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Aberfan, a small mining village between Pontypridd and Merthyr Tydfil. At 09:13 on that fateful day, thousands of tonnes of coal slurry, the waste from the collieries came down the mountain,engulfing a school and 18 homes. 116 children and 28 adults lost their lives.
The head of the coalboard at the time, Lord Robens, instead of getting his sorry but ever-so-posh arse up there, decided that his personal investiture as the chancellor of the university of Surry was far more important. Later, Lord Robens refused the funding out of the Coal Board coffers to pay for the removal of the remaining slurry above the village, instead he stole a large sum from the disaster fund to pay for it.
"The public demonstrated their sympathy by donating money, with little idea of how it would be spent. Donations flooded in to the appeal and within a few months, nearly 90,000 contributions had been received, totalling £1,606,929 worth £21.4m at 2008 prices.
The management of this fund caused considerable controversy over the years. Many aspects of the aftermath of the Aberfan Disaster remained hidden until 1997, when the British Public Records Office released previously embargoed documents under the 30-year rule. These documents revealed new information about the machinations of Lord Robens, the NCB and the Charity Commission in the wake of the Aberfan Disaster.
At one point The Charity Commission planned to insist that before any payment was made to bereaved parents, each case should be reviewed to ascertain if the parents had been close to their children and were thus likely to be suffering mentally. At another meeting, the Commission threatened to remove the Trustees of the Disaster Fund or make a financial order against them if they went ahead with making grants to parents of children who had not been physically injured that day, and the Trustees were forced to abandon these payments.
Although the Davies Report had found that the NCB's liability was "incontestable and uncontested" and it was widely felt that the NCB should have to bear the entire cost of removing the dangerous tips above Aberfan, Robens refused to pay the full cost, thereby putting the Trustees of the Disaster Fund under "intolerable pressure". In a further display of contempt for the victims and their families, Robens then "raided" £150,000 from the Fund to cover the cost of removing the tips -- an action which was "unquestionably unlawful" under charity law -- and the Charity Commission took no action to protect the Fund from Robens' dubious appropriation of funds.
As a historical footnote, in 1997 the incoming Blair Labour government paid back the £150,000 to the Disaster Fund -- although taking account of inflation the amount repaid should have been nearly £2 million."
Quoted from Hiraeth.
The head of the coalboard at the time, Lord Robens, instead of getting his sorry but ever-so-posh arse up there, decided that his personal investiture as the chancellor of the university of Surry was far more important. Later, Lord Robens refused the funding out of the Coal Board coffers to pay for the removal of the remaining slurry above the village, instead he stole a large sum from the disaster fund to pay for it.
"The public demonstrated their sympathy by donating money, with little idea of how it would be spent. Donations flooded in to the appeal and within a few months, nearly 90,000 contributions had been received, totalling £1,606,929 worth £21.4m at 2008 prices.
The management of this fund caused considerable controversy over the years. Many aspects of the aftermath of the Aberfan Disaster remained hidden until 1997, when the British Public Records Office released previously embargoed documents under the 30-year rule. These documents revealed new information about the machinations of Lord Robens, the NCB and the Charity Commission in the wake of the Aberfan Disaster.
At one point The Charity Commission planned to insist that before any payment was made to bereaved parents, each case should be reviewed to ascertain if the parents had been close to their children and were thus likely to be suffering mentally. At another meeting, the Commission threatened to remove the Trustees of the Disaster Fund or make a financial order against them if they went ahead with making grants to parents of children who had not been physically injured that day, and the Trustees were forced to abandon these payments.
Although the Davies Report had found that the NCB's liability was "incontestable and uncontested" and it was widely felt that the NCB should have to bear the entire cost of removing the dangerous tips above Aberfan, Robens refused to pay the full cost, thereby putting the Trustees of the Disaster Fund under "intolerable pressure". In a further display of contempt for the victims and their families, Robens then "raided" £150,000 from the Fund to cover the cost of removing the tips -- an action which was "unquestionably unlawful" under charity law -- and the Charity Commission took no action to protect the Fund from Robens' dubious appropriation of funds.
As a historical footnote, in 1997 the incoming Blair Labour government paid back the £150,000 to the Disaster Fund -- although taking account of inflation the amount repaid should have been nearly £2 million."
Quoted from Hiraeth.
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