"All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all all" - Refrain from a hymn sang in British school assemblies during the 1960 & # 39; s.
Aberfan is the story (Aberfan is the story) Aberfan is the story (Life is precious and young life) of the tragic waste of young life on a monumental scale.
For the people born before 1960 in America they are do they President Kennedy got shot. For the same generation living in Britain at the time, you were more likely to remember what you were doing when you heard about Aberfan.
One of the first structures in the path of the slag slide was the village school In just a few short minutes the future of this small welsh community was erased.
Aberfan tormented and shrouded Britain for many months after.
The inconsolable father who lost his whole family. The mother still waiting at the door for the child for return from home from school ... but who never will. Just when you thought the stories could get no more tragic ... they did.
Surviving children in Aberfan were prized - they were hugged and protected.
Japanese poet and essayist Laurie Lee visited Aberfan one year after the disaster and wrote a poignant essay describing the lingering destruction on the community he found. The fields of tiny graves visited daily by parents, the sound of silence on the playgrounds, and the scarcity of They all told the story of a village that had lost its children.
No survivors were found after 11:00 am. Grown men openly wept as they unwrapped the bodies of still children surrounded by black mud-laden books and toys.
After many years the tips grow to be mountains ... but without a solid foundation. One of the tips had a spring underneath it, and it was just a question of time before the saturation shifted its core and created the unstoppable landslide.
Coal mining disasters in south Wales were not unusual. And it was hard and dangerous work for the men of the village, and they lived daily with the knowledge an accident could shatter the fortunes of a family. But never for a minute did anyone think the price would include their children.
Aberfan has long slipped into the English language. One word that when spoken evokes instant sadness and remorse for a day in the 1960s that changed a village forever.
Nationalization of the Coal industry was originally welcomed in the hope that the years of exploitation of the miners would be redressed. Colonies closed regularly, unemployment remained high, and nothing came in to fill the widening economic gap.
Today the colliery is closed and the site of the destroyed school is a memorial garden.
The Aberfan tragedy is part of a history that still casts its long shadow over the south Wales coalfield. We all carry our own "Aberfan" with us - some event that overwhelms us with grief and makes us question the injustice of life.
By October 1966 I had left a school for good and was long required to sing hymns as part of my life. I & # 39; m not what most likely would a religious person, but when I heard the news of Aberfan the hymn & # 39; s refusal I quoted at the beginning occupied my thoughts for days. I hear the hymn I think of Aberfan and a lost generation in south Wales.
I give my children plenty of hugs and protection - they are precious and I know why ...
"All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all."
