to have had a rebirth at the poor's expense. 😢 😅😊
For the last 17 years I’ve been keeping an eye on my 80 year old neighbour. Last night out of the blue she started talking about ‘the disaster’. I turned to her and said ‘The Aberfan disaster?’ (As she’s Welsh) it turns out, she lost her eldest son, her house, her dog & cat in the accident. And she was one of the nurses on scene. I was gobsmacked.
Poor woman thats so sad
How utterly heartbreaking. Hugs to her, take notes or record if she allows it and needs to talk to the public.
God bless her.
Bless her heart 💜
Why live next to something like that
I remember the day this happened very very clearly. My dad came home and said a slag tip has hit a school up the valleys and probably killed most of the children. He said he was going straight there to help dig.
He was gone maybe 12 hrs. He came home exhausted and filthy, my mum threw his clothes straight on the fire, coal slurry can't be washed out.
I was two years old, it was like a sword in my heart
Now I'm 60 yrs old and crying as i type this, it still breaks my heart.
My geography teacher in our high school had lost his two children in the disaster.
We lived in cardiff
It made an enormous impression on me
Bless your dad and all others who helped during the disaster. It had to be traumatizing for all, especially loved ones. Horrible way to die 💔 thanks for sharing
@susanmoore7229 he's home in heaven now, thanks
Wow. Amazing that you remember it so well. I had not heard of this event before and as a mom with 2 kids in school, it really hit home. You send your kids to school every day with the expectation that they will return safely and it’s frightening to imagine a scenario in which that doesn’t happen. Unfortunately due to school shootings this reality is something I have become hyper aware of and I don’t ever take for granted the fact that my children are happy, healthy and safe. I appreciate every minute with them and tell them I love them about a hundred times a day so there will never ever be any regret or question about this fact. I really feel for the parents who lost a child that day. It’s such an unfathomable tragedy and loss. So kind of your dad to help! ❤
i grew up hearing Pete Seeger sing The Bells of Rhymney, a song by Idrys Davies, the Rhymney Poet. that song has always stayed with me, as it encapsulates the unspeakable and cruel unfairness of the coal industry in Wales.
My husband, who has unfortunately passed away last year, told me how he came to work at the disaster. He drove a bulldozer but he said it was so difficult that he gave up on the machine and had to take to a shovel so as not to hurt anyone still alive. I was a teenager then but in England it was such a such a shock and everything was silent for such a long time. Love of God be always upon all of us. Xxx
I am very sorry for your loss.
❤
I’ve read and watched quite a lot about the injustices the people of Aberfan suffered. The government of 1997 did return the money from the relief fund when they were in power, but it should be understood, they only returned the original £150,000 the people of Aberfan were forced to contribute for the cost of removing the coal tip that had killed their children in 1966. That money was worth £1.5million in 1997 and in my view that is what those people should have got back. The way the coal board and, to a degree, politicians, tried to avoid their responsibility for what happened is a disgrace. The simple fact is that they did know tip number seven was built over a stream and they did know it posed a risk to Aberfan because it had collapsed before. In 1963 it collapsed, but the material that fell just narrowly missed the school. Since my late mother told me about Aberfan and I started to read and watch things about it I have long thought that there should have been criminal charges of corporate manslaughter. My heart bleeds for all those who died that day, the 116 children and 28 adults. I pray they rest in peace.
The £1.5 million was paid in 2007 by the Welsh Government.
The Welsh parliament then gave the 1.5 million to the community
The Coal Board told the Miners If they made a fuss about it they would shut the pits and so nobody said anything. An Ex miner told me this.
You are correct. All of the men, especially that fat cat at the top that said he had nothing whatsoever to do with the Tips. He was, as I understand it, the main reason the families didn't get the donations. He's the reason "they" took a sizable chunk of those donations to pay for the clean up. He did that so his stockholders would be out a cent. It's all just a filthy crime. It happens over and over in every country to all of us who work and vote and raise our children and families in order to keep our communities alive.
"They" leave us bereft. Take our money, our resources, our children our lives. Will they become deaf and dumb to the horrors and hardships they place upon us. Believing they have done good by us, after all we wouldn't have what we have at all if it were not for "them".
I went to Abervan and visited the graves of the children it was shocking to see so many graves with siblings in and so young. I cried my eyes out, and now i heard this disaster could’ve been prevented as the disaster happened at around 9am but at 7-30am the slag tip had moved and the coal board new but didn’t warn the people down the village below, if they did then nobody would’ve died . How sad is that
That’s why we have the health and safety at work act brought in because of this disaster.
🥲
Horrible
It is some years since i was at Aberfan and it is a chapter in my life i will never forget. an whole generation wiped out. so sad.
😢
My great grandad Reg was apparently one of the volunteers at the site after it happened and my dad is the exact same age as some of these children growing up in merthyr tydfil right next to aberfan so these stories always hit home. It's horrible what happened and I hope all those poor children are resting in peace now 🤍
The mining industry should have paid 100s of millions for this disaster. I can't even imagine the pain these families went through😢
The wealthy never pay their dues, not on earth anyway. Their money protects them from consequences. And frankly, they don’t care.
I remember as a boy hearing of this on the News and Blue Peter. I felt so helpless seeing everyone working so hard rescuing those poor victims and seeing the distraught faces of parents and all those witnessing the tragedy. Years later, I was on holiday in Herefordshire and made it a point to visit Aberfan, not realising it was the day after the 50th year since it had all happened. To see all the tributes and to walk around the memorial garden where the school was, was very moving. Then to go up to the cemetery and pause at each grave as a mark of respect for each person lost on that awful day. So many had been children my own age. It was heartbreaking. And, to see that now, many of their family members lay alongside them. May they all rest in peace. I never knew any of them, but still think about them and all those affected in so many ways.
Absolute apathy and carelessness from the mine owners
I was living in England ,my father stationed at Lakenheath Air Force Base when this tragedy happened.I was eleven years old.I remember crying watching the news coverage on British television. God Rest Their Souls.❤🙏💙
As a Mississippi River resident of West Tennessee, this disaster was unknown to me until I first watched The Crown as a grandmother. Since, I watch this particular episode several times a year. This night, the last October of 2024 is the first time viewing this documentary.
Such tragedy breaks hearts and enrages the lies and audacity of the coal board to skirt any responsibility.
God bless the survivors, the families, the helpers.
My dad and uncle, both miners from another valley, went over to help uncover the children. I was only 6, but I have never forgotten their tear streaked, soot covered faces from the day they came home. So much tragedy.
What is a tip? They keep saying it and I'm clueless.
@@dianebays5484 A big pile of coal mining waste in this case. Think of a hill!
I was 5 years old at the time. As a child it's terrifying to see all the adults crying and not understanding why. We were in the same generation that were affected by thalidomide. My clearest memory is a while after the tragedy, listening to adults discussing how much children's lives were worth. What a horrible world? Tbh, I had a lot of flash backs to Aberfan when I was a mother myself and Union Carbide killed thousands in Bhopal. Nothing's changed. Nobody's ever accountable for the harm they cause.
And the victims of Bhopal are still struggling and just forgotten by the world. It's really nice to see someone remember them ❤️
@@dianebays5484a landfill, kind of
My father worked in broadcasting, and was handed an emergency news reel to go out on October 21st, 1966. He put it into the machine and, before pressing the button, was privy to the opening frame. - a skewed roof - the school. He and his team watched from the HTV broadcast room as that newsreel went out in stunned silence. He’s never forgotten that moment and still tears up about it
Would of been overwhelmingly traumatic.
I do remember coming home from my primary school in Yorkshire and walking into the house to see my mother crying. She had been watching the BBC news about the Aberfan disaster and I realise now that I was the exact same age as some of those poor children who were killed that day, their lives wiped out by greed and carelessness from above.
I have same memory I'm from port talbot
Me too, same age.
Stevie, it was the same for me coming home from school and my mum crying. We were all the same ages. Have always remembered it.
I was 8 years old, it was all over the News in New Zealand
I was a paper boy and couldn't believe the newspapers front pages with those awful pictures of the slag heaps and the missing buildings and buried. Children...l was young but felt sick...l lived in Sussex and though my area was privileged compared to Wales. and the North England...this was very. Shocking...l visited Aberfan many years later and had such emotìon...God Bless The Families of these children may they RIP. 😢13:08 13:10 😅
"My mother's probably in here" just ... shook my bones.
Rest in peace to all the victims 💗
He said it so calmly as well. 😰 He knew she was lost under there and she would be recovered dead.💔
They will not "rest in peace" - your sentiments, like everything else in this cruel world will fall on greedy ears - without compassion
Honering those who lost there lives 58 years ago today my prayers are with those who still remember, for those who still suffer, I remember you every year 🙏
Mining communities were tough people they were brought up with the idea of a mine collapsing but this was horrendous for anyone!
I lived in a different area in Wales at that time and Gretta Bates taught in my junior school. She was my teacher through the years' which led to our final exam (The 11 plus). She was and remains the only teacher who learned what my interests and ablilities were and gave me responsibilities which furthered and encouraged those interests. That has stayed with me all my life and lead to my choice of career. The year we all started at our new secondary schools Mrs Bates started at Pant Glas. I had felt the loss of her, as a supportive and caring teacher, already but thought others would benefit from her skills and i was moving on, as all the class were. That she was lost to all, especially her family, who we used to encounter at our school, was so upsetting and I often think of them and how the years may have been for them and wish them well. Mrs Bates looks very serious in the photograph here but I remember a warm and encouraging smile.
I was eight years old and a pupil of a junior school in Cardiff in 1966. We gave our sweets money to a collection being taken for Aberfan. My father worked in Treharris at the time. He sent any picks and shovels he could find down the valley to help others dig for the children. The day is seared on my memory. It was the first time I remember feeling part of a grown up world of tragady.
Bureaucracy is rampant everywhere. How heartless can these people be?
I remember this disaster vividly. I was 19 years old, and I had never felt such helplessness in my life, not then, and not now. I feel those involved were treated badly, and how quickly those in power appeared to be aloof about the disaster. My heart truly goes out to all those affected. I know how I felt when in 1997 I lost my youngest son because of a brain tumour. There was never an ‘if only’ scenario with my son, but there will always be that scenario with the Aberfan disaster.
I am sincerely sorry for the loss of your beloved son.
God bless u 🙏💕😢
I am so sorry that you suffered that loss. There is nothing so terrible as losing a child.
@@KohalaLover thank you
@@AlanaRenton 💕
An event that I will never forget. I was 12 years old and at my school in England. This was at a time when news travelled slowly. We knew nothing had happened.
At lunchtime, I went home. There was a strange atmosphere. I saw people out and about as usual, but some were crying, and most looked unbelievably sad. It was rather frightening, and when I got home, I was not surprised to find mum and my Welsh grandma crying. They told me what had happened. I couldn't believe it.
I didn't want lunch after that and went straight back to school. There, pupils were in groups. Someone had brought the news to the school. I'd never seen the school playground so quiet. Friends came to me to ask if it was true. There was a mixture of horror and disbelief.
Until the end of the day, it was as if the whole school was on autopilot. We moved around the school almost silently. Staff were struggling to keep control of their emotions, many failing. Teachers tried to explain to us what had happened, but, looking back as a retired teacher myself, I can understand how they could not cope.
At the end of the day, I remember more parents than usual waiting for their children. It's strange how some memories stick in the mind. I walked part way home with a group of friends. We were quieter than usual. Maybe it was the same at other schools, I don't know, but my school had a lot of Welsh teachers, and, like me, many pupils had Welsh family members. One of my most shocking memories is that it was the first time I had seen men cry. Back then, it was something that you never saw.
One of my proudest achievements is that a poem that I wrote was selected for a memorial book of children's poems. All these years later, I can not think of any achievement that means as much to me.
Over the years, I've experienced many tragedies, either secondhand, like 9/11, or personally, but none have the same effect as Aberfan. As I wrote this, tears streamed down my cheeks...
Bless you, I remember that, and watching it here again crying.
What a poignant recollection very moving how you describe it I feel like I am having the memory with you🥹very sadly eloquent🥹
Whenever a documentary is made of a disastrous event it is usually made up of statistics, reenactments, and explanations. All of this is a cool way to explain the event. THIS is so different. I became so emotionally invested that I had to pause several times just to clear my vision. Heartbreaking but so vivid and warm. This is a must-see film.
I was. A young girl when this happened. It was so so sad my father was from merther. He use to tell us about the mines. It was a terrible disaster. Disaster will never forget. Rest in peace. Not forgotten always in our hearts.
Fabulous documentary. I didn’t know about this disaster until I watched a retrospective on Queen Elizabeth. What bloody appalling arrogance! Asking bereaved parents to “prove” they were close to their children before they could get money? That’s one of the worst things I’ve ever heard, absolutely loathsome. 🤬
Sick isn't it? Those type of people still walk among us.
@@theeggtimertictic1136 I know. It’s absolutely dreadful.
Thats management for you.
How does one prove that lol, unless there is obvious abuse and neglect!
I was fourteen years old. I came home one day and my parents were sitting in front of the old black and white TV, both in tears watching miners and their wives digging their children out of the coal slag with their bare hands. This scene has stayed with me all these years, I could never forget it. The Coal Board never took responsibliity as they should have and the compensations offered were in insult. The Queen couldn't rouse herself to attend the funeral of 116 children and 28 adults, Prince Philip did. Heartfelt wishes to surviving members of these families. Our family mourned with you from Scotland.
the Queen didn't go as she didn't want the attention focusing on her and so visited afterwards. She was a very decent woman and knew when to and when not to attend. The ones that should be blamed wholeheartedly is the Coal Board who were merciless, ignorant and moneygrubbing men.
@@boojay111 Say what you like, she should have gone, she sent her husband instead and has been reported that she regretted it. It had nothing to do with not wanting attention. Before the Coal Board existed, the Coal Masters were the tyrants from the upper classes.
The Queen and the whole structure of the City of London that the empire is a part of, was a whole sale criminal and not a “decent woman”. She was a regent head of the entire kit ant and kaboodle of the City of London which the coal board is a part of.
@@boojay111 That's the fictional version offered up by the tv program
"The Crown". I wish you would all remember it's a fiction. There was plenty of attention focused on the Duke, however it in no way overshadowed the utter tragedy of Aberfan.The National Coal Board were no worse than their predecessors the coal masters from the upper classes.
Disgusting the way the bereaved families were treated!
I worked at a biscuit factory back in mid eighties. A chargehand there lost 5 of her kids , one son played truant that day and survived he worked there too
My God!😢
I was in 7th grade in the US when this happened. The Sister turned the TV on. I remember we started to cry for the children there…..
Heart wrenching. At 14:00 when you realize an entire classroom of children suffocated in the dark when the slurry blocked the air from coming in. My God.
I was a surveyor on the new development of the old colliery site run by Lovells. And other areas in Aberfan! I visited the cemetery on numerous occasions and it always broke my heart walking past everyone who was taken because of the incompetence of the NCB? I remember my Dad taking me there as a young child and it had a ever lasting memory in my on me, that life is so fragile..NCB were the catalyst in this otherwise avoidable nightmare? God bless all who suffered in this shameful mis- courage of justice! Gob Bless all! Always in our thoughts
I live about 15 minutes away from aberfan and always heard the stories growing up. After watching this I went to visit the memorial garden and the cemetery. The garden was very peaceful and the cemetery was very beautiful with white arches. I read every grave and as a father of 4 it broke my heart. I like to think that the garden and cemetary were so peaceful because the beautiful souls aren't there and all in heaven
A lovely post sending best wishes from Australia. Rest in peace little Angels, and their Teachers.
Those poor mothers waiting for their kids. If that doesn't pull at your heart strings and give you goosebumps, you're not human.
That government was not human - our government is likewise
I'm from Liverpool and I was 8 years old at the time, and I can still remember my family being so devastated ofter this disaster.
We remember dearly how much all of us cherished every single child that lived and adored them. WE STILL LOVE THEM WITH OUR WHOLE HEART, sincerely from our hearts. Those few children left alive were our future and the small amount we witnessed AND PRAYED NON STOP
I wasn't born until 1971, but I almost feel like I can remember this. My mother was a young primary school teacher in a neighbouring village, newly married and not yet a mother. In our house the name Aberfan was only ever spoken in a choked whisper. The most awful thing imaginable. All the love and heartbreak of those who could only watch is no compensation for those who lost their children in such horror. Awful.
Could this village and its people have been put through any more in the wake of this disaster?! Not only losing your children but physically having to dig for them and their friends and just wait for each to be found. Then being robbed blind of any support, fighting for justice while grieving and no doubt their poor men, husbands and fathers, knowing that their only livelihood was the one thing that produced the waste that rushed down that hill. As I once heard Phil Scraton say in regards to Hillsborough, “Justice delayed, is justice denied”. It’s beyond disgusting that the government would try to cover themselves in these instances. I bet everyone in the country would have happily given one coin to have helped that village and kept them safe from more heartache, especially for how much the minors themselves put themselves at risk all the time. I can’t imagine how it must have been for an entire village to attend a mass funeral like that. May they all rest in eternal peace 💔
What always strikes me is the dignity of the bereaved parents and those who worked to recover the children. How they maintained that dignity in such a horrendous situation is beyond me. A terribly sad event and aftermath.
🥲
The Welsh - great Christian heritage ❤
@@sarahc.2845 Faith
@@sarahc.2845 yes, I agree.
I'm now 75 years old. The morning of this tragedy . I was working for Wimpey a massive builders.
One of our Drivers (Jimmy Duncan ) had returned to our offices and told us he could get into Merthyr Vale as there had been an accident and the road was cut off.
At that time we had some men working with us from up around Aberfan.
I remember the panic that went around the yard.
I myself was 17yrs
At the time. After a few months, we had the gates from the school in our yard. I remember standing looking at them and thinking. How many children just hours before they were Murdered by the Coal Board . Would have been swinging on them gates like children do.
In certain areas of Kentucky we called them gob dumps. There was an old small near my uncle’s house that I played on a few times as a child. The top was a bit crusty and I always had a feeling it was going to collapse at any moment. Now over about 65 years later it has completely disappeared. It was dome shaped at the time and I have no idea how long it had been there. It was most likely from a single long abandoned mine. It stuck out like a blackened sore thumb on that hillside.
Every year, I watch documentaries on Aberfan, in remembrance.
I'm early this year. And I'm grieved once again. Sickened. Saddened. A hopeless sympathy for the victims and their families. As though it was yesterday. I'm from Port Talbot (we've had a share of tragedy) born 1970. But I feel for them deeply.
My father said that he and his friends raised funds for the families but that it had been stolen in the charities distribution. Insult to injury.
Disgusting.
Love to the village from me and my dad. Nobody can take that away ❤
It seems always that way. Our home was destroyed in Hurricane Harvey and the Red Cross took in millions of dollars. In our city of Dickinson, Texas, not one family got a single bit of help out of the Red Cross. I despise that organization.
Beautiful comment!
❤😢❤
My heart 💜 is broken, I’m watching this in 2022 and it still resonates the pain of the whole village, RIP to all who recieved their wings that day, and I hope those that survived had joy in their lives. And I hope there was a cold place in hell for the heads of the coal board
Beautifully said they had blood on there hands for sure 😡
The man who said I know where my son is he’s buried in that classroom at the end the poor man was in shock he’s doesn’t want to except it R.I.P to all who lost there life in this disaster 🥺
Those who govern never cease to amaze me in their callousness and complete disregard for the people who suffer because of their absolute negligence and arrogance. What happened at Aberfan is the ultimate tragedy ~ never to be forgotten. 😢
They obey their rich masters. Money pulls all strings. Money is the root of all evil.
I remember this time so well in 1966 when I was still at school. I'm still affected with real grief as I was then watching this video. Heart breaking.
Senseless and unnecessary loss of children and their teachers touches our hearts.
All those faces, numb with shock and grief..... absolutely haunting.
I was a 5 year old Welsh girl when this tragedy happened living in a similar community .The grief of the Welsh people over losing their children in this horrific still remains.
My heart goes out to all those parents, the siblings, the friends, and the community. My Father was a proud Welshman, and spoke of this tragedy to us, so it wouldn't be forgotten.
Today we pray for the souls of those lost, and those broken by this obscene tragedy. Those in positions of power should have been held accountable. Actions speak louder than words.
Reat in eternal peace angels.
Cymru Am Bith 🏴🏴🏴
I cry every time I watch a documentary about Aberfan so sad 😢
I stay in a small mining village beside Edinburgh . Every year they lay wreaths and have a wee ceremony at the miners memorial to remember the Aberfan disaster 😢 RIP
Wonderful to know that
My Grandad worked down that mine. My Dad's brother's went to that School. I was living outside London. A Welsh friend went to Wales to help. Never forget it. Bless them al😢
I am 70yrs old. Irish and many times even now I think bout this god bless all of of u somthing that can never be forgotton❤❤❤❤❤❤
I am from the States. I have been haunted by this tragedy since I read about it in 1995, specifically Pentglas student Eryl Mai Jones. It was touching that she was buried between classmates Peter and June. My condolences to their families. Rest in Peace, friends!* There is a memorial plaque- I know I read it and saw it in media- inscribed, "To those we love and miss so very much." I remember reading an article from a contemporary newspaper where a father and son who lost their little girl looked at the night sky and decided one of the stars was "our Sandy." Again, my condolences. Rest in Peace, Sandy.
This video puts everything I have read about Aberfan into perspective.
My uncle was called in to dig people out etc. never the same spoke about it once just after then never again. The pain in his eyes was heart breaking even though I was a youngster
🥺😢💔🙏🫂
Such a terrible disaster that should have been preventable. I was ten years old at the time and couldn’t imagine how those children went to school like any normal day yet never returned home. To this day I still think of this disaster with sadness as if it were yesterday.
God bless and keep safe all the innocent victims, may they rest peacefully. ❤
Truely, truely heartbreaking. How someone can cope with such a disaster is beyond me
I live in S.A. and the morning of the Abervan disaster I dreampt about this disaster about 3 hours before it happened. I was hysterical when I woke up. In my dream I watched the whole side of the tip come down and cover the school.I told my parents about my nightmare. In 1970 I flew over to England and hired a car and drove to Abervan. My car broke in Abervan and had to stay over at a B'nB in Merthyr Tydvil. 6 years later we bought our first TV. One night a documentary on this disaster was on TV. As it started all the electrical plugs in our lounge blew.. My husband eventually got the TV working and I was shocked to see how real my dream had been.
❤
This is a very fascinating insight Lynette, and I can relate to it very well. It was only by coincidence that you recall a similar situation that actually happened to my aunt and something which I've never forgotten. I believe it was during the early 1970's when she and her husband, with my 3 cousins had made a detour via this village on their way to catch a ferry over to Ireland. Apparently the car in which they were travelling stopped abruptly and would not restart. She said that they felt and heard a giant thud sound on the roof of the vehicle and an atmosphere so sickly that they were desperate to get out of it quickly. She then noticed that the 3 children in the back of the vehicle were fast asleep and completely unaware of the circumstances. For what seemed an eternity that dark cloud of doom surrounded them and naturally they were extremely frightened. By the time the car did miraculously start up they were never so glad to get back onto the nearest motorway and thank their lucky stars that nobody was hurt. The vehicle received no damage or signs of being hit, but that episode has haunted them ever since, and one I have always remembered. For some unknown reason this documentary appeared on my screen and it gave me goosebumps, I was instantly drawn into it and had to recall the disaster myself by listening intently to the details. Your account is certainly accurate.
Wow. That someone in Saudi Arabia had a premonition dream about a catastrophic event happening in Wales. Incredible.
Yeah right
@@guru66honorhope10 After this happened , I read different accounts of some of the children dreaming about this days before it happened. Obviously they didn’t want to go to school. The parents weren’t to know they were having premonitions. So sad.
I was 6, remember walking in from school and seeing my mum in floods of tears watching it on the tele, such a terrible disaster, and is engrained in my mind to this day knowing a lot of those children would be my age now😢
This disaster was so avoidable. So sad.
I remember it well because our headmaster called for 2 minutes silence. I was in a Junior school in London.
It's one of those disasters that's etched in your mind forever. Hearing the name Aberfan brings it all back. I was 19 and had just got married a few days before the disaster, living in rooms, we watched the horror of it all unfold on the old black & white tv.
Heart breaking ❤️, the neglect of the coal board caused this terrible disaster x
On this day, 58 years ago on the 21s October.....I remember the lives that were lost ❤ and pray for the families of those who lost loved ones
This happened before I was born. I was watching bits of the crown and saw this. How absolutely horrific. I tried watching twice to get the details, but couldn't stop crying. God, just no words. The fact that they had to fight the NCB. How stupid to put that above a town. Anything like that is unstable. I hope they didn't drown in that muck, and God was merciful. Those poor children. I live in the U.S. my heart goes out to the victims and survivors.
NCB?
@@sanbornolsen National Coal Board
@@Scum8ag They weren't nice?
@@sanbornolsenNational Coal Board.
Yes, I agree. This was corporate manslaughter. No doubt.
There’s something about those tiny wood coffins that just rips at my heart strings…and brings tears to my eyes.
I was 9 years old at the time and remember the coverage on the TV. It was probably my first taste of grief and I could feel it during the coverage.
Same here I was 7
27th October 1966 the day of the mass funeral was my 9th birthday, I remember this disaster as it were yesterday, I remember all my school friends reaction and the address from the headmaster at morning assembley. Stayed very vivid in the mind as we were the same age group as the majority of those innocent lives lost.
I remember. I'll never forget our Welsh Headmasters wife running around the playground screaming until he came out, listened, then they both ran home. My school was similar , but in the East of England. We had lots of fundraisers for Abefan. I had no idea how much of a disaster it was until I was older. 🥀🥀🥀🥀
Absolutely disgusting how these people were treat. Not only did all these children and adults die because of the slag heaps that were just left for years but they were denied any help whatsoever. How these so called people at the top lived with themselves i don't know, and to go round to every house to see how much they loved their children before given any money is just evil. Im so glad things have changed. I cant even imagine the depression of that town and they all needed help, they all had to help each other in the group they made, no professional councilling nothing. My heart breaks for them all. God rest those teachers and children ❤ 🙏
I can remember the day this happened, I was 10 years old and it must have been our half term, because I remember being at home with my mum, who was deeply saddened, as we watched it unfolding on the news during the day and it is still emotional seeing it today.
This catastrophe shocked everyone in the land, that saw it. Absolutely heartbreaking.
Such a horrible disaster so heartbreaking my heart goes out to these poor people who lost their children and
My Grandma lived up in Maerdy in James Street a row down from the top of the mountain. My Dad and his friends used to play up the mountain when they were children. It was full of streams and water, as all Welsh mountains are due to geological features and high rainfall. Luckily the coal mine was further to the right of the mountain and somewhat down the side away from the residences. However you could see ‘slag tips’ on the opposite side of the valley which was vacant of houses. It was after seeing these tips as a child that I was first told about the Aberfan disaster. Everyone in Wales knows this disaster and we still mourn it today. The community of Aberfan will never get over this, a whole generation of children were lost and few got away unscathed. Everyone knew someone who’d lost a child or multiple children as well as parents and you can never get away from that…..
Watched this multiple times but it’s still heart wrenching to think of how these children/ teachers/ residents died, the sheer volume of deaths, what the parents went through and how preventable it was. 💔💔💔🏴
Those families and community watching that the pain and loss must have been overwhelming. RIP 🙏🏽🌻🙏🏽
15:32... To hear the voice ... the sound of ‘deep, resigned grief’ listen to this beautiful lady speak about the loss of her child.
😭🙏
Aberfan is the saddest graveyard I have ever visited.
I'll never forget this all on the news and my mum crying as they were my age
I was a young boy at school in North London when this happens. We were all called into the assembly hall and the headmistress told us what had happened. We were then lead in a prayer. I have never forgotten it.
My mum remembered this on the news she was 12 at the time. The whole of the UK was shocked.
Love how media will never change, this house has just come down, people digging with bare hands too help and there the news broadcaster just shoving microphones into the faces of these people 😫 that dude like "yeah my mother might be in there" really hit, you could see the annoyance he had towards the reporter.
Well, in the other hand all those disasters and their victims would have been forgotten, unnoticed and nobody would care...
Yes seeing a capable man standing there when he coukd have been helping dig them out. Poor man lost his mother and the reporter was doing his job as the country wanted to know about it. It was something noone in the UK coukd ever forget
If only it had happened the following day when half term started .But in reality it should never have happened the coal company were totally responsible for this disaster.
56 years ago today and I still remember hearing about it, those poor children, the same age as I was at the time and their teachers, how Sad, R.I.P
I've never forgotten the Aberfan disaster, God bless ALL who lost their lives. Always remembered , NEVER forgotten.
Very sad. This happened in puerto rico too in October 1986. Months before people were complaining about a broken water pipe and it was making mud but the local workers didnt listen and did nothing. Then the weekend before it happened it rain several inches and it saturated the ground even more. So the entire mountain fell on the valley below. Over 300 people died and most could not be dug out cuz of the mud. So they were legt there and today is a memorial ground. A big plaque is placed there with everyones name that perished that day. RiP ❤
Thank you very much for posting this. It is an excellent eyeopener for those naive enough to believe that corporations care about their workers and that governments care about their constituents. May God grant eternal rest to those who needlessly lost their lives, and peace to those they left behind. God bless Wales and her people.
I will be visiting here soon with my husband to lay some flowers something I have wanted to do for years my grandmother was heartbroken and talked about this terrible disaster for years 😥💜💐
Hope u made it there ❤ wot a lovely tribute 🌸🌷🌸
So sad so terribly sad
I cried that any parent should even go through such a disaster
So sad so terrible my heart breaks hearing this story
Reporter: "Do you think there's anybody still here?"
Miner: "Uh... My mother's probably in here."
Reporter: "...."
10:47
So sad, I've been to Aberfan. When I was a kid all our holidays where spent in different parts of wales and we visited the cemetery, it's heartbreaking to see them all in a row 😢
This is exactly what I thought of when the Oso landslide happened. You just knew that unfortunately, no one was coming out of homes that had been overtaken by the mud. I can't imagine the trauma caused by witnessing such horror.
You thunk it can't get worse, but then the "charity organization" wgere all the donations went, waltzes in with their asinine rules for payments based on CLOSENESS! 😵
My son worked in the props department of The Crown. The episode that covered the disaster was extremely moving for him and other members of the Production Crew. He and his lorry had the incredibly difficult task of delivering the coffins for the production… he and others in the production team were offered counselling to help with their grief!!
May all those who lost there lives and of course all those poor pets me they rest in peace 💕🦋 they will never be forgotten 😢❤
I am American and i learned about this horrible disaster watching “The Crown”. Then I read more about it. Very sad day😔
Those poor babies😢
I was 9 when this happened and i can vivid remember prince philip walking around at the site of devastation smiling, i said to my dad why is he smiling, my dad just grunted, always remember that. Juhaptergee
I wasn't born yet, but when I first heard about this tragic and preventable event, my heart was broken.
I'm a Londoner..
I'm 73 now,but I'll never ever forget this terrible tragedy..
We watched the news on Telly...
I was a child...
we watched in disbelief..
RIP,the children.the teachers..🥺🙏🏿❤❤❤❤❤❤
I was 11 when this happened, living nowhere near Wales. But I remember it so clearly, as do many others it seems. It was the first shocking event of my life. I can still see my mother sitting on the sofa watching the news and crying her eyes out. The fact that the mining company was never held to blame is beyond unbelievable. If any of those responsible are still living I hope they bow their heads in shame and have never had a good night's sleep since. I hope they are forever haunted by the images of those poor parents.
I was 6 and in school in South Wales, it was the day before half term. A cloudy, drizzly autumn day, but we were all excited about the upcoming holiday.
Then, around midday, we were all called into the assembly hall and one of the teachers, very very gently and wisely, explained that something terrible had happened a few miles away.
I remember the other teachers crying, and, when I got home, so were my family as we all came together to grieve.
I was 10 at the time,so many children were my age,I always remember the reporter saying that one boy had to have both his legs broken,in order to get him out,the tragedy was entirely avoidable.