Nothing, but nothing, is more important today than remembering the Aberfan disaster which happened 50 years ago today. For 21 October was the day when a mountain of coal waste slid down into the local school in a small Welsh village, killing 144 people of which 116 were young children. I was around at the time of the disaster but I don’t think I remember it actually happening at the time. Or maybe part of me doesn’t want to remember. The ancient black and white film and photographs tell a million stories.
I have watched pretty well all the documentaries on TV this week and years, contrary to popular belief, cannot dull the pain. Certainly not pain like this. The disaster must have unfolded within the blink of an eye given the terrible death toll. All those lives taken away far too soon.
The image I find utterly overpowering is the sight of miners from nearby Merthyr who arrived in Aberfan straight from their shift, unshowered and still covered in dirt and dust, trying to remove the waste from the school and surrounding area with their bare hands, with no thought for themselves, probably no thoughts at all other than doing what came naturally as a human being. Heroes one and all.
Witness too the stunning BBC TV report by the late, great Cliff Michelmore who stood in Aberfan, clutching an old fashioned microphone and addressing the camera: “I don’t know how to begin. Never in my life have I seen anything like this. I hope I shall never see anything like it again.” But his sheer brilliance as a broadcaster and journalist shone through as he described this most unimaginable tragedy with emotion and clarity. This was broadcasting greatness.
It is those black and white images that seem to haunt, that seem to place Aberfan in a different time. But it wasn’t that much of a different time. This was the year in which England won the world cup, the Beach Boys Pet Sounds album was released, Star Trek appeared on TV for the first time. None of these things are remotely as important as Aberfan – by comparison they are utterly irrelevant – but it shows that this was not some event that happened long before any of us were born.
Whilst we fret about the weather, how bad TV is these days and cry “disaster” when our football team loses, it is worth remembering what real tragedy is. And Aberfan was and remains one of the most terrible tragedies in recent history, if not ever.
