My dad was one of the rescuers he was 18. Him,my grandad and my uncle who was 20 went as soon as they heard. He told me about this 3 months ago I was gobsmacked of the stories! Ive never seen a grown man cry, especially my father, It was a terrible tragedy...and one I will now never forget . You are in my dreams tonight, I will say a prayer for all
My mum and dad who were college students at the time recall walking through Cardiff around lunchtime, the news had gone nationwide by now and they described how it seemed the entire city was sobbing uncontrollably 😢
My father was working near the school when the coal dust moved, he was amongst the first lot of men there. my nan said he was there until well into the next day. He never ever mentions anything and he walks out of the room if there's anything on the tv about it. That speaks volumes alone.
Miners came from all over Wales to help. My family worked at Llay Main Colliery in North Wales and many miners from that Colliery downed tools and started to travel south by any means they could to see if they could help.
It’s 20th October 1966 and 15yrs before I was born. I remember my mum telling me about this disaster because she said it was the only time her father lost his temper and “give her shit”. My mum was 13 at the time and when the slag heap destroyed the primary school my mum said “they’re lucky I wish that had happened to my school instead” and my grandfather turned around and told her she’s lucky it didn’t hit her school as most of the children in that school had died.
I saw this in school today and it is really hard to not cry when you are a person from the same village. It is really nice see this documentary from the survivors of the dramatic accident
I remember watching this tragedy unfold on TV. Those brief glimpses of Cliff Michelmore, speaking of a 'valley of death,' bring back vivid memories of the events of that awful day. It was chilling and moving to see him - a broadcaster who had always seemed cheerful, smiling and avuncular - standing there with that look of utter grief on his face, struggling to find the right words, and I am sure think choking back the emotions he felt. And yet, for all that, Aberfan seems to be the forgotten tragedy.
I think it put everyone into shock,I was the same age as those kids,I was in assembly a mile over the mountain in the cynon valley. Remember it like it was yesterday.Without coal the town would not have existed except for farming.A generation wiped out in minutes.Always in my thoughts this time of year,was on the A470 yesterday, it cuts through what used to be the site of the tips.Always makes me shiver when I pass that spot. RIP to the children and adults lost.
I never really understood the true heartbreak and lost that hit that town until i watched this, i am glad i watched this to understand what had happened, but my heart was broke by the end, my son is a stone mainson and his has to go over to the Aberfan cemetery to clean all the stones and when ever he does he always comes home so upset and quiet and you can always tell when he has been to the Aberfan cemetery i can clearly understand why after watching this. This short doc should be played in all the older schools so that this heart breaking time in history will never be forgotten.
I went there last September to lay flowers at the memorial and to pay my respects as the son of a miner, met an old couple there who were involved in the rescue effort, when the old chap was talking about it he started crying even after 50 yrs you could see and hear the agony in his voice, it was heartbreaking. Wish I had got there number to keep in touch, while I was gratefull for their conversation I also felt guilty that he was so upset, would love to be able to meet them again
I was an 11 year old child when this terrible tragedy struck. I remember reading about it in the newspapers and seeing it on the telly. Our school organised financial help for all those poor bereaved people of Aberfan. However no amount of money can bring back or compensate the loss of a dear child. I just hope the villagers got the justice they deserved for this negligence on the part of the National Coal Board.
I was a similar age to the school children who lost their lives and I remember this well on the news at the time. I remember shouting down the stairs to my Mum at about 10pm that night asking if they'd found anymore children alive. Her reply was sadly in the 'negative' Heartbreaking. How the bereaved parents found the strength to go on from this shows 'true courage'. This is REAL tragedy, not some rich silcone enhanced celebrity having been robbed of her precious jewels in Paris.
been there yesterday to see the memorial garden and even I do not come from Wales I could imagine how painful the disaster was for the local society and affected families... very, very sad story... unfortunately the true one...
May all those killed rest in eternal piece and all those affected by this tragedy receive comforting support from our gracious Father. This next comment may be in hindsight, but how could this potential disaster condition ever be allowed to exist? Did no one see the potential for this disaster? A school and homes right in the path of these spoils? The spoils should have not been allowed to be there or the school and parts of the village not be able to exist right in the potential path of these spoils. This could have been avoided........it really could have if action would have been taken prior to such a catastrophic event. Bless all affected!
I don't remember the disaster, I was born in March of that year. But I do remember when at my primary school in Essex every October on the day of the Aberfan disaster we would remember those children who lost their lives with a minutes silence before morning lessons started.
i learned about the disaster only in the early 90s. My grandfather grew up near Methyr in Fleur-de-lis. A very sad event if there ever was one. I look forward (if this can ever be the right term of phrase) to the next part of this programme. thank you for loading it up onto UA-cam.
Chloe Jones my dad was a civil defence warden called out during this, we lived in Bryntirion [nr Bridgend] he took it hard, we left for British Columbia, Canada, Easter Sunday March 26, 1967. My dad couldn’t take it. I was 15 that June.
The people of aberfan have a certain sadness about them, and the valley does have a very negative feel because of this tragedy that happened 50+ years ago at this community the people of aberfan are strong courageous and brave people and they have our respect your in south Wales and in the capital Cardiff. Xx I’m truly sorry for your tremendous losses and the people that lost their lives all those decades ago they will never be forgotten other people of Wales and for the community that has suffered such great tragedy, I am deeply sorry 💔💔💔💔
my grandfather told me the story of the aberfan disater and he said that he was there helping all of the people with gettig all of the school children and teachers out of the junior school of pantglas and it was a terrible disaster and the story still.goes on today rip
learning about this at school 😭😭 so so sad💔 what really got me was how the parents were watching in crowds, waiting to see if their children would come out safely..😫😫🙏
I was 8 when this happened, and remember being in school assembly which came to an end abruptly. The teachers were in tears and we didn't know why at the time. I was met from school that day by my mum who told me what had happened and I remember seeing bits on the telly at the time. I'll never forget it. I have 4 younger siblings who were too young at the time to remember it and have said so. R.I.P to all those who were lost
I'm from pontypridd and my grandma and grandpa lived in Porth, Rhondda, I remember my grandpa telling me about this, he worked in lewis merthyr collery (rhondda heratige park now) and remembered this happening, watching this breaks my heart rip to all who lost their lives in this horrible disaster
At the time of the disaster I was 11 and the disgust at the government and the National Coal Board lasted decades, especially after they demanded and got £250,000 from the relief fund to clear those tips which took nearly 30 years to get that money refunded. Also the government ordered that the families be means tested before they got a penny from that fund, not on their finances but the amount of grief each family suffered.
Is there a second part? I have been looking for the Documentary of the 40th Anniversary. It featured the survivors either junior kids or senior kids injured on their way to school. I saw it when it was broadcasted on TV. Manyof their injuries were caused by the movement of the slag igniting the coal dust - thus the kids were char-broiled.
To the honored and beloved men and women of the Cymry, the Scotti, the Irish; the Cumbrian, Cornish and Celt; the Orcadian, Shetlander, Hebridean and Highlander - Once again, on this day of solemn occasion, we take time, out of our lives, to remember the children, the women, and the men, whose lives were lost, to the ever encroaching desires of greed and incompetence. At Aberfan. At Sellafield. At every place where the poor are given less value, by the rich, than the land upon which they struggle to survive. The powers that be - the same powers that were and have been in the past - have only pretended, over the years, to care; but nothing truly has changed. Their wants, are still more important, to them, than the needs of the people, who they, themselves, for more than a hundred years, have forced, through obfuscation, to live, in poverty and press, beneath them. The lives of the poor, and of the working class, and even of the lower middle class, are still, today, treated as if they have no value, to anyone of importance, and less value than the properties of Earth, upon which can bring yet more wealth, to make the rich yet more richer. Corporations care not for people, other than as automatons to their dirty work: People to be tossed in the trash, when they are not longer useful. That Archaic Parliament of Westminster, controlled, by the Empire's Corporate Elite, for more years than any one of us have been alive, and that Ancient, Unelected Primogeniture of Elizabeth, Charles and William, beholden, also for life, to that same Corporate Empire, are no different. -- They will never acknowledge that they are equals to the People. They refuse to see themselves in their proper role - as humble servants to the People; and to the Laws of the People. To them, you but exist to work for them: They do not exist to work for you. The purpose of your life, to them, is to be but their servant, serving to the whims of their valueless wants and desires: not theirs to be a servant to you. This has never changed. It is the way of the English Empire, of every monarch of the English Empire, for more than a thousand years. --The Saxons. The Normans. The English. The Germans. They are no different to each other. They have all been exactly the same. And every decade, for more than 60 years, your rights, as human beings, grows weaker and weaker. -- Have you forgotten how you were treated in the past? Have you forgotten the decades - and centuries - of enforced poverty? Scratching, in the dirt, for sustenance and survival? Being treated, by the English Monarchs, and the English Parliament, and the English Lords, as less than citizens - and as less than Human? .. Do you want to be slaves again? As your grandparents once were? .. Or do you want to be free of English Rule? As your Ancestors once were? When the Celts ruled our lands, with equality and justice, for all people living upon our land, and sharing their bounties of the Earth, freely, amongst the entire Celtic family, where no one starved, and no one lived homeless, and all children were treated with love and kindness and care for their future - We Celts are not the heathens the English pretend us to be - it is the Saxons and the English and the Germans who pretend to be our Monarchs who are the true heathens - their religion is not of love, and equality - their religion is for conquest and rule - and for 300 years, they have practiced their rule .. over the whole of the Celtic Nation .. If you're tired of our poor and our broken always getting screwed by the "Royal Family", screwed by Parliament and screwed by the Posh, Rich Elite, who are never held accountable for their multitudinous crimes - of murder, of rape, of racketeering, and of inhumane abuses toward innocent little children - then we must stand and protect one another; we must rise up in defense of others, in defense of the weak and powerless, and in defense of our people, and our rights, as human beings, in full control of our own destiny, and the lives and welfare of our own people .. ~ Y Mab Darogan. Ar gyfer Cymru. Ar gyfer yr Alban. Ar gyfer Iwerddon. I Brydain. ~ B .. ~
poignantly, it's a Friday and also the last Friday before half term again for the 50 years on remembrance. Why couldn't it have happened at the weekend if it had to? so unfair. Rest in Peace, things are supposed to happen for a reason but no way was this thing meant to have happened for a reason
FEEL like crying fucking English. been despised by them since 1988 after the pits closed we moved to England. they told me my country was like a baby in a healthy mother bringing her down... I told them they are like a un caring mother who abuses her child and wont let her develop into a mature adult... They are still the same today. I know I am despised by them, but I fight the power that be... FREE WALES.. PC Leanne evans..
My mother was Welsh and proud but came to England because of her parents work (my grandfather was a miner) so was his brother, My dad was English he also was a miner working in the same mines as my grandfather, I am half English half Welsh but I feel more welsh (LONG STORY)
Was it true that the water course under tip number 7 was clearly seen in maps? If so the NCB should have been charged with corporate manslaughter ofmr what ever equivalent charge existed at the time . They talk about not victimising Robens and the NCB but they forget about the first victims. Those who died in the tip slide and also let's not forget those that worked so hard to rescue children and remove those who sadly passed away. They saw things I bet they never forgot . No counselling in those days to help them. Also who ever took money from the disaster relief fund to pay for the removal of the tips should also have faced a court of law, they broke the rules of the charity commission. There was also so much arguing about who should be paid what. It sounded cold and horrible. Nothing could bring those children back but comfort should have been given to families affected by the loss of a child.
The spring was known about for decades, some kids dammed the spring and played there in the summer holidays. Tip 7 was built ontop of it. The spring combined with heavy rain that year undermined the tip, and it slid. Check out my other video taken on the tip in 2016. You will see the new culvert made to take away water from the Spring. The charity money was re embursed in 1998 by Blair, but not with accrued interest. It should have been a million.. Labour let down the people of Aberfan big style. Another fact....... People complained about the tips safety years before the disaster. They were told by the NCB , make a fuss and we will close the pit ! My dad went over there with a shovel to help. That memory is with me for ever.
@@DOCTORDROTT James, Please do a documentary on those local folk that knew, including the NUM reps. What they knew, what they did or didn't do. Why they could not be heard. Why they carried on piling spoil onto top of sliding spoilt .....
On behalf of the Pont-Ap-Hywêl Bois we will remember Aberfan and the lost Generation. We will NEVER forget what happened October 66, We will come every year to remember each and every one!!! Should never have happened, it slid twice before that but obviously not as bad. The National Coal Board could have stopped this, not saying they thought it would slide as Bad as it did but clear neglect of what was happening and being dumped there. Everyone knew about the springs, they were on ordinance maps and everything. Cofiwch Aberfan❤️
Dwi'n flin gyda late reply, dwi'n unig dysgu cymraeg hyfyd. Dynn'in ddim stop tân we get annibyniaeth. It's a must for Cymru. Gobeithio gweld a chi dydd Sul at Aberfan✊🏼 Rydym yn Cofio am Byth
When I was an 11 year-old schoolboy, we had to write an essay on this tragedy. Then, as now, I ask that someone explain why the local workforce, supported by the NUM, continued to pile spoilt onto a known stream on tip 7 that had moved several times before? Apparently many deputations were made to the NCB. Yet the union and workforce, well able to bring the country to a standstill over the subsequent 10 to 15 years, were ineffective in saving their young. At the very least, move the kids to another temporary school. All this post-event hand-wringing ignores the lack of action by those villagers and workers who knew about the spring. It is all too easy to blame a corporate enterprise when those on the ground should have taken action or at least not allowed themselves to be fobbed off. While the NCB may have been accountable, those that tipped more spoil were responsible. Remember 'For evil to happen, good men have to remain silent' ..... RIP all those that were let down, 'lest we fail to learn and shug shoulders next time.
Also, the local council had written to the NCB with major concerns, residents had also complained five years before the disaster . Ignored by NCB management
@@DOCTORDROTT James, Thx for your 2 replies. Having worked in the Midlands motor industry in the 1970s I saw as a young man the power of the Trades Unions, of which the NUM was by far the most powerful, reducing our country to a 3 day week and bringing down the Heath government. What was the NUM doing in all of this? Did it know? did it care? I also maintain that given the history of Tip 7 slipping as far back as 1945 then the local workers who carried on tipping were responsible too. The streams are even on 1930s OS maps! There were many jobs available in the boom of the mid 1960s. I can't help but think that 'Blaming the NCB' is to not tell the whole story when it is likely the NCB would have plausible deniability .... The local colliery management team would have decided when a tip was too high and a new one needed to be started, not some guy in London at NCB HQ
@@whitefields5595 A Labour government was in control at the time. Pit job losses = lost votes that was admitted by Lord Tonypandy . In those days people were less inclined to complain , the NCB was a dreadful organisation and very powerful at that time. Union reps did not want to rock the boat and get blamed for job losses. There was very little other employment in the valleys at that time. 80% of jobs linked to the coal industry. Local people and council did complain but local NCB managers did nothing and their bosses did know of tip issues at that time as a directive was issued on tip height .
@@DOCTORDROTT James ...... but not to address the issue of local NUM, colliery management and tip workers is to leave the discussion incomplete. They knew the tip was moving, as it had done in 1945, but no one considered the kids. To create a new spoil heap is no big deal, just move the lift system the rail track and the drag lift. That would not have needed NCB HQ approval. The locals should have taken action and sought forgiveness afterwards.
I would like to see part 2. but it looks as though they have the documentary facts ect. I don't think I could bring myself to watch a part two I'd it shows all the grieving families. RIP to everyone who died that day.
Who developed a town, below a steep hill, with towers of coal sludge above it/ this didn’t or should have not happened. The town should have been developed a longs way from coal mining ground.
The town was there before the tips to house the miners in the late 1880's , the tips were increased in size and number as mining continued. In the 1850's its was just farms and fields
Brill documentary but who ever did sub titles needs to learn how to spell and read properly the mistakes are terrible and there is only half of the documentary
How can any God exist and allow this kind of thing to happen, to take the lives of 116 children, and the lives of 28 adults. When the religious leaders arrive at these tragedies and offer condolences to grieving people is quite hypocritical. The gods must be very sick voyeurs.
I have often thought that , I did ask a vicar once, why are the good and the innocents punished and bad people seem to be left alone. He could not answer that. I do think that there may be a purpose to life and our lives are mapped out but I don't think there is a god as such but something that guides us through our lives. God is just a word that we link this to our thoughts and beliefs . I would like to think that we meet up with family when our time is up. Its such a complex thought, I think none of us realy know the answer to Why ?
@@love_agapi_m3976 I hope this person doesn't try and watch the British comedy "Last of the Summer Wine." The Cornish accent might make their poor little head explode. That'd be sommat to watch, ayeup! 🤣
My dad was one of the rescuers he was 18. Him,my grandad and my uncle who was 20 went as soon as they heard. He told me about this 3 months ago I was gobsmacked of the stories! Ive never seen a grown man cry, especially my father, It was a terrible tragedy...and one I will now never forget . You are in my dreams tonight, I will say a prayer for all
U got mine too from New Orleans 🙏🏾✌🏾❤
your dad was a HERO, never forgotten, the tragedy, or the NCBs reaction, R.I.P.
My father was 20 years old and in the Swansea Fire Service. He helped dig out those children. Still can't talk about it today.
*❤️*
Is this place Close to Swansea?
@@moisliliana590 about an hour
I'm from Swansea
My mum and dad who were college students at the time recall walking through Cardiff around lunchtime, the news had gone nationwide by now and they described how it seemed the entire city was sobbing uncontrollably 😢
My father was working near the school when the coal dust moved, he was amongst the first lot of men there. my nan said he was there until well into the next day. He never ever mentions anything and he walks out of the room if there's anything on the tv about it. That speaks volumes alone.
Miners came from all over Wales to help. My family worked at Llay Main Colliery in North Wales and many miners from that Colliery downed tools and started to travel south by any means they could to see if they could help.
God knows what that man went through.
😞😢
😔😢
It’s 20th October 1966 and 15yrs before I was born. I remember my mum telling me about this disaster because she said it was the only time her father lost his temper and “give her shit”. My mum was 13 at the time and when the slag heap destroyed the primary school my mum said “they’re lucky I wish that had happened to my school instead” and my grandfather turned around and told her she’s lucky it didn’t hit her school as most of the children in that school had died.
I visited the Cemetery yesterday two days after the 55th anniversary. Never forgotten.
i cry every year, it was one week before my birthday, rest in peace.... so very sorry for you all
NO-ONE will EVER forget that was alive. I was the same age as the children that died and my MUM sobbed her heart out as we saw it unfold on TV.
Me too, I’ll never forget Mum standing in the kitchen listening to the radio crying.
Same
I saw this in school today and it is really hard to not cry when you are a person from the same village. It is really nice see this documentary from the survivors of the dramatic accident
May all who lost their lives rest in eternal peace.
I remember watching this tragedy unfold on TV. Those brief glimpses of Cliff Michelmore, speaking of a 'valley of death,' bring back vivid memories of the events of that awful day. It was chilling and moving to see him - a broadcaster who had always seemed cheerful, smiling and avuncular - standing there with that look of utter grief on his face, struggling to find the right words, and I am sure think choking back the emotions he felt. And yet, for all that, Aberfan seems to be the forgotten tragedy.
I think it put everyone into shock,I was the same age as those kids,I was in assembly a mile over the mountain in the cynon valley. Remember it like it was yesterday.Without coal the town would not have existed except for farming.A generation wiped out in minutes.Always in my thoughts this time of year,was on the A470 yesterday, it cuts through what used to be the site of the tips.Always makes me shiver when I pass that spot. RIP to the children and adults lost.
+james bolem damn thats horrid
My grandfather had helped then... but now he's gone to heaven he passed last Tuesday 😿
May he Rest In Peace Amba-Rae, bless you🙏❤️
RIP:(
RIP God bless
Sorry for your loss
RIP xx
I never really understood the true heartbreak and lost that hit that town until i watched this, i am glad i watched this to understand what had happened, but my heart was broke by the end, my son is a stone mainson and his has to go over to the Aberfan cemetery to clean all the stones and when ever he does he always comes home so upset and quiet and you can always tell when he has been to the Aberfan cemetery i can clearly understand why after watching this. This short doc should be played in all the older schools so that this heart breaking time in history will never be forgotten.
I went there last September to lay flowers at the memorial and to pay my respects as the son of a miner, met an old couple there who were involved in the rescue effort, when the old chap was talking about it he started crying even after 50 yrs you could see and hear the agony in his voice, it was heartbreaking. Wish I had got there number to keep in touch, while I was gratefull for their conversation I also felt guilty that he was so upset, would love to be able to meet them again
It effected everyone ,I can remember it like it was yesterday.On the A470 today which disects the tip area. Gives me the shivers everytime
There are no words to describe the sorrow
I was an 11 year old child when this terrible tragedy struck. I remember reading about it in the newspapers and seeing it on the telly. Our school organised financial help for all those poor bereaved people of Aberfan. However no amount of money can bring back or compensate the loss of a dear child. I just hope the villagers got the justice they deserved for this negligence on the part of the National Coal Board.
I was a similar age to the school children who lost their lives and I remember this well on the news at the time. I remember shouting down the stairs to my Mum at about 10pm that night asking if they'd found anymore children alive. Her reply was sadly in the 'negative' Heartbreaking. How the bereaved parents found the strength to go on from this shows 'true courage'. This is REAL tragedy, not some rich silcone enhanced celebrity having been robbed of her precious jewels in Paris.
been there yesterday to see the memorial garden and even I do not come from Wales I could imagine how painful the disaster was for the local society and affected families... very, very sad story... unfortunately the true one...
May all those killed rest in eternal piece and all those affected by this tragedy receive comforting support from our gracious Father.
This next comment may be in hindsight, but how could this potential disaster condition ever be allowed to exist? Did no one see the potential for this disaster? A school and homes right in the path of these spoils? The spoils should have not been allowed to be there or the school and parts of the village not be able to exist right in the potential path of these spoils. This could have been avoided........it really could have if action would have been taken prior to such a catastrophic event. Bless all affected!
the coal board had been getting warnings about the threat it posed over the school for years,they are to blame,not the minors the rich ones as usual
116 children died and 28 adults died too and 21 houses and the school as well as a farm cottage were destroyed
I don't remember the disaster, I was born in March of that year.
But I do remember when at my primary school in Essex every October on the day of the Aberfan disaster we would remember those children who lost their lives with a minutes silence before morning lessons started.
That's a lovely touch 👍
Baron Robens Of Woldingham. An English peer lol! His title says it all.
RIP the beautiful people of Aberfan - we will never forget.
Yesterday it was exactly 50 years ago, my school had a minutes silence cos were in Wales, it made me so sad
Awful. Rest in peace and love to their families xxx
Can't imagine how the parents of the kids must've felt wonder if their kids are alive.
keanestar07 wondering : you mean desperately hoping
i learned about the disaster only in the early 90s. My grandfather grew up near Methyr in Fleur-de-lis. A very sad event if there ever was one. I look forward (if this can ever be the right term of phrase) to the next part of this programme.
thank you for loading it up onto UA-cam.
My welsh teacher showed me this video D; I live in South Wales most people speak English but we all have our proud welsh accent
+Chloe Jones same here,Ebbw me.
I'm from England but I am learning to speak Welsh :))
Pontypridd me!
Ebbw me
Chloe Jones my dad was a civil defence warden called out during this, we lived in Bryntirion [nr Bridgend] he took it hard, we left for British Columbia, Canada, Easter Sunday March 26, 1967. My dad couldn’t take it. I was 15 that June.
Beautiful children did not deserve this! Very upsetting. RIP xx
The hardest day for Wales, God Bless them all.
The people of aberfan have a certain sadness about them, and the valley does have a very negative feel because of this tragedy that happened 50+ years ago at this community the people of aberfan are strong courageous and brave people and they have our respect your in south Wales and in the capital Cardiff. Xx
I’m truly sorry for your tremendous losses and the people that lost their lives all those decades ago they will never be forgotten other people of Wales and for the community that has suffered such great tragedy, I am deeply sorry 💔💔💔💔
It had a profound effect in all the valleys. Its burned into my mind as I was in school on that morning one mile away over the hill.
I drove 140 miles to visit Aberfan in July 2021. Even 55 years after the tradegy I still felt like an intruder.
Where is the rest of this? Incredible strength from these people. Heartbreaking yet so powerful.
my grandfather told me the story of the aberfan disater and he said that he was there helping all of the people with gettig all of the school children and teachers out of the junior school of pantglas and it was a terrible disaster and the story still.goes on today rip
learning about this at school 😭😭 so so sad💔 what really got me was how the parents were watching in crowds, waiting to see if their children would come out safely..😫😫🙏
My friend was in the sjab and given the task of cleaning the children's faces in the chapel so they could be identified, still haunts him.
its was a very sad day
I was 8 when this happened, and remember being in school assembly which came to an end abruptly. The teachers were in tears and we didn't know why at the time. I was met from school that day by my mum who told me what had happened and I remember seeing bits on the telly at the time. I'll never forget it. I have 4 younger siblings who were too young at the time to remember it and have said so. R.I.P to all those who were lost
My aunt was the only 9 year old survivor
Gaynor madgewick
The Doctor 4 children in that class survived. Gaynor Madgewick was badly injured. I recommend her book about the disaster. It is very informative.
I'm from pontypridd and my grandma and grandpa lived in Porth, Rhondda, I remember my grandpa telling me about this, he worked in lewis merthyr collery (rhondda heratige park now) and remembered this happening, watching this breaks my heart rip to all who lost their lives in this horrible disaster
so sad for the people of Aberfan may their souls be at peace
I don't know why I'm watching this. I've already depressed myself enough after just watching a video about the Sago mine disaster in West Virginia.😭
Literally same😭😭
really sad, was 7 months old and shocked to learn this happened in Sunday magazine in 1986, 20 years after.
52 years ago how sad so many people R.I.P. all of them xxxxxxxxxxxx
I live im Brazil and see the crown. very touching for me. i 1966 a live in a litlle miner city .
hope to upload part 2 soon, issues with recording
Is it possible to reduce the volume of the background music? It's making it very difficult for me to hear the people speaking.
Heartbreaking tragedy😥
This is absolutely heartbreaking what happened. Watching on the 56th anniversary remember my nan telling me about this when i was little 😔😔😔😔
The NCB were fully to blame and then tried to claim money from the relief fund! Unbelievable. Members of the NCB should have been locked up for this.
At the time of the disaster I was 11 and the disgust at the government and the National Coal Board lasted decades, especially after they demanded and got £250,000 from the relief fund to clear those tips which took nearly 30 years to get that money refunded. Also the government ordered that the families be means tested before they got a penny from that fund, not on their finances but the amount of grief each family suffered.
I want to visit aberfan some time and leave some flowers for the children who died
That would be a great thing to do.
R.I.P Plant Annwyl.
Hi, is Part 2 available please?
How very sad
Is there a second part? I have been looking for the Documentary of the 40th Anniversary. It featured the survivors either junior kids or senior kids injured on their way to school. I saw it when it was broadcasted on TV. Manyof their injuries were caused by the movement of the slag igniting the coal dust - thus the kids were char-broiled.
what an awful tragedy- I was 8 and we heard about it in school, I hope all responsible from the NCB were in prison
My mum's friends twin brother was killed in this tragedy!
Heartbroken
So tragic...
Was there a second part to this clip? It finishes very abruptly.
I looked for part 2 under videos on your page. Were you able to upload it?
Thanks.
Had a technical issue, but there is a video with the second half by someone else
So sad 😔😔😔😔
GOD BLESS YOU ALL XXXXXXXXXX
Part 2?
I know Aberfan Cycling track in Caerphilly anyway i have never being to the Mororial, I myself from South Wales 🏴 Aberbargoed
For those who were requesting Part 2, see here: ua-cam.com/video/zFz3ODVdvS4/v-deo.html
I was 7 years old when this Tragedy happened
Is there a second part to this?
Thank you for posting.
To the honored and beloved men and women of the Cymry, the Scotti, the Irish; the Cumbrian, Cornish and Celt; the Orcadian, Shetlander, Hebridean and Highlander - Once again, on this day of solemn occasion, we take time, out of our lives, to remember the children, the women, and the men, whose lives were lost, to the ever encroaching desires of greed and incompetence. At Aberfan. At Sellafield. At every place where the poor are given less value, by the rich, than the land upon which they struggle to survive. The powers that be - the same powers that were and have been in the past - have only pretended, over the years, to care; but nothing truly has changed. Their wants, are still more important, to them, than the needs of the people, who they, themselves, for more than a hundred years, have forced, through obfuscation, to live, in poverty and press, beneath them. The lives of the poor, and of the working class, and even of the lower middle class, are still, today, treated as if they have no value, to anyone of importance, and less value than the properties of Earth, upon which can bring yet more wealth, to make the rich yet more richer. Corporations care not for people, other than as automatons to their dirty work: People to be tossed in the trash, when they are not longer useful. That Archaic Parliament of Westminster, controlled, by the Empire's Corporate Elite, for more years than any one of us have been alive, and that Ancient, Unelected Primogeniture of Elizabeth, Charles and William, beholden, also for life, to that same Corporate Empire, are no different. -- They will never acknowledge that they are equals to the People. They refuse to see themselves in their proper role - as humble servants to the People; and to the Laws of the People. To them, you but exist to work for them: They do not exist to work for you. The purpose of your life, to them, is to be but their servant, serving to the whims of their valueless wants and desires: not theirs to be a servant to you. This has never changed. It is the way of the English Empire, of every monarch of the English Empire, for more than a thousand years. --The Saxons. The Normans. The English. The Germans. They are no different to each other. They have all been exactly the same. And every decade, for more than 60 years, your rights, as human beings, grows weaker and weaker. -- Have you forgotten how you were treated in the past? Have you forgotten the decades - and centuries - of enforced poverty? Scratching, in the dirt, for sustenance and survival? Being treated, by the English Monarchs, and the English Parliament, and the English Lords, as less than citizens - and as less than Human? .. Do you want to be slaves again? As your grandparents once were? .. Or do you want to be free of English Rule? As your Ancestors once were? When the Celts ruled our lands, with equality and justice, for all people living upon our land, and sharing their bounties of the Earth, freely, amongst the entire Celtic family, where no one starved, and no one lived homeless, and all children were treated with love and kindness and care for their future - We Celts are not the heathens the English pretend us to be - it is the Saxons and the English and the Germans who pretend to be our Monarchs who are the true heathens - their religion is not of love, and equality - their religion is for conquest and rule - and for 300 years, they have practiced their rule .. over the whole of the Celtic Nation .. If you're tired of our poor and our broken always getting screwed by the "Royal Family", screwed by Parliament and screwed by the Posh, Rich Elite, who are never held accountable for their multitudinous crimes - of murder, of rape, of racketeering, and of inhumane abuses toward innocent little children - then we must stand and protect one another; we must rise up in defense of others, in defense of the weak and powerless, and in defense of our people, and our rights, as human beings, in full control of our own destiny, and the lives and welfare of our own people .. ~ Y Mab Darogan. Ar gyfer Cymru. Ar gyfer yr Alban. Ar gyfer Iwerddon. I Brydain. ~ B .. ~
poignantly, it's a Friday and also the last Friday before half term again for the 50 years on remembrance. Why couldn't it have happened at the weekend if it had to? so unfair. Rest in Peace, things are supposed to happen for a reason but no way was this thing meant to have happened for a reason
Rest in peace Gramps 💔
You were to Young. I may of never met you but I’ve learnt loads about you from your brother. I love you 😭❤️
Yes, the background music is intrusive, cant change it.
it's unreal, isn't it? very tragic
FEEL like crying fucking English. been despised by them since 1988 after the pits closed we moved to England. they told me my country was like a baby in a healthy mother bringing her down... I told them they are like a un caring mother who abuses her child and wont let her develop into a mature adult... They are still the same today. I know I am despised by them, but I fight the power that be... FREE WALES.. PC Leanne evans..
I don't think it is fair to blame an entire nation for the actions of a few.
Still..it happens.
its not the enlishman, its the ruling class
My mother was Welsh and proud but came to England because of her parents work (my grandfather was a miner) so was his brother, My dad was English he also was a miner working in the same mines as my grandfather, I am half English half Welsh but I feel more welsh (LONG STORY)
Was it true that the water course under tip number 7 was clearly seen in maps? If so the NCB should have been charged with corporate manslaughter ofmr what ever equivalent charge existed at the time . They talk about not victimising Robens and the NCB but they forget about the first victims. Those who died in the tip slide and also let's not forget those that worked so hard to rescue children and remove those who sadly passed away. They saw things I bet they never forgot . No counselling in those days to help them.
Also who ever took money from the disaster relief fund to pay for the removal of the tips should also have faced a court of law, they broke the rules of the charity commission. There was also so much arguing about who should be paid what. It sounded cold and horrible. Nothing could bring those children back but comfort should have been given to families affected by the loss of a child.
The spring was known about for decades, some kids dammed the spring and played there in the summer holidays. Tip 7 was built ontop of it. The spring combined with heavy rain that year undermined the tip, and it slid. Check out my other video taken on the tip in 2016. You will see the new culvert made to take away water from the Spring. The charity money was re embursed in 1998 by Blair, but not with accrued interest. It should have been a million.. Labour let down the people of Aberfan big style. Another fact....... People complained about the tips safety years before the disaster. They were told by the NCB , make a fuss and we will close the pit ! My dad went over there with a shovel to help. That memory is with me for ever.
@@DOCTORDROTT James, Please do a documentary on those local folk that knew, including the NUM reps. What they knew, what they did or didn't do. Why they could not be heard. Why they carried on piling spoil onto top of sliding spoilt .....
On behalf of the Pont-Ap-Hywêl Bois we will remember Aberfan and the lost Generation. We will NEVER forget what happened October 66, We will come every year to remember each and every one!!! Should never have happened, it slid twice before that but obviously not as bad. The National Coal Board could have stopped this, not saying they thought it would slide as Bad as it did but clear neglect of what was happening and being dumped there. Everyone knew about the springs, they were on ordinance maps and everything. Cofiwch Aberfan❤️
Cofiwch yn wir..diolch Kristopher
Hyfyd, Diolch yn fawr iawn Gareth. Cendl Cof, Fe godwn ni eto. Cymru Rhydd✊🏼
Diolch Kristopher. Gobeithio gweld Cymru rydd cyn diwedd fy nyddiau. Cofion cynnes
Dwi'n flin gyda late reply, dwi'n unig dysgu cymraeg hyfyd. Dynn'in ddim stop tân we get annibyniaeth. It's a must for Cymru. Gobeithio gweld a chi dydd Sul at Aberfan✊🏼 Rydym yn Cofio am Byth
Dim problem!
A rwy'n cytuno'n llwyr am annibyniaeth. Pob bendith.
When I was an 11 year-old schoolboy, we had to write an essay on this tragedy. Then, as now, I ask that someone explain why the local workforce, supported by the NUM, continued to pile spoilt onto a known stream on tip 7 that had moved several times before? Apparently many deputations were made to the NCB. Yet the union and workforce, well able to bring the country to a standstill over the subsequent 10 to 15 years, were ineffective in saving their young. At the very least, move the kids to another temporary school. All this post-event hand-wringing ignores the lack of action by those villagers and workers who knew about the spring. It is all too easy to blame a corporate enterprise when those on the ground should have taken action or at least not allowed themselves to be fobbed off. While the NCB may have been accountable, those that tipped more spoil were responsible. Remember 'For evil to happen, good men have to remain silent' ..... RIP all those that were let down, 'lest we fail to learn and shug shoulders next time.
The answer is, if they did not tip, the NCB would have closed the pit as un economic
Also, the local council had written to the NCB with major concerns, residents had also complained five years before the disaster . Ignored by NCB management
@@DOCTORDROTT James, Thx for your 2 replies. Having worked in the Midlands motor industry in the 1970s I saw as a young man the power of the Trades Unions, of which the NUM was by far the most powerful, reducing our country to a 3 day week and bringing down the Heath government. What was the NUM doing in all of this? Did it know? did it care? I also maintain that given the history of Tip 7 slipping as far back as 1945 then the local workers who carried on tipping were responsible too. The streams are even on 1930s OS maps! There were many jobs available in the boom of the mid 1960s. I can't help but think that 'Blaming the NCB' is to not tell the whole story when it is likely the NCB would have plausible deniability .... The local colliery management team would have decided when a tip was too high and a new one needed to be started, not some guy in London at NCB HQ
@@whitefields5595 A Labour government was in control at the time. Pit job losses = lost votes that was admitted by Lord Tonypandy . In those days people were less inclined to complain , the NCB was a dreadful organisation and very powerful at that time. Union reps did not want to rock the boat and get blamed for job losses. There was very little other employment in the valleys at that time. 80% of jobs linked to the coal industry. Local people and council did complain but local NCB managers did nothing and their bosses did know of tip issues at that time as a directive was issued on tip height .
@@DOCTORDROTT James ...... but not to address the issue of local NUM, colliery management and tip workers is to leave the discussion incomplete. They knew the tip was moving, as it had done in 1945, but no one considered the kids. To create a new spoil heap is no big deal, just move the lift system the rail track and the drag lift. That would not have needed NCB HQ approval. The locals should have taken action and sought forgiveness afterwards.
I would like to see part 2. but it looks as though they have the documentary facts ect. I don't think I could bring myself to watch a part two I'd it shows all the grieving families. RIP to everyone who died that day.
Children.... gone.... from us
My mum was 3 when This happened
Who developed a town, below a steep hill, with towers of coal sludge above it/ this didn’t or should have not happened. The town should have been developed a longs way from coal mining ground.
The town was there before the tips to house the miners in the late 1880's , the tips were increased in size and number as mining continued. In the 1850's its was just farms and fields
I'm from sth wales.. My little girl is 8.. She has been told of what happened that day..
I live in South Wales
You're lucky.
When I heard about it I was sade
The full documentary is on Veoh, here:
www.veoh.com/watch/v64403134fDGgy9m?h1=Disaster+at+Aberfan
Thank you
Been wales for 20 years still to hear any one speak welsh
Lle yng Nghymru wyt ti? Heb glywed neb yn siarad Cymraeg..? Anghredadwy!
Gareth Ifan 😂😂
Alot depends which side of the A470 you live on whether it be North or South Wales. West of this road Welsh is more common in North Wales!
I live here
good documentary of a terrible day ruined by irritating background music
www.veoh.com/watch/v64403134fDGgy9m?h1=Disaster+at+Aberfan
here's a link to the full documentary.
Sorry but this link does not work. The video does not load
Brill documentary but who ever did sub titles needs to learn how to spell and read properly the mistakes are terrible and there is only half of the documentary
auto generated by a youtube , it can't pick up accents
Why is this story told in the present tense with "dramatic recreation," turning it into mere entertainment?
a
fen
coube
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culpa
How can any God exist and allow this kind of thing to happen, to take the lives of 116 children, and the lives of 28 adults.
When the religious leaders arrive at these tragedies and offer condolences to grieving people is quite hypocritical.
The gods must be very sick voyeurs.
I have often thought that , I did ask a vicar once, why are the good and the innocents punished and bad people seem to be left alone. He could not answer that. I do think that there may be a purpose to life and our lives are mapped out but I don't think there is a god as such but something that guides us through our lives. God is just a word that we link this to our thoughts and beliefs . I would like to think that we meet up with family when our time is up. Its such a complex thought, I think none of us realy know the answer to Why ?
What the HELL slop language is he speaking is it any form of English known to man ? Good God man !
Welsh accent
I bet he thinks you sound like an idiot as well.
Because they are Welsh. 🙄🤦🏻♀️
@@love_agapi_m3976 I hope this person doesn't try and watch the British comedy "Last of the Summer Wine." The Cornish accent might make their poor little head explode.
That'd be sommat to watch, ayeup! 🤣
Aye, the whiff of whitewash, nothing has changed