Aberfan



We took the opportunity to visit Aberfan once when we were holidaying in Wales. Our first born was only about a year old at the time, and as new parents, the tragedy of Aberfan really resonated with us.
Such a sobering place, but I really appreciated the opportunity to go and spend some time there to, if nothing else, show that the tragedy was still real to those of us who weren't even around at the time.
 
This might seem weird, but to add to my previous post, our baby at the time lost her dummy in the car when we parked up. We never found it. There will be a rational reason, I know, but it did make us think...
 
I've got a good mate who was born and raised in Aberfan 2 or 3 years after the tragedy. As he describes it, the village was in a state of shock for years after the disaster with none of the kids born in the aftermath totally understanding why until they got older. He was the first born in his family so, unlike many kids of his age, didn't lose siblings without knowing it.
 
Makem57 said:
Probably the first major news story i remember, it as stuck with me for the rest of my life.
Click to expand...

Me too - our primary school lessons were stopped and the black and white tv went on in the main hall.

The only other time it being on was for Churchill’s funeral.
 
It is seared into my memory. My dad had family in the Valleys - none were involved, thank God, and we lived up here, but as a seven year old boy to see my Dad cry was so out of the ordinary that I was really affected...I was at primary school and for the first time in my life I began do realise what death is and the effect it can have.
 
I hate thinking about it as it effects me quite badly. I know that I’m not the only one
I just can’t get my head around the scale of the tragedy and what it must have done to people. if It happened at night or on a weekend ( it was a Friday morning ) all them bairns would have lived.
RIP
 

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