Aberfan memorial..

[jax]

I seem to remember reading somewhere a while ago that a large amount of the money collected by public donation after the regretable disaster is still undistributed. Can anyone confirm this?

Jax

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[Dave_Snelson]

I've signed. I was 10 at the time and I remember well the flickering b/w images on our old telly.

Respect.

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[marina95]

Re: There may be some merit...

Brendan, but then they would say that wouldn't they?

It would seem that the council are ignoring local opinion and that for me is what counts. There is a local (ie Aberfan) action group fighting to keep the park and insistant that it continues to be used as a play area despite the council's claims that it is derelict.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/3734300.stm

I've signed and would urge others to as well!

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[oldharry]

Re: There may be some merit...

Brendan, I agree a memorial is no honour if it has been allowed to fall into decay and disrepute, but surely redeveloping the site - even if a memorial plaque remains and a 'small play area' which is what is proposed, giving it over to private domestic dwellings even if 'for the generation of the 60s' is equally dishonouring to those who died and their relatives.

The crux of the problem is the reported 'anti-social behaviour' of youngsters on the site currently - and this appears to be the real reason for the desire to dig up what is left.

If the area is so lacking in facilities that bored youngsters are causing problems (and having spent many years working in central Birmingham communities I know well what that means!), then closing the area to them by building over it is typical of the short sighted remedies applied by many LAs to the problem of bored youngsters.

Unfortunately the youths causing the problems will not go away - they will just go down the road and create problems for residents in the next street instead.

In the meantime something that was set up to commemorate a tragedy that is clearly still very real to many people still living is destroyed and lost.

the arguments Merthyr Tydfil put up that the Coventry Garden is not in some way an 'official memorial' to the disaster is just the kind of political claptrap we expect from todays politicians. Anyone saying that 40 years ago would have been lynched. And deserved it!

If the site MUST be redeveloped, let it be for something that is of value to that community as a whole - perhaps for the very youngsters whose boredom is causing the problems there - in a sense they are victims of the place they live in, with the difference that with a minimal investment they can be given a future.

Unlike those who died that terrible day.

Unlike those who dies that terrible day.



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[Biddy]

Signed, is nothing sacred anymore ? Must be plenty of disused areas to build on rather than this one.

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[Peppermint]

Re: Moving on

It'll be hard to get to the bottom of this situation as it is really a local issue.

As a baseline, monuments to all sorts of tragic happenings are dug up and redeveloped quite often. Even human remains are moved if it serves the perceived public good. The old victorian song "they're moving farthers grave to build a sewer" shows this is no new state of affairs.

Clearly the local authority are claiming that the park is run down and a meeting place for thugs, or children as we used to call them, but this situation is easily engineered by simple neglect. That being said councils are in a position to decide on the relative benefits of play areas over community housing needs.

I'm not really a great advocate of "monuments" in general but I do feel that if one is created if it changes over time to meet local needs thats probably better than it becoming a rundown white elephant. Nobody alive at the time will ever forget Aberfan. Whether it's remembered for the people of Coventry by an out moded play area or much needed housing with a plaque, it's still remembered.

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[Jinks]

Re: There may be some merit...

I had just started Grammar school when the tragedy occurred and clearly remeber many of the fathers of my class mates going to Aberfan to help with the excavation of the school. A truly terrible time. Aberfan itself is a few miles outside Merthyr Tydfil itself but falls within Merthyr Borough which, it is worth noting, is the least economically active borough in the UK and and area in need of as much help as possible.

Merthyr Vale, just to confuse the issue, is the area that Aberfan is in as well as the name of a neighbouring village to Aberfan. Some years ago, the main road from Cardiff to Brecon and North Wales travelled through Aberfan and anyone on that route would be reminded of the tragedy and made very aware of the need for development and investment in the area. The dualling of the A470 and the bypass it caused has removed that reminder but it is obvious that the memory of the event still remains as has been indicated by many of the moving posts on this thread.

My initial reaction on reading the original post was horrified disbelief at the insensitivity of those concerned in a decision like this. However, Brendan's post and some other research has clouded the issue for me somewhat and I'm not sure whether to sign or not. I'm going to look closer before making up my mind but it is touching to read how this tragedy remains in the minds of so many people.

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[Ohdrat]

Signed.. I visited the memorial on a school trip in the 70's and cannot believe that such a proposal could be dreamt up.. We have endless war memorials .. as we should and the Aberfan Memorial should be protected as well.

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[BrendanS]

Please read the link I posted. The memorial is not being touched. This relates to a garden funded by Coventry, and separate to the official memorial and memorial gardens

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[jhr]

Re: There may be some merit...

<<it is touching to read how this tragedy remains in the minds of so many people. >>

That, to me, is one of the compelling points. I am of the generation, and roughly of an age, with the kids who died at Aberfan. Like lots of the other people who have posted about this, I vividly remember the event; I also have a (rather older) friend who was a squaddie at the time and who was called in to help with the search for bodies, an experience that still disturbs him. For those who don't remember what happened, I would suggest that the impact on the nation was somewhat akin to what the Russian people are currently going through in relation to the Beslan school massacre.

Whilst these events remain within living memory - which they will for some time yet - I think it is insensitive to start messing about with memorials, irrespective of where they are. If the area is run down, and the kids are a nuisance because they are at a loose end, then perhaps something should be done about tackling those issues, rather than building houses on the site (which will only mean that the kids will go and be a nuisance somewhere else). IMHO, that would be a truly fitting memorial to the people who died.

On balance, I'm going to sign.

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[graham]

Signed

The Aberfan disaster is still clear in my memory even though I was only 8 at the time.

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[mehei]

We have signed and remember

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[cliff]

Done - 4868 and hopefully rising - also forwarded the site to all in my "address book"

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[tcm]

Re: Moving on

From reading the info in detail the monument/memorial in question is not in aberfan. There is a memorial area in aberfan, on the site of the actual school, and there's a special memorial in the local cemetery, where (i beleive) recent anniversaries were marked.

The memorial p[ark in question is in a neighbouring town, also on the site of a school, but not the actual school at the centre of the disaster.

Pity that a play area is being redeveloped anyway, memorial park or otherwise.



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[AuntyRinum]

Done that.
I have visited Aberfan since the disaster and thought what a wonderful tribute the Coventry memorial is. How dare the people of Merthyr attempt to desecrate this site? Myself and millions of others were very moved by the Aberfan disaster and we have not forgotten their memory even if Merthyr has.

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[petersto]

I was 16 at the time and it will never be forgotten. As for the council the way of the present world I regret. As for the slide certain people new it was unsafe but chose to ignore it and were never brought to book.Signed.

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