Aberfan memorial..

[Dave1258]

Originally Posted by Louis MacNeice
Posted on from the IWCA e-group

"At 9.15am on October 21st 1966 144 people died when a coal tip collapsed onto a primary school in Aberfan, South Wales. 116 of the victims were children. The pictures from the time were truly horrifying. After the disaster the people of Coventry paid for a memorial playground to be built as a lasting memorial to the dead.
Now, the disgraceful Merthyr Housing Association plan to destroy the playground to build a new housing development.

An online petition to stop this development has been launched at
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.petitiononline.com/aberfan/petition.html>http://www.petitiononline.com/aberfan/petition.html</A>

It's worth not only signing the petition but also reading the comments of the more than 3,500 people who have already done so.
It's good to know that not everybody has the expedient gold fish memories which the Housing Association seem to be endowed with.

Cheers - Louis Mac"


Need I say more. Anyone who saw the pictures at the time will never forget it, and it's an absolute disgrace that they're planning to destroy this memorial now.

Please sign the petition and spread the word around.

Regards Dave

<hr width=100% size=1> A man should have two things in life, a boat and a wife willing to let him have one.

 

[kindredspirit]

I've signed.







<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.begleys.com/weather.htm>Useful links for Irish waters.</A>

 

[boatless]

Done.

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[Kawasaki]

I,ve signed

<hr width=100% size=1>50

 

[spanners]

me too.

<hr width=100% size=1>Tis meself, so it is.

 

[oldharry]

Thanks for drawing our attention to this one.

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[rjp]

Thanks Dave. I've signed too.

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[BrendanS]

It's very stange, but I can clearly remember this event, even though I was 4 at the time. I was brought up in a RC family, and we went to church every Sunday at a Catholic convent on the Gower Peninsular in Wales. We'd been out in the car for the day, and called in at the convent on the way home, and told in hushed terms by the nuns about the disaster (for the younger readers, news in that time was spread primarily by radio. TV was rare, and internet was generations away). Even at the age of 4 it made an impact, and remember going home and listening on the radio to the reports. I don't think we even had a TV at the time, but people shared newspaper pictures. The TV pictures I saw years later


It had a huge impact in Wales, even more so than in the rest of the UK, because of the close knit mining communities there at the time

<hr width=100% size=1>Me transmitte sursum, caledoni

 

[jimi]

Just signed, I had just turned 10 when this happened, must never be forgotten.

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[FullCircle]

Respects paid and petition signed.

<hr width=100% size=1>Engine now resembles Singer Sewing Machine - amazing what happens when you renew all the old bits.

 

[wishbone]

Nothing seems sacred any more, all over the world, building is taking place, laws are broken, protected trees are felled ( or ringed ) to cause damage!! natural beauty sites are demolished. My mothers family are from camarthen and Port Talbot, I am now 52 as a child I would play on the sand dunes of Port Talbot, now bulit over, I am from East London we would go to Camber Sands for day trips when it was all sand dunes and not much else, now I belive a big developed area, same things are widespread in Cyprus, money talks, we are loosing values and heritage, progress......progress......progress. it's hard to get away from it just try and fight as much as possible, the other problem is corruption within councils, favors for favors, I have seen this first hand...Back to Aberfan I can remember it like yesterday much sadness in our family......

<hr width=100% size=1>Wishbone
Rolling, rolling, rolling keep them doggies moving!
Where’s me chuck wagon gone?

 

[floatything]

Thanks Dave. How dare they.

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[Dave1258]

Thanks to everyone who's signed, Currently petition exceeds the 4500 mark! Well done.

<hr width=100% size=1> A man should have two things in life, a boat and a wife willing to let him have one.

 

[BrendanS]

Re: There may be some merit...

in what they are trying to achieve though

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.merthyr.gov.uk/Home/More+News+--/Coventry+Playground+Statement.htm>http://www.merthyr.gov.uk/Home/More+News+--/Coventry+Playground+Statement.htm</A>

<hr width=100% size=1>Me transmitte sursum, caledoni

 

[Althorne]

Signed ....and for SWMBO even though she's at work tonight.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://colvicownersclub.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk>http://colvicownersclub.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk</A>

 

[rich]

Re: There may be some merit...

HMMM, I was just about to sign, Thanks Brendan. I remember it well, I don't think I have ever forgot it. R.I.P.little ones.

<hr width=100% size=1>http://www.jersey-harbours.com<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by rich on 17/10/2004 23:36 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[longjohnsilver]

Signed.

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[tcm]

Re: There may be some merit...

er, so the "coventry playground" isn't in aberfan then, it seems?

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[BrendanS]

Re: There may be some merit...

I know this area and how run down it is. I think some more research is in order before people blindly sign the petition?

<hr width=100% size=1>Me transmitte sursum, caledoni

 

[BrendanS]

Re: There may be some merit...

Nope , but not exactly the point? It was paid for as a memorial for the event, and should stay? I'm in two minds about this. Part of me feels very, very strongly about the event and this is a memorial. Has a huge sigificance in my mind, and probably in others? Other part is that if the memorial is run down and they want to do something useful with the site?

<hr width=100% size=1>Me transmitte sursum, caledoni