General Chat

Official commemorations of the 40th anniversary of the Aberfan disaster have begun, to remember the 144 people who died in the south Wales town. A total of 116 children lost their lives when a coal waste tip slid down a mountain, engulfing a school and surrounding houses on 21 October 1966

40 years?????? Blimey! How time flys! I remember it as if it were yesterday.... Very sad then....still sad today. Gerri x

Watched the programme about the disaster when I was in Wales, it was on BBC 1 and was horrified to find the government made the people pay £150,000 out of the disaster fund given by ordinary people, to clear the tip. I think it has been returned to them now but without interest, so worth much less than it should be. There was another programme on the other day on a different channel, it was so sad. I can remember hearing about it on the news and being upset. Liz

I remember it well. I sat all night watching the news. I was 8 at the time, the same age as the children who lost their lives. Caring thoughts to those who lost family members. Deb

Remembering those lost that day....and those that still mourn their passing. Gwyn

Aberfan is not far from where I live I was not born when it happened but my family told me about it and we were told about it in school. Very sad how all those people especially children died. I was told that the only children that survived were ones not old enough for school or those not attending school that day. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those lost and the community as a whole. Will there be a silence held for them? Jackie

Thoughts and prayers for those lost, a generation gone JA

Such an awful thing to Happen rem day it Happened. May they all rest in Peace. June.

I remember hearing it on the news, the day it happened. Awful, just so awful. R.I.P., all the victims.

I also remember it well. My father was one of many that went up to Aberfan to see if they could help. So sad all those lost lives. May they rest in peace. C x

I live just under four miles from there, so went to comprehensive school with a lot of the survivors. Thinking of them all. M.

I would have been four when that happened but when I see the newsreel from then I just go cold. It was so, so terrible. Lx

Dreadful tragedy - my own two were aged 6 and 8 at the time - the age of so many who were lost. Healing thoughts to those bereaved and those who survived. Ann

such a sad tragic day, that will stay forever in my heart. rest in peace. bryan.

from BBC News online: Survivors of the Aberfan disaster, which killed 144 people, mainly children, have joined bereaved relatives at a private service. A tip slid on to the village school and 18 homes on 21 October, 1966, leaving 116 children and 28 adults dead. About 100 people gathered at Aberfan cemetery to lay wreaths, among them some families who had never before attended on the anniversary day. Welsh sporting events will also mark the anniversary during the weekend. Welsh Secretary Peter Hain and First Minister Rhodri Morgan were among those who joined in the prayers as the wreaths were laid. Elsewhere, Cardiff City players will wear black armbands during their game at Norwich on Saturday, and there will be a minute's silence before football matches in the Welsh Premiership and at rugby games. A documentary being screened on BBC Two Wales on Saturday will chart the progress of work being carried out by American artist Shimon Attie with the people of Aberfan to create new images of the village. The artist had never heard of Aberfan before going to the town, and wants to help provide the village with an alternative public face from the well-known pictures of the disaster. He said: 'I'm trying to use modern art to help normalise the village. I want it to be merely an ordinary Welsh village amongst other Welsh villages.' More than 40 people from Aberfan have taken part in the photographic and video installation, using objects from their daily home and working lives. The participants talk about dealing with the grief and stress of the disaster, some detailing the guilt they felt at surviving where others perished. None of them are being named, in a bid to allow them to remain anonymous once the exhibition is over. The finished pieces will be shown in the National Museum of Wales in the new year. At a service in Merthyr Tydfil on Thursday, Father Michael St Clair said: 'I was asked several times, what do I think is the need for such a commemoration. 'We pray that all those who lost their lives are brought to that place of peace, light and happiness. 'Why do we commemorate so many things? Because we are a people who remember. 'Why are we here in these valleys? Coal is responsible. 'In those days they didn't realise what they were doing, in our days we are so concerned with global warming and the effect on the environment. It doesn't matter if it's one year or 40 years on - the pain is just the same At Thursday's service, First Minister Rhodri Morgan called on the people of Wales to remember those who died. He said: 'Everyone can remember how they heard about Aberfan. 'I first heard about it on the lunchtime news that day and found it hard to make sense of the horror of it - the fact that a primary school had been buried, that so many children had died and the scale of the rescue operation. 'This was the 1960s. Wales still had 100,000 miners and coal was king. Coal was so important that we all accepted - until Aberfan - that there was a price to pay and we were all prepared to pay it. 'What we never foresaw was that coal could take the lives of our children. That was new, and terrible.' The landslide of muddy coal waste demolished Pantglas Junior School and neighbouring houses. Readings at Thursday's service were given by councillor Jeff Edwards, one of the pupils who survived the disaster at Pantglas. The mayor of Merthyr, Ian Clark, said: 'We pray for the families and friends of all who died that they may draw comfort from their faith and the support of the community.' Cliff Minett, who lost two of his three children in the disaster, said: 'It doesn't matter if it's one year or 40 years on - the pain is just the same.'

First Minister Rhodri Morgan said: 'Americans think of the assassination of JF Kennedy and also of 9/11 – events which fundamentally changed America when a country lost its innocence. 'For Wales, our defining moment came 40 years ago. 'Aberfan defined post-war Wales, as would no other event. It awoke the sense that we had to be responsible for our own environment.' The local Assembly Member Huw Lewis, whose sister Alyson was one of the surviving children plucked from Pantglas school, said: 'The name Aberfan once only conjured images of tragedy, disaster and of course courage in the face of adversity. 'Forty years on let us pause to reflect not just on yesterday’s tragedy, but on that hope for tomorrow.'