The Disaster

by John Summers

Journalist Joe Parry returns to his native Wales to find himself involved in the most tragic disaster in this country's history.
He experiences sickening horror when a coaltip slides and buries a school and then in the aftermath sees at first hand monumental bungling and archaic legislation when a National disaster fund is set up.
He also becomes caught up in the violent nationalism of the Free Wales Army and comes to understand the desperate and dangerous urgency that inspires their aims and methods.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

244 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book opens on the 21st October 1966 when a waste coal tip on the mountainside above Aberfan collapsed following two days of continual heavy rain, covering houses and a local school resulting in the lose of 144 lives, including 116 children, many of whom were only 9 or 10 years old. The book follows Joe Parry, a London based Welsh born journalist as he races down from London to the small valley town to dig with local men and women in the slurry and muck that has buried the school and nearby houses. In the first chapter alone we are taken through an emotional rollercoaster as more and more people are pulled from the muck many of whom come out in pieces while others are pulled out alive and breathing. We feel the pain of the mothers and fathers who dig out not only their own children but those of their friends and neighbours and we go with those parents has they head to the make shift morgue to identify their children. We also see the determination and grit that the diggers have to keep going and pull out as many survivors as possible not matter how long they are there or how bad the conditions get.

From this scene of absolute carnage we jump back three years earlier when Joe arrives home on the trade ship on which he works as a seaman when he receives his first acceptance for a short story he submitted for publication. From this moment he chases his dream to become a fully fledged writer, starting with rejection after rejection in London before his move back to his home town and his chance to work on the local weekly paper. Joe becomes involved in the Free Wales Army movement that is taking off around this time and their attempts at getting more power, respect and consideration from the powers that be at Westminister.

We follow his trials and tribulations as a writer and journalist to the time he gets in his car and drives the five hours from London to Aberfan to dig through the slurry and onwards into the battle between the people of Aberfan and the British Government to get the charity funds that were raised the world over to help the survivors and families of this disaster. This takes us through the quagmire of the British legal system and through the pain and heartache the survivors and families had to endure to get the financial aid they deserved and the prejudice they faced in doing so.

This is an epic narrative that does drag on occasions but this simply adds to the struggle that the families had to go through and the long dark days that fell on the valley following the disaster. Summers has also captured the essence of the Free Wales Army and their efforts to limit their actions to damaging property and profits and not people. As a proud Taff I found this a very emotional book to read and many a time tears stung my eyes as I read not only the events of that day but also of those following when those left had to try and piece their lives back together without the help they so rightly deserved.

Let us remember the children and adults of this sad day

Anthony Wayne England 8
Anthony David Hill 8
Angela Vaughan Hopkins 7
Annette Hughes 9
Ann Catherine Lee 8
Arthur O'brien 8
Andrew Rees 14
Annette Smith 9
Anthony John Sullivan 10
Avis Elizabeth Sullivan 9
Anthony Joseph Watkins 10
Angela Williams 8

Brian Davies 8
Brian Michael Gough 9
Barbara Eileen Minney 9

Carol Anderson 9
Carol Ann Carpenter 9
Christine George 10
Carl Minett 7
Cheryl Mortimer 8
Christine Prosser 9
Corwyn Thomas Reakes 10
Carol Williams 8

Dennis Arscott 8
Desmond Carpenter 10
Daphne Fudge 8
Dwynwen Griffiths 9
David Morgan Davies 9
David Gareth Davies 10
David Trevor Davies 10
David William Williams 8

Edwina Bartlett 9
Edwin Davies 8
Eryl Mai Jones 10
Edward Clive Mumford 11

Gareth Evans 3 months
Gillian Gough 8
Gillian Irene Jones 11
Graham Williams 8

Howell Lloyd Evans 7
Howard David Prosser 9

Ian Dougall 9

Jeannette Lynne Brown 10
Jennifer Haines 8
Jean Winifred Evans 10
Janet Jones 9
John Islwyn Jones 10
John Anthony King 9
Jean Launchbury 10
Jeffrey Needs 9
Jill Elizabeth Parfitt 9
Jacqueline Powell 8
Julie Pryce 8
Julie Jeannine Regan 9
Joseph Wilkshire 8
June Margaret Williams 10

Kelvin David Andrew 10
Kay Bowns 10
Katherine Elizabeth Evans 3
Kevin Thomas Jones 9
Karen O'brien 8
Keith Williams 9

Linda Anderson 10
Lynn Harding 9
Linda Hodgkinson 8
Layton Kerrie Reakes 9
Lorraine Rosa Isabel Richards 10

Malcolm Andrew 8
Merrill Barnard 11
Michael Collins 10
Michael Fitzpatrick 7
Maralyn Carol Howells 9
Maureen Mary Evans 8
Mecia James 9
Michael Jones 13
Maralyn Minett 10
Megan Owen Robbins 10
Martine Anne Short 9

Norma Mumford 10

Peter Collins 10
Pamela Heaman 10
Paul Davies 8
Paul Jones 9
Phillip Mumford 9
Patricia Probert 12
Paul David Roberts 10
Peter Williams 10

Royston Barrett 10
Robert Breeze 10
Raymond John Collins 14
Richard Philip Goldsworthy 10
Roger Dyfrig Hayes 9
Royston Hodgkinson 9
Robert Coffey 14
Royston Carl Davies 9
Robert Orville Jones 8
Robert Garfield Jones 9
Robert George Minney 10
Roger Colin Summers 9
Randolph Tudor 10

Susan Mary Crotty 10
Sandra Pauline Donovan 10
Sheila Fitzpatrick 13
Stephen Vaughan Hopkins 10
Susan Jones 9
Sharon Lewis 9
Sandra Leyshon 9
Susan Lewis Meredith 8
Susan Probert ?
Sylvia Francis Richards 9

Trevor Timothy Gray 9
Terence Malcolm Davies 10
Thomas Probert 7

Valmai Mary Owen 8
Vincent Clark Parfitt 12
Victoria Marie Symonds 10

Yvonne Drage 11

Albert Mytton 64
Ann Jennings ?
Brian Harris 24
Catherine Jones 75
Charies Thomas 60
David Beynon 47
Evan George Carston 64
Evelyn Mary Jones 61
Frederick Hanson 78
Glenys Gabriel Jones 46
Graham Russell 26
Gwyneth Collins 34
John Morgan Evans 65
Lewis Jones 46
Lucy May Mytton ?
Margaret Jayne Carston 61
Margareta Bates 35
Marjorie Ann Rees 22
Marjorie Christine Evans 26
Michael Davies 21
Myrtle Irene Thomas 54
Nancy Williams 44
Patricia Evans 32,
Richard Jones 48,
Sidney Russell 53
Tydfil Jane Taylor 73.

THE CHILDREN

Off to school we went that day
Never to come home and play
We were sitting their at our desks
Just a normal day like all the rest.

A big black cloud we though we saw
But we were never to see day light any more
Screams were around us and shouting to
But no one knew what to do.

Then all of a sudden things were quite
And it was as black as the darkest night
We never knew what happened that day
Only that we were taken away.

And so this story did unfold
Of a tip disaster we were told
They tipped the slag on to a stream
The coal board said it was unseen.

For many a year they added more
Until the stream could take no more
One day it moved with all its greed and
Shot down the mountain with all its speed

So fast it moved there was no warning
And when it stopped there was mourning
A farm and buildings stood in it way
But the slag was mighty and cleared its way

It came to rest up on a school
God help us, now what do we do
Help us to clear away this muck and crime
As it's covering the child that might be mine

Frantic digging was all around
Some time stopping to listen for a sound
A cry or yell was all they wanted to here
But the quietness only gave them fear

And then the body's started to come
Is this your daughter ? Is this your son?
It took a week to find them all
Ever one a poor lost little soul

But the coal board was not to blame
And would not hang there heads in shame
They didn't know the stream was there
In other words they just didn't care

By Diana handley