50 years on ...

moulesy
moulesy Forum Participant Posts: 9,402 ✭✭✭✭✭
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edited October 2020 in Congratulations, Good Wishes & Kind Thoughts #1

Exactly 50 years ago today ... the tragedy of Aberfan. I can remember coming home from school to find my mum in tears and I have vague memories of a black and white news report with, I think, Cliff Michelmore reporting the news through his own tears. Not sure I really had a great understanding of the scale of the tragedy at the time but we drove through the village some years ago and stopped at the memorial - a very moving experience. Who knows what those poor children might have achieved by now?

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  • Unknown
    Unknown Forum Participant
    edited October 2020 #2
    The user and all related content has been Deleted User
  • Wherenext
    Wherenext Club Member Posts: 10,586 ✭✭✭
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    edited October 2020 #3

    Dreadful just so bloody dreadful.....cry

  • Dawn F
    Dawn F Forum Participant Posts: 167
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    edited October 2020 #4

    It is 54 years today

    1966 

    A terrible day in history

  • Bakers2
    Bakers2 Forum Participant Posts: 8,192 ✭✭✭
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    edited October 2020 #5

    Dreadful I remember the news in black and white. I was so scared it could happen anywhere! I have checked and today is the 54th anniversary. Regardless it needs to be remembered

    We visited the memorial several years ago to pay our respects. My heart goes out to all those involved in that dreadful tragedy 😢😢.

     

  • moulesy
    moulesy Forum Participant Posts: 9,402 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited October 2020 #6

    Yes, sorry, it is indeed 54 years. I was reading the BBC news website tribute and must have misread the date.

  • ABM
    ABM Forum Participant Posts: 14,578
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    edited October 2020 #7

    Correct date or not, Moulesy, it is something we should never forget, tragic beyond belief and a basic forewarning from the book How Green was my Valley

  • cyberyacht
    cyberyacht Forum Participant Posts: 10,218
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    edited October 2020 #8

    Have we really learned from it though? All too often we read of the consequences of toxic spill from industrial processes and the like that has been inadequately dealt with because it impinges on the bottom line of the balance sheet or we want stuff that is cheaper than its true cost.

  • ABM
    ABM Forum Participant Posts: 14,578
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    edited October 2020 #9

    Good point, CY, which regularly rears its head w r t  huge containers full of **** being returned from Indian etcetera Destructor areas due to being of too low a recyclable standard and/or too high a filth / poison level.

  • Takethedogalong
    Takethedogalong Forum Participant Posts: 17,031 ✭✭✭
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    edited October 2020 #10

    Aberfan was truly dreadful, I can just recall my Mum crying.

    Our home area is covered in small memorials to Mining disasters. Came across one the other day, stopped and looked. Maltby Colliery. The bodies were never recovered, far too dangerous. Memorial is over the actual spot, with names engraved onto it. Lots of fresh flowers on it, folks still remember every year. Someone’s grandparents, great grandparents.😢

  • brue
    brue Forum Participant Posts: 21,176 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    edited October 2020 #11

    When the news came through, they asked for help and I remember my sister's boyfriend at the time borrowed a car and put a spade in the back and drove to Aberfan to help with manual digging. A tragic event, it's hard to remember what the valleys were like when you see them now.

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