Aberfan

[Drago]

It was disgusting. I have a vague recollection that the coalition government repaid the money in 2011 or so, and an earlier government mace a contribution in the 90's? Or I may have dreamed it.

 

[Dolorous Edd]

I recall reading that the Coal Board helped themselves to some of the cash raised during the public appeal to help the victims. Apparently their excuse being they needed it to help fund the removal of the slag heaps. DISGUSTING.

The remaining slag heaps were a continuing danger to the village and the government of the day refused to provide the funding needed for their removal (either directly or indirectly through instructing the NCB, which was of course a UK government body). I'll leave it at that.

 

[Pale Rider]

The scale of some slag heaps is hard to grasp.

There are what look like hills in East Durham which are man made, although I've not heard of any falling onto villages.

Millions of tons of spoil were removed to create Herrington Country Park on the outskirts of Sunderland, on the site of the former Herrington colliery.

The landscape is still far from flat, but a mate of mine in a nearby terrace was pleased with the work - it gave him a nice view from his kitchen window and some natural light.

 

[Rusty Nails]

That day I was a 19 year old having a lift back to Merthyr from university in Cardiff from my uncle. We stopped there to see if there was any help we could give as my uncle was a surveyor who had had experience of coal tips. I spent some hours there until the evening when it became clear I was tired and in the way of miners and others who actually knew what they were doing so I walked the long trip home feeling absolutely shell-shocked.
My girl friend, now my wife, worked for the library and had been in the library van that drove through Aberfan just before the slide and, when she phoned in to find out what was happening, she was given the task of working in a local hall taking details from parents of children at the school who were missing.
A horrible time for everyone and a shameful time for the NCB, Lord Robens, Harold Wilson and the Charities Commission.

 

[Bromptonaut]

I was six at the time. The disaster happened on a the last Friday before October half -term.

As was their habit my parents were taking us up from home in Leeds to the Lakes (Newlands Valley) for the week. We would have left more or less straight from School c 4pm.

Dad always had the car radio on for the news and newsreel - precusors to PM. With each bulletin the death toll increased.

We saw nothing of it on the TV as electricity had still to reach the valley; gas lights and candles were the order of the day.

Dad though would go outside to listen to the car radio and we always had the paper after the morning trip into Keswick.

Wiki, while not a source, is a good primer on the subject. Counsel for the Colliery Managers was Geoffrey Howe. He's lost his seat in the 1966 GE and returned to practice at the bar.

 

[Beebo]

The scale of some slag heaps is hard to grasp.

There are what look like hills in East Durham which are man made, although I've not heard of any falling onto villages..

The mistake they made was to put the slag over a small stream. So the water built up and up and the hill began to flow.
I presume if they had avoided the stream then it would have been far more stable.