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Post by jeffery07 on Apr 18, 2008 13:57:46 GMT 1
Ron, The coal waste was taken to the top of the tip via unmanned mine trucks ,if memory holds right, no more than three or four at a time. I know because as a young boy I'd hitch a lift down on them after being emptied! Very dangerous. the trams were on rail tracks. I think the 'cables going slack' were probably(must have been) connected to the mine trucks(I always call them trams). The empty trucks passed down the huge tip and crossed a bridge(now gone I think) and then passed along the smaller tip. In between the tips way below is the main Aberfan road. After passing along the smaller tip it headed back towards the colliery over another bridge which crossed the shallow, fast-flowing, filthy river Taff.The name of the church that housed the dead was called -I'm not sure(try the Channel 4 docu. on a few years ago), it did begin with a letter B tho'--Best....? Opposite was John's cafe and a fish & chip shop. Jeff
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Post by jeffery07 on Apr 18, 2008 14:12:47 GMT 1
Finally, -no space in other message spot! I do remember a farmhouse but its name-I never even knew it as a child. I do remember its tenant tho'. A small, dirty woman dressed in black who had a small child I was told but I never saw it. I remember the poor woman -and she must have been, scouring the streets for discarded fag ends. Other people too used to do this, but not many as it naturally carried a stigma. She had a bad stoop. I understand she perished in the disaster. The farmhouse certainly did. If I was not writing a novel I would certainly tackle this subject but I think it involves more research than you realise, Ron. And it is a play that ought to be screened on tele. becos so many young people, Welsh too, are unaware of its happening. It's now merely in the history books and needs to be teased out again as a reminder to folk the world over NEVER to get complacent where safety is concerned. Jeff Adams
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Post by buffylewis on Apr 18, 2008 15:55:15 GMT 1
Hi Jeff, I'm sure the girl was in school around same time as me maybe a bit younger.. maggie rings a bell..memory not what it used to be tho,,liz
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Post by buffylewis on Apr 18, 2008 17:54:10 GMT 1
Hi Jeff, no I was talking about the one from farm cottage aberfan..liz
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Post by jeffery07 on Apr 18, 2008 17:58:25 GMT 1
Ron-is that you on the other part of the forum regarding Reese family? Yep, looks like it. Behind our house in Aberfan was a working man's club and opposite it lived a breeze block owner. His premises were nearby. I remember that he had two beautiful daughters, one of whom was called Alma, I think she was the eldest. Do you know of the family? I wonder what eventually happened to them?
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Post by jeffery07 on Apr 18, 2008 17:59:49 GMT 1
liz' Oh...
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Post by ronv42 on Apr 19, 2008 0:05:26 GMT 1
Hi Jeff and All. Thanks for all the info coming through. There is some amazing background building up and the more I can get that is outside the normal sites etc, makes it even more real. Have been in touch with TV company today, who are interested, as you say, this should be shown to the younger generation. Being sent some guidelines re the script layout. Haven't written for TV yet and it is a totally different approach. Got some great stuff so far. The transcript of the Tribunal and actual copies of letters written to the Coal Board '3 years' before the disaster, warning them what would happen. I've also got copies of their replies (and excuses!!!) Plus, of course all the stuff on the Alan George site. Looking at it all is changing my initial approach and so it may take more time than I thought to cover everything that needs to be said.
It's a great project though and I am really enjoying it. Thanks.....everyone, for all your help, just keep it coming.
Ron Rees.
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Post by jeffery07 on Apr 21, 2008 15:54:09 GMT 1
liz, who's alan george? jeff
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Post by buffylewis on Apr 21, 2008 17:31:48 GMT 1
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Post by ronv42 on Apr 21, 2008 17:35:08 GMT 1
Hi Guys and Gals, Thanks for the messages again. Yes it was Bethania Chapel as I have found out, thanks to Alan George and co. I have also found a lot from the researches of Iain McLean and Martin Johnes and their site .......................www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/politics/aberfan. One man who also seems to stand out was the Revd. Kenneth Hayes, Baptist Minister who despite having his own son missing in the rubble continued to help and support those that were bereaved. (He later found out his son had died too.) Further research into the Tip workings and the 'trucks' you used to play on has turned up statements from the Tip Gang, chargehands and workers who tried to warn the village. They described fairly accurately how the tipping worked (Tribunal Statements)
I'm onto page 16 of the script so far, although I may have to go back and look at parts of it and even rewrite as I find out more and more.
I can't believe, looking at the records, that there were 25 warning letters written by the engineers to the Coal Board and back, three years!!! before it happened. (I now have copies of those letters) All this background is essential to getting the facts straight and although I know all the names etc. now, have firmly decided to change them, except for people like Lord Robens etc. but then his attitudes and dealings are public domain now and to be honest, I don't really care if I upset him or not!!.
When I get nearer to the finished article I will need people who know more about it than me to read it and check that I have not said or written the wrong thing.
(By the way, my Granddad , who spoke Welsh, so we kids wouldn't understand what they were saying!! used to call me something like 'Cacky Muckin' when I messed myself (in various ways!!!) I would love to know the proper spelling and possibly what it meant---all you Welsh speakers out there, can laugh, but I would like to use it in the script. He also said Dieu, Dieu, quite a bit---the same applies please) I think I know what that meant!.
Regards..........Ron Rees.
Hope to talk again soon.
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Post by jeffery07 on Apr 22, 2008 12:06:49 GMT 1
Ron, I would imagine 'Lord' Robins is long dead. Is he? I never knew the reverend Hayes, or indeed ever met him,but WHAT a man! To go on helping others when his two children perished . What an example to other Christians! Lesser men would have crumpled. Don't neglect Christians at the time, Ron . It was a thriving Christian community; lots of churches existed and chapels(I attended one). Naturally not all of Aberfan's residents were Christians. Most of them have closed up now-sign of the times. Jeff
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Post by rachelb on Apr 22, 2008 19:30:03 GMT 1
Cacky Mucken would have been Cachi Mochyn , i.e. mucky or dirty pig, Mochyn being Welsh for pig - In North Wales we used Mochyn Bidr - Dirty pig - and even my 3 year old French grandson uses Mochyn Bidr - that and 'Ach Y fi'
They were endearing terms rather than derogatory - but meant to show disaproval nevertheless.
If you can't believe that the warnings were ignored - read the reports of the Gresford Pit disaster - the poem is quoted here: The Gresford Disaster
You've heard of the Gresford Disaster, Of the terrible price that was paid; Two hundred and forty two colliers were lost, And three men of the rescue brigade.
It occurred in the month of September (22nd, 1934) At three in the morning the pit Was racked by a violent explosion In the Dennis where gas lay so thick.
Now the gas in the Dennis deep section Was heaped there like snow in a drift, And many a man had to leave the coal-face Before he had worked out his shift.
Now a fortnight before the explosion, To the shotfirer Tomlinson cried, "If you fire that shot we'll be all blown to hell!" And no one can say that he lied.
Now the fireman's reports they are missing The records of forty-two days; The colliery manager had them destroyed To cover his criminal ways.
Down there in the dark they are lying. They died for nine shillings a day; They have worked out their shift and now they must lie In the darkness until Judgement day.
Now the Lord Mayor of London's collecting To help out the children and wives; The owners have sent some white lilies To pay for the poor colliers' lives.
Farewell all our dear wives and children Farewell all our comrades as well, Don't send your sons down the dark dreary pit They'll be doomed like the sinners in hell.
Look it up on the internet, just type in 'The Gresford Disaster' and you'll come up with lots of information. My daughter and son went to Gresford primary school and were there at the time of the Aberfan disaster, and the whole school was thunderstruck.
Sincerely, Rachel Bowen
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Post by ronv42 on Apr 22, 2008 23:28:11 GMT 1
Hi Rachel,
Thanks for the translation. I never knew what he said half the time, I know I was a little 'B' and definately deserved what he called me, still I was only young. (Still, that's boys for you!!)
The poem is sad, too. When you really start researching the history of Mining in Wales (and elsewhere for that matter) it's a real eye opener.
My Grandad worked in the Mines, moving from Merthyr to Bedwas Colliery (Trethomas)when they got married just after the First World War. They had an explosion there as well. Not as big as Gresford and some others. I think he called the build up of gas...'Coal Damp' anyway he was buried for 4 hours before they got him out and had some awful scars on his head and across his nose. When I was really little I remember putting my little finger in the dip across his face which was coloured blue till he died. That's when he told me about it. He moved to London after that.
Any other snippets of info you have would be appreciated. The play I am writing needs to be real in many ways and sayings like this are important.
Regards........Ron Rees.
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Post by jeffery07 on Apr 28, 2008 19:05:41 GMT 1
Calling all playwriters...anybody out there? Calling all....
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Post by rachelb on Apr 28, 2008 20:56:50 GMT 1
Hello Ron Rees, The gas was called Black Damp. Some mines were 'wet' and others were dry - that danger of gas was worse in the dry mines. I actually went down Gresford colliery when I was about 17, they had to get special permission for females to descend. My mother was terrified that we wouldn't come up again. I lived in Ruabon then, and later lived in Gresford before moving to live in France. I went down several other mines too - Hafod in N. Wales, and very different, Glyn Neath in South Wales, which was a 'level'. that is a tunnel was cut directly into the hillside and was virtually horizontal. The mines in N. Wales were 'straight down' - Gresford was well over a mile deep, as I think was Hafod'
If there is any other information I can supply, then I would be only too pleased. Rachel
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