An aunt on my wife's side of the family lost her husband in this disaster. The worst part of it however was that she found out by reading the Western Mail newspaper on her journey home from work in Cardiff. The front page carried the banner headline and the names were listed alphabetically. Her husbands surname was Arnold and his was the first name. Not a way to find out that your husband had died that day.
What price greed. Though the colliery manager and undermanagers' also lost thier lives in this tradegy, (and I feel for their families even now), their culpibility is this even was and has always been played down. It was because of their ruling that a firedoor be kept open to facilitate the expediency of a replacement piece of equipment, that allowed the build up of firedamp which led to the explosion. What pric indeed.
My father should have died in this explosion but a few days before a miner asked to swap shifts as he had a darts match. They swapped and he died, tragic, but even worse his family then blamed my father for his death. Something he never got over.
Pritchard. Looks a bit like him,not sure though.He was very lucky,he was waiting for the lift when the blast happened,he still went down to see if he could help.He has'nt been the same since that day my mam said. Never ever mentions it,nor do we.A tragedy,for the family members of the deceased and all those affected by the blast.
Very interesting. Randomly came across this now. Do you mind me asking where you got it from, and is there any more? There seems to be plenty of old photos of the Rhondda, but it would be nice to get a video archive.
I remember standing outside our house on Ystrad road looking in the direction of Nantgwyddon coal tip and seeing smoke riseing, we thought it was just a forest or grass fire. we thought that it was strange that there was an plane circleing over the mountain. It was only when the next door nabour who was a miner came home and tould us what had happened. Next day we went to school ( Gelli ) and one of our class mates did'nt turn up and the teacher told us that his Dad had been killed
I have a surreal memory of Rose Hucker waiting in silence for news of her husband, people would whisper the word around that he was still missing. The lady stood without talking just staring towards the Pithead, she must have felt so helpless but still kept her dignity. Two years after the disaster the mine was closed. A Memorial now stands at the Pit Site.
31 Miners lost their lives including my Mother in Law Bess Matthews brother Albert Colcombe aged 44.I have left a link above to a page that gives some details of all that died. Looking through the list and seeing the names of the fathers of friends you knew brings over a strange feeling that now 43 years later it all seems sadder than what you did feel as a 10 year old.
Check out the young lad at 1:21 its me, I remembered my parents pointing out to me that I was on the news riding my bike up towards the colliery. I had seen the footage quite a few times when the Disaster occurred but never realized it was still there on the BBC archives. After a bit of searching I found the old clip (good old B.B.C)
An aunt on my wife's side of the family lost her husband in this disaster. The worst part of it however was that she found out by reading the Western Mail newspaper on her journey home from work in Cardiff. The front page carried the banner headline and the names were listed alphabetically. Her husbands surname was Arnold and his was the first name. Not a way to find out that your husband had died that day.
steveltrwl 1 year ago
What price greed. Though the colliery manager and undermanagers' also lost thier lives in this tradegy, (and I feel for their families even now), their culpibility is this even was and has always been played down. It was because of their ruling that a firedoor be kept open to facilitate the expediency of a replacement piece of equipment, that allowed the build up of firedamp which led to the explosion. What pric indeed.
GYR8Bellydance 2 years ago
yes and then came Aberfan just 17 months later, warnings were plentiful there as well.Shameful indeed.
Thanks for the comment.
Gareth
aniseedtwist 2 years ago
@GYR8Bellydance
My father should have died in this explosion but a few days before a miner asked to swap shifts as he had a darts match. They swapped and he died, tragic, but even worse his family then blamed my father for his death. Something he never got over.
bampie1 1 year ago
Pritchard. Looks a bit like him,not sure though.He was very lucky,he was waiting for the lift when the blast happened,he still went down to see if he could help.He has'nt been the same since that day my mam said. Never ever mentions it,nor do we.A tragedy,for the family members of the deceased and all those affected by the blast.
chudjackson 2 years ago
thanks for putting this up,i'm sure the man stepping off the tram on 1:33 is my dad.Myrddin.
chudjackson 2 years ago
whats his surname,will ask my inlaws and see if they know
aniseedtwist 2 years ago
Very interesting. Randomly came across this now. Do you mind me asking where you got it from, and is there any more? There seems to be plenty of old photos of the Rhondda, but it would be nice to get a video archive.
cymru148 3 years ago
thanks cymru,search google for BBC eclips,quite a bit of old film on there
aniseedtwist 3 years ago
I remember standing outside our house on Ystrad road looking in the direction of Nantgwyddon coal tip and seeing smoke riseing, we thought it was just a forest or grass fire. we thought that it was strange that there was an plane circleing over the mountain. It was only when the next door nabour who was a miner came home and tould us what had happened. Next day we went to school ( Gelli ) and one of our class mates did'nt turn up and the teacher told us that his Dad had been killed
mush1955 3 years ago
cheers mush,thanks for the comments
aniseedtwist 3 years ago
the price of coal,too high way too high
cwmclydach 3 years ago
I have a surreal memory of Rose Hucker waiting in silence for news of her husband, people would whisper the word around that he was still missing. The lady stood without talking just staring towards the Pithead, she must have felt so helpless but still kept her dignity. Two years after the disaster the mine was closed. A Memorial now stands at the Pit Site.
aniseedtwist 3 years ago
31 Miners lost their lives including my Mother in Law Bess Matthews brother Albert Colcombe aged 44.I have left a link above to a page that gives some details of all that died. Looking through the list and seeing the names of the fathers of friends you knew brings over a strange feeling that now 43 years later it all seems sadder than what you did feel as a 10 year old.
aniseedtwist 3 years ago
Check out the young lad at 1:21 its me, I remembered my parents pointing out to me that I was on the news riding my bike up towards the colliery. I had seen the footage quite a few times when the Disaster occurred but never realized it was still there on the BBC archives. After a bit of searching I found the old clip (good old B.B.C)
aniseedtwist 3 years ago