Remembering...
Forty one years ago today, 144 people, 116 of them children, were killed when a tip of coal waste slid onto the village of Aberfan in South Wales. The people of Aberfan were treated appallingly not only in the immediate aftermath but for years afterwards. For instance, I didn't realise, until I saw a documentary about it tonight, that the Government of the time took £150,000 from the disaster fund set up for the villagers to help pay to remove the tips from around the village. And that the Coal Board offered each family who lost (in some cases, more than one) a child £500 and thought that was "a generous offer".

I don't remember much about the tragedy myself. I was very young and my memory has never been great. But I do remember the newspaper headlines and my mum being really upset. I can't begin to comprehend what a society that lost half its children went through or how it coped.

So, lighting a metaphorical candle in their memory.... rest in peace, children of Aberfan.