1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,960 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:09,000 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:12,320 Speaker 1: a show that pays tribute to people of the past 4 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:17,160 Speaker 1: by telling their stories. Today, I'm Gabe Lousier and in 5 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:20,680 Speaker 1: this episode we're talking about the sad day when a 6 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:24,959 Speaker 1: quiet Welsh village became known around the world as the 7 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:37,360 Speaker 1: Town without Children. The day was October one, nineteen sixty six. 8 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:42,240 Speaker 1: An avalanche of coal waste swept through the village of 9 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:46,839 Speaker 1: Aberfan in South Wales, claiming the lives of one hundred 10 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:51,560 Speaker 1: and forty four people. The tragedy and aber Fan was 11 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 1: one of the worst mining disasters the country had ever known. 12 00:00:56,240 --> 00:01:00,760 Speaker 1: The landslide swallowed everything in its path and looting a farm, 13 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:05,679 Speaker 1: several houses and the pant Glass Junior School, where half 14 00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:11,039 Speaker 1: the children in the village were killed. During the Industrial Revolution, 15 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:15,679 Speaker 1: coal mining became the dominant industry in Wales, and though 16 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:19,040 Speaker 1: it was in decline by the nineteen sixties, the coal 17 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:23,960 Speaker 1: pits were still the biggest employer in Aberfan. At the time, 18 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:28,080 Speaker 1: the small Welsh town was home to about five thousand people, 19 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:32,360 Speaker 1: most of whom worked in the area's coal mines. As 20 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:36,400 Speaker 1: you might imagine, coal mining creates a great deal of waste. 21 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:40,959 Speaker 1: When the lump coal taken from the mines is washed, earth, 22 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 1: minerals and other fine particles are left behind. This waste 23 00:01:45,959 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 1: rock slurry, also known as spoil, piles up fast, so 24 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 1: it has to be routinely dumped into a designated area 25 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:59,280 Speaker 1: known as a spoiled tip. The village of Aberfan sits 26 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:03,200 Speaker 1: at the foot of a broad hillside known as Minute 27 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:07,920 Speaker 1: murthr and in nineteen sixty six there were seven spoil 28 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:12,520 Speaker 1: tips on that hillside. Tip number seven, which was started 29 00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty eight, was perched on this steep hillside 30 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:21,560 Speaker 1: directly above the village. As mining continued, the spoil tip 31 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:26,079 Speaker 1: grew larger, and by nineteen sixty six it towered a 32 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:30,120 Speaker 1: hundred and eleven feet high and contained nearly three hundred 33 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:35,200 Speaker 1: thousand cubic yards of coal waste. The people of Aberfan 34 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: were not oblivious to the danger hanging right over their heads. 35 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:44,600 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty three and nineteen sixty four, residents and 36 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:48,920 Speaker 1: local officials petitioned the operators of the mine, the National 37 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:52,919 Speaker 1: Coal Board, to do something about the mountain of waste 38 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:56,840 Speaker 1: that threatened to flood their town. They pointed out that 39 00:02:57,000 --> 00:02:59,720 Speaker 1: the pant Glass Junior School and it's more than two 40 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:03,000 Speaker 1: d students would be directly in the path of such 41 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:07,079 Speaker 1: a landslide, but in the end their concerns were ignored. 42 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:11,920 Speaker 1: According to later reports from the BBC, the National Coal 43 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 1: Board essentially gave the town an ultimatum, keep quiet where 44 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:20,960 Speaker 1: the mind you depend on will close with the village's 45 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:25,320 Speaker 1: livelihood on the line. The conversation stopped there, but the 46 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:29,680 Speaker 1: danger kept on growing. On the morning of October twenty one, 47 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:34,960 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty six, the spoiled tip above Aberfan was swollen 48 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:39,800 Speaker 1: after three weeks of steady rain below it. Students at 49 00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:43,600 Speaker 1: pant Glass were attending morning assembly on the half day 50 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:47,840 Speaker 1: of school before their mid term break. At nine fift am, 51 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:52,320 Speaker 1: material from Tip number seven gave way and a flood 52 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 1: of slurry and debris began rushing down the hill at 53 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: a speed of over eighty miles per hour. The students 54 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:04,080 Speaker 1: heard an ominous sound heading towards their school. An eight 55 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:08,440 Speaker 1: year old survivor named Gainer Minette described the moment four 56 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:13,440 Speaker 1: years later. She said, quote, it was a tremendous rumbling 57 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:17,120 Speaker 1: sound and all the school went dead. You could hear 58 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:22,080 Speaker 1: a pin drop everyone was petrified, afraid to move. I 59 00:04:22,279 --> 00:04:24,600 Speaker 1: just managed to get up and I reached the end 60 00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 1: of my desk when the sound got louder and nearer, 61 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 1: until I could see the black out of the window. 62 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:34,440 Speaker 1: I can't remember anymore, but I woke up to find 63 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:37,840 Speaker 1: that a horrible nightmare had just begun in front of 64 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:42,680 Speaker 1: my eyes. The black that Gainer glimpsed was a thirty 65 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:46,640 Speaker 1: foot high wave of liquefied coal waste, just before it 66 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:50,800 Speaker 1: burst through the building and flooded her classroom and three others. 67 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:54,560 Speaker 1: The sad irony was that most of the men from 68 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:57,560 Speaker 1: the village were at work in the mines when this happened, 69 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:00,720 Speaker 1: and it was the spoil from their pit that had 70 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:04,640 Speaker 1: engulfed the school. Those same men were the first to 71 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:07,280 Speaker 1: arrive on the scene, and with the help of their 72 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:11,159 Speaker 1: wives and people from other nearby towns, they did everything 73 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:15,479 Speaker 1: possible to reach the students trapped inside the school. They 74 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:19,400 Speaker 1: dug away piles of sludge and debris with every tool 75 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:23,720 Speaker 1: they had, and because of their quick, desperate work, they 76 00:05:23,839 --> 00:05:28,000 Speaker 1: saved the lives of twenty five children. Five of those 77 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:31,839 Speaker 1: students had survived till their rescue because of the quick 78 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:36,920 Speaker 1: thinking of the school's cook, Nancy Williams. She sacrificed her 79 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:41,200 Speaker 1: life by shielding the kids with her own body, but 80 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:45,400 Speaker 1: after eleven am that morning, no one else was found alive. 81 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:50,640 Speaker 1: A day later, steam shovels and bulldozers carved through the 82 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:54,679 Speaker 1: thick debris, and a constant stream of trucks carried it away. 83 00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:58,839 Speaker 1: Even at that pace, it was nearly a week before 84 00:05:58,880 --> 00:06:02,680 Speaker 1: the town realized the full scope of the tragedy. One 85 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:07,800 Speaker 1: hundred and sixteen children and twenty eight adults, including five teachers, 86 00:06:08,279 --> 00:06:13,320 Speaker 1: had been lost. In the aftermath, a tribunal was tasked 87 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:17,120 Speaker 1: with investigating what had happened. The panel interviewed over a 88 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:21,920 Speaker 1: hundred witnesses and examined three hundred exhibits of evidence. The 89 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:26,320 Speaker 1: conclusion was that the National Coal Board was solely responsible 90 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:30,760 Speaker 1: for the disaster. In its report, the tribunal noted that 91 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:34,840 Speaker 1: the event could and should have been prevented, writing quote, 92 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:40,159 Speaker 1: the Aberfan disaster is a terrifying tale of bungling ineptitude 93 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 1: by many men charged with tasks for which they were 94 00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:48,600 Speaker 1: totally unfitted, of failure to heat, clear warnings, and of 95 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:53,840 Speaker 1: total lack of direction from above. Not villains, but decent 96 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:58,760 Speaker 1: men led astray by foolishness, or by ignorance, or by 97 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:03,440 Speaker 1: both in combination. The National Coal Board was slow to 98 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:09,320 Speaker 1: accept responsibility and even slower to attempt restitution. Thankfully, there 99 00:07:09,440 --> 00:07:12,760 Speaker 1: was no such hesitation in the people of the United Kingdom. 100 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:17,240 Speaker 1: The Aberfan Disaster Memorial Fund was established on the very 101 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:20,280 Speaker 1: day of the landslide, and by the time it closed 102 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:23,520 Speaker 1: in January of the following year, it had raised more 103 00:07:23,560 --> 00:07:27,360 Speaker 1: than one point seven million pounds the equivalent of around 104 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:31,640 Speaker 1: twenty million pounds or more than twenty five million dollars today. 105 00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:35,120 Speaker 1: Much of the money went to repairing the village and 106 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:38,160 Speaker 1: caring for the injured, but those who had been most 107 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:43,440 Speaker 1: affected by the tragedy received shockingly little. The fund's managers 108 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:47,720 Speaker 1: only offered five hundred pounds each two bereaved parents, and 109 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:51,200 Speaker 1: even that was only due to pushback following their initial 110 00:07:51,320 --> 00:07:55,160 Speaker 1: offer of fifty pounds each. A large portion of the 111 00:07:55,280 --> 00:07:58,640 Speaker 1: funds went to the removal of the remaining spoil tips 112 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:02,760 Speaker 1: that loomed above the town. The National Coal Board had 113 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:07,280 Speaker 1: been asked to cover this cost, but it refused. Today, 114 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:11,880 Speaker 1: Aberfan is no longer a coal mining village. The events 115 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:16,560 Speaker 1: of nineteen sixty six left deep and lasting psychological scars 116 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:19,840 Speaker 1: on the people who survived the ordeal, and their pain 117 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:24,200 Speaker 1: lingers to this day. The site of pant Class Junior 118 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:28,080 Speaker 1: School is now a memorial garden. It's lined with a 119 00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 1: hundred and sixteen white arches, one for each child who 120 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:36,040 Speaker 1: was killed on that fateful morning. May they and the 121 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:39,960 Speaker 1: other victims rest in peace, and may those who place 122 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:44,480 Speaker 1: profits above the lives of their fellow man face justice. 123 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:49,640 Speaker 1: I'm Gay Bluesier and hopefully you now know a little 124 00:08:49,679 --> 00:08:54,000 Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. If you'd 125 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:56,120 Speaker 1: like to keep up with the show, you can follow 126 00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:59,280 Speaker 1: us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t d i 127 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:02,839 Speaker 1: h see show. You can also leave us a review 128 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:05,600 Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, and you can write to us at 129 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:09,400 Speaker 1: this Day at i heeart media dot com. Thanks to 130 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:12,800 Speaker 1: Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thank you for listening. 131 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:15,920 Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day 132 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:28,560 Speaker 1: in History Class. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, 133 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:31,319 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 134 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:32,480 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.