Aberfan

At a period when there seems to be an anniversary at every turn, on the 21^st October there will be the 50^th remembrance of a truly shocking event – Aberfan.  Seared in the memories of individuals and communities, especially across South Wales, Aberfan stands as testimony to collusion, cover-up and ‘corporate’ mis-management.

On the 21^st October 1966, thousands of tonnes of coal tip waste slid down a mountainside and devastated the mining village of Aberfan.  The black mass crashed through the local school; 144 people died, 116 of them young children.  Only 25 children from the school survived.

I lived in a different part of South Wales, but this anniversary resonates personally like few others.  I suppose this is due to the sheer scale of the event at the time, the television pictures which seem vivid in my memory, that in later years I would often have…