21st October 1966 - 09.13 am ... ABERFAN

[TheLoneRanger]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1318807181010046977

 

[Muteswan]

For those of us old enough to remember this happening this image hits home every anniversary of this dreadful tragedy.
RIP to all that lost their lives.

 

[Squarebear]

A friend a bit older than me remembers being at her school that day and having crying parents bursting into the classroom to take their children home.

 

[J_B]

My late father (a NCB tunnelling engineer) spent 3 days helping the dig for survivors without coming home. Looking back, I was of an age similar to the victims.
Like soldiers after wars, he didn't talk about it afterwards.

 

[Bullworker]

For those of us old enough to remember this happening this image hits home every anniversary of this dreadful tragedy.
RIP to all that lost their lives.

Hedd Perffaith.Hedd

 

[Darran]

Oof.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1848283693200134313

 

[TheLoneRanger]

'THE DAY MINERS CRIED’

It was my first morning shift, I will never forget,
etched in my memory, overwhelming regret.
I constantly ask myself “Could I have done more?”
that tragic scene of destruction, I daily deplore.

Nightmares still haunt, memories so painful,
prayers I still offer, for those lost little angels.
That Autumnal morning, life changed forever,
rescuers digging with earnest endeavour.

Families distraught, Aberfan shrouded in grief,
my mind was in turmoil, it was total disbelief.
Digging for hours, small bodies sadly recovered,
no hope for the future, all violently smothered.

We openly wept, it was too much to comprehend,
colleagues alongside me, totally overwhelmed.
To save those entombed, with time running out,
nothing else mattered, sobbing tears throughout.

On that sorrowful day 144 souls were stolen,
a rain sodden soil tip, leaving families broken.
I still shed a tear, because I cannot forget,
that first shift from hell, it has left me bereft.

Fifty eight years on, a day with me for life,
never to be forgotten, it still cuts like a knife.
Aberfan a village, who on that day died,
it was also the day when ‘ALL MINERS CRIED’


Arthur Cole