ON this day 55 years ago, one of the worst industrial disasters in British history claimed the lives of 116 children and 28 adults in Aberfan, Wales.
On October 21, 1966, tip number seven of Merthyr Vale Colliery, located 500 feet above the village of Aberfan, collapsed after three weeks of heavy rain.
The ensuing landslide engulfed Pantglas Junior School and a row of houses.
Five teachers and 109 children were killed at the school.
The tip sat on a natural spring of water which, with the large amount of rainfall in the days before the disaster, caused the tip to slide into the village.
A tribunal report published a year later blamed the National Coal Board for the disaster and found the tragedy was "a failure in communications".
The report said the disaster was "a terrifying tale of bungling ineptitude by many men charged with tasks for which they were totally unfitted, of failure to heed clear warnings, and of total lack of direction from above".
The National Coal Board was not prosecuted, nor were any of its employees, and the organisation was not fined.
Today marks 55 years since one of the darkest days in our nation’s history.
— Mark Drakeford (@fmwales) October 21, 2021
We will never forget the loss of so many - most of them children.
As we mark this sombre milestone, let’s draw inspiration from the resilience shown by the community who faced the unthinkable.#Aberfan
Today, Wales fell silent at 9:15am to remember those who lost their lives in the disaster.
People from across the UK came together to support the community in Aberfan in the days and weeks after the disaster by trying to assist with the rescue efforts, raising money, or sending donations to families.
The issue of the Somerset County Gazette from Friday, October 28, 1966 – one week after the disaster – reported on the efforts made by people from the county to help.
Local men rushed to Aberfan to support rescue effort
Two men from Ford Street, Wellington, travelled to south Wales on the evening of the tragedy "equipped with only old clothes, spades and food".
Tony Beard and Michael Rowland, both 25, reached Aberfan at 3am on Saturday, October 22, and "were soon engaged in working alongside miners and hundreds of other rescuers in trying to clear the enormous mound of coal sludge which had engulfed the school and adjoining houses".
The two men dug continuously for eight hours and helped uncover the bodies of some of the children who had been buried.
On his return to Wellington, Mr Rowland, a farm worker, said: "It was a terrible sight. I’ve never seen anything like it before."
Speaking about the local people, he said: "They were all prepared to help until they dropped."
Ken Hill, 17, was among the sailors from the HMS Tiger to be rushed from Cardiff to Aberfan.
In a letter to his parents, who lived in Chard, he wrote: "The way the parents of the dead children were working amazed me; small children were nearly breaking their backs doing the job of a man; women and girls who would normally be at home mourning their dead were out on the mountain with muck up to their eyebrows, serving tea and food.
"It was just like the blitz you tell us of, I expect."
One hundred Civil Defence volunteers from the Taunton area were prepared to travel to Aberfan had they been needed.
They were not called upon, nor was a party of Red Cross volunteers from Somerset.
Somerset aid for the Aberfan Disaster Fund
After the tragedy took place, the Aberfan Disaster Fund was set up by the mayor of Merthyr Tydfil, a nearby town.
People who wished to support the fund could do so by paying into an account at Westminster Bank in Taunton.
The account was the idea of the mayor of Taunton, councillor Pauline Smith.
Er cof Aberfan
— The National Wales 🏴 (@nationalwales) October 21, 2021
55 years ago today a coal tip collapsed above Aberfan claiming the lives of 144 people, including 116 children.
Today we remember them all, er cof pob un pic.twitter.com/16R5vSD0Cn
Children from one street in Taunton collected £3 and eight shillings and sent it to the mayor of Merthyr Tydfil with the message: "From the children of Calway Road, Taunton, to the sleeping children of Aberfan."
Children at Trinity School, Taunton, raised £38, 10 shillings and six pence for the fund in a one-day collection.
The school’s headmaster, Mr Whatmore, said: "It was the children’s idea – they wanted to do something.
"With two hundred children in the school the amount collected works out at 4s per head, which we think is pretty impressive."
Members of the Taunton Youth Centre raised £51 12s for the disaster fund.
Children from Wellington's Wellesley Choir collected money for the fund from bingo players at the Wellesley Theatre.
They also put collection boxes in local pubs.
After hearing that Princess Margaret had appealed for toys to be sent to the children who had survived the disaster, Karen Simpson - who was only four years old - collected some of hers.
The items Karen, of Crowcombe Road, Taunton, posted to Aberfan included a doll, a handbag, and a dustpan and brush.
John Ashmore, of Rockwell Green, gave the mayor of Merthyr Tydfil £32 5s he and his wife had collected from residents of their village.
In Taunton, the management and staff at the County Hotel held a dance in collaboration with the Dick Clarke Orchestra in aid of the disaster fund.
A week later, the County Gazette reported that pupils of Marjorie Tattersall's School of Dancing raised £200 5s for the fund by staging a cabaret at the hotel.
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