Nos Galan Gaeaf: The Welsh Halloween or Samhain

October is the month of falling leaves, beautiful nature and Halloween! In Wales, the 31^st October is also known as Nos Calan Gaeaf – the night before ‘the first of winter’ when it was commonly believed that supernatural influences were intensified and that the spiritual veil between the living and the dead was at its thinnest. Nos Calan Gaeaf was one of three Spirit Nights (Ysbrydnos) in the folklore calendar and many traditions grew up around the night

.Nos Galan Gaeaf is an equivalent to the pagan, Iron-age, Irish festival of Samhain. This is the most well-known Halloween tradition in Wales. Traditionally it is time to bring in the animals from their summer grazing and to stock up their winter feed supplies. A cull would be made and animals slaughtered, and the meat preserved to provide food for winter. As the animals died so the people could survive.

Samhain means “Summer’s end”, and is known by many different names: November Eve, All Hallows Eve, Hallowmas, Feast of Apples, Night of Spirits, Halloween and the Feast of the Dead. In the Gaelic languages of Ireland, Samhain is also known as “Oíche Shamhna”, in Scotland “Oidhche Shamhna” and in Wales “Nos Calan Gaeaf”. Depending on where you come from, Samhain also has many pronunciations, like in Ireland it is pronounced “sow-in”, in Scotland “sav-en” and in Wales “sow-een”.

The Welsh translation, interestingly, is ‘the first of winter’  Rooted in rural folklore and superstition, much of it died out with the onset of industrialization in the mid-18th century.

Pre-Christian folklore suggested that the first day of winter, when the dark half of the year began, was when the veil between our world and the ‘otherworld’ known as Annwn was at its thinnest. These beliefs eventually combined with Christian festivals and we have the emergence of Noson Galan Gaeafl a celebration that marked the end of harvest season and the start of winter that took place in Wales annually.

Nature makes the transition from productive Summer to fallow Winter; we enter the darkest period of the year with weakening sun light and short days as the Wheel of the Year turns towards the Winter Solstice; when the light returns to us once more.

It was also considered to be the Celtic New Year,a pivotal point when the powers of darkness and winter return to this world and an opportunity for the souls of the departed to return briefly, much like Mexico's Day of the Dead, for example. Symbolically a moment of mingling between the world of the living and that of the dead as the idea of death is in tune with the phase in which nature is extinguished, to rest during the winter.It is a time for honouring our ancestors, particularly those that have passed in the last year. 

The period was also thought to be favourable for divination and as is common in folklore on matters such as marriage, health, and death as people looked forward to the year ahead with optimism and trepidation. In a very strange challenge, it was believed that if you ran around the local church three times, and then peered through the keyhole at midnight, you would see the faces of those who would die over the next year.

When the Romans conquered the Celts in the 1st century ad, they added their own festivals of Feralia, commemorating the passing of the dead, and of Pomona, the goddess of the harvest

Traditionally here in Wales it would be a time to pay-off the seasonal workers on farms, and bid farewell to the departed, both living and dead. The night would be celebrated with a feast of stwmp naw rhyw, a mash of  different root vegetables, carrots,peas, parsnips, leeks with milk, butter, salt and pepper into which a wedding ring was hidden. Amorous young village folk were then encouraged to eat a bowlful each and the one to find the ring would be the first to get married.

Nos Galan Gaeaf was thought to be a very powerful night to use magic in order to predict who you'd end up with.

Young women would take a pip from an apple core and squeeze it between their thumb and forefinger. It would fly up in the air and after it landed the pointed end would face in the direction of their intended lover's house.

A person would also stick a number of pips to their forehead, giving each the name of a potential partner. The last pip to fall off would be the one bearing their future spouse's name.Apple peel thrown over someone's shoulder was also thought to morph into the silhouette of the person they would eventually marry.

This was also time for deciding which animals were fit enough to make it through the winter, and which were to be slaughtered or sent to market ahead of the colder months. This then gave rise to Hwch Ddu,Gwta which is one of Calan Gaeaf's darker rituals which.translates to 'tailless black sow' 

This is a fearsome omen or spirit that takes the form of a large black sow (boar. we're definitely talking boar) that roams around the land gathering up the souls of the dead and generally scaring the life out of unsuspecting welsh folk. 

On Noson Calan Gaeaf after the bonfires had died down everyone had to hightail it back home as fast as they could to avoid being caught by the Hwch. And just to make sure that the whole experience was super terrifying, remember those slaughtered animals I mentioned?  One of the slaughtered pigs from the festival would rise up, supposedly out of the flames of the fire, and chase away the children to their homes (albeit usually a man covered in a cloth or animal skin.) The ritual has its roots in beliefs bout the souls of the dead, people and animals  but it was probably just a fun and effective way of getting children to bed; and teaching them  about the dangers of straying from the group.She is remembered in this old Welsh nursery rhyme:

 

Hwch Ddu Gwta
Ar bob camfa
Yn nyddu a cardio
Bob Nos Glangaea
…
Adre, adre, am y cynta
Hwch Dddu Gwta gipio’r ola.
  
Black short-tailed sow
On every stile
Spinning and weaving
On Calan Gaeaf night
…
Get home quick, be the first
The Hwch Ddu Gwta gets the last.

 

People also set bonfires on hilltops to frighten away evil spirits and they sometimes wore masks and other disguises, such as dressing in animal skins, to avoid being recognised by the ghosts thought to be present. It was in these ways that beings such as witches, hobgoblins, fairies, and demons came to be associated with the day. Perhaps it's no coincidence that what we often consider to be a typical witches outfit is very similar to traditional Welsh dress. 

 

With the coming of Christianity, these traditions were converted to blend in more with the Christian calendar and Christian sensibilities. “In 601AD, Pope Gregory made an important directive. He announced that Christian missionaries were to take a new tack when attempting to convert pagans to the Christian religion. Christian missionaries he said, where possible, should incorporate the beliefs, festivals and sacred sites of pagan beliefs into the Christian religion. This directive meant that the important Celtic festival of Samhain had to be marked in a Christian manner.

In the year 609 AD, All Saints Day was officially designated a Church feast, which was celebrated in May and was later moved to November by Pope Gregory in 835 AD. The Christian Church may have intended that people would spend their time praying for the souls of the dead on an important holy day. However, the fact that this was a day off from work gave many people even more of an excuse to celebrate Halloween with more excitement and excess than ever.

In the eleventh century, a further festival was added to the church calendar; All Souls Day on 2 November. The three festivals of All-Hallows Eve, All Saints and All Souls were together known as Hallowmas.” 

Despite the Church’s success in establishing a Christian foundation for the autumn celebrations, many of the ancient customs and traditions associated with them were still practiced by the population. The carving of gourds and the wearing of costumes and masks to scare away malevolent spirits are typical of the superstitions carried over from these celebrations into the All Hallows Eve observance.

Other traditions particular to Calan Gaeaf, or Halloween, in Wales include :

1.Another more macabre ceremony was the Coelcerth, Every person at the festival would scratch their name onto a stone and throw it into a fire.The flames would burn fiercely, and often far into the night.  If any stone was missing when the fire went out, the person whose name it bore would supposedly die within the next year.

2. Single women would walk around the bounds of a church, chanting "here is the sheath where is the knife", to which they were said to hear the name of the person they were to marry.

3. "Y Ladi Wen','‘The White Lady’ is an apparition from Celtic mythology, dressed in all white. Some say she guards graveyards and crossroads from other darker spirits. Others say she has a more sinister purpose - luring unsuspecting travellers to their doom by asking for help or offering treasure. Other people claimed that she was headless, and would maraud around the countryside looking for victims with her partner in crime, the Hwch Ddu Gwta.

4. Some traditions rose naturally from their rural lifestyle, when villagers might gather for harvest. In some areas, corn husks would be fashioned into a horse shape, and the men would try to get this Harvest Mare into the houses. But they had to get it past the women, who would try to throw water on it to stop it from coming inside.

5. Touching ground ivy was thought to make you have nightmares about hags and witches.

6. In order to see into the future, boys would place leaves of ivy under their pillows and girls would grow a rose around a large hoop, which they would jump through three times before cutting the rose and placing it under their pillow.

7. In Pembrokeshire, if people looked into a mirror on Halloween, they would see witches and demons in their sleep.

8. The custom of “trick-or-treating” has its origins in a ritual wherein the elders of a village or town would go from house to house and receive offerings of food and gifts for the souls of dead friends and relatives that would be visiting that night. This practice evolved during the Middle Ages, when beggars would travel from village to village and beg for “soul cakes”. Villagers would offer prayers along with the cakes to those who had died in the past year for their transition to heaven. 

The name gwrachod means ‘witches’ or ‘hags’. Men would roam the villages dressed in rags and masks, or sometimes women's clothing, going from door to door for coppers, fruit and nuts. They would then drink in the local pubs. People believed dressing up like this would repel evil spirits, but it could also have been to scare people into giving them treats.

  

9.‘Twco Fale’ – Apple Bobbing was also popular. Girls would try to pull an apple out of a barrel of water using only their teeth. The first girl to pull an apple out would be the next to get married. 

 

10. One tradition that we definitely haven't given up on is the carving of a lantern. The face on the l

Lantern is supposed to act as a deterrent to spirits approaching the house. Some would even place the lanterns out along the road as a way to guide people.Except in Wales it wasn't a pumpkin, It was a turnip. 

Around the 18th century as Wales grew less and less rural the traditions of Nos Galan Gaeaf began to die away.Halloween also changed the festival a great deal,but  the themes and characteristics of Noson Galan Gaeaf still endure as we enter the dark half of the year.The date has remained the same, as has the emphasis on ghosts and ghouls, death and afterlife 

Despite the influence from across the Atlantic, the spirit of the spookiest night of the year has lingered throughout the ages. Nos Galan Gaeaf night is still not wholly forgotten and remains a night to think about strange spectres, headless wraiths, and foreboding tailless sows. On Nos Galan Gaeaf it is suggested that you avoid all places where spirits are likely to gather such as churchyards, graveyards, and crossroads.

Some of these ideas, stories and traditions are just myths and legends today but the nation of Wales has a long tradition of celebrations considered to be a forerunner to modern Halloween. Respecting, celebrating and fearing the dead, the summer, the winter, the future and animals were all part of different rituals associated with Calan Gaeaf and in many ways the turning of time from October to November today maintains those same feelings.

May you welcome the fading light as an invitation to slow your pace and rest. As we cross from the old year to the new, we can use this dark time of the year to sow new visions, ideas and directions A day to remember. those who have passed, those who are far in miles but close n heart, those who walk with us every day. A day to tell those we can that we care and hold those we cannot in love and light, trusting to their strength and ours..Whatever path you choose to follow, may you find hidden blessings within you. Keep safe. Nos Calan Gaeaf Hapus!

References 

Marie Trevelyan  Folklore and Folk Stories of Wales (1909)

T, Gwynn Jones Welsh Folklore and Folk Custom  (1909 )

Trefor M Owen Welsh Folklore and Custom (National Museum of Walesi, 1959)

Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols

 

A bit late with this post, but better late than never, the Sex Pistol's incendiary debut album and one and only LP  Never Mind the Bollocks  Here's the Sex Pistol's was released on October 28, 1977 and captured a raw, rebellious energy, aggression and attitude that helped make it one of the most influential punk records of all time.

 Formed in 1975 in soon-to-be manager Malcolm McClaren’s London clothing store SEX, frequent customers Paul Cook (drums) and Steve Jones (guitar) were introduced by McClaren to his shop assistant Glen Matlock (bass) and later, another patron wearing a Pink Floyd t-shirt with “I hate” scribbled above was spotted by McClaren’s friend Bernard Rhodes. John Lydon would change his name to Johnny Rotten and join the band on snarling vocals and The Sex Pistols would begin its reign as England’s most reviled and inspiring band of all time, perfectly encapsulating the disdain of the working class for the establishment that was failing them so miserably by the mid-70s.

Britain at this time was an economic wasteland  with a decade of social unrest, of high unemployment, and with the optimism of the Sixties long since receded, a generational attitude shift was long overdue. Rock was crassly reaching peak commercialism. Soaring inflation in a stagnant economy created a disgruntled generation of working poor while simultaneously, rock concerts had become big business, and rock stars were increasingly seen as jet-setting, champagne-sipping aristocratic social climbers. The music itself had taken on the superficial gloss that comes with a refined technological mastery and a dearth of ideas. It’s easy to see now that rock, at least in England, was on a collision course with the youth culture that spawned it. Punk arrived as a great cleansing — the raw vitriol spoke to the moment and the pure energy was cathartic, but what the Sex Pistols provided was something more, a giant piss-take on the lurching beheamoth construct of rock itself, reducing the whole endeavor to a cynical laugh at commerce, and a de-pantsing of posturing, preening rock stars and the moneyed powers that financed them. 

 Never Mind The Bollocks was born amid the bloated pomp of progressive rock, a movement whose musicians could not have been further removed from the original Pistols line-up Indeed the band’s ideology hinged on being everything that supergroups like Emerson Lake And Palmer were not.Furthermore, under the aegis of the Pistols’ infamous and influential manager Malcolm McLaren, who had seen the Ramones, the New York Dolls and other punk bands in  New York and wanted to bring their style, attitude and music to the United Kingdom. McLaren , who was himself influenced by Situationst  thinking and reasoning, https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/jan-d-matthews-an-introduction-to-the-situationists at the  that time, was also a Machiavellian arch-provocateur who delighted in subversion and who wasn’t one to waste a good headline, all this outrage was made to work to their advantage as they doubled down in their campaign to rile up the authorities

Where the mission of bands like The Clash was to inspire revolution through protest, it seemed that the mission of the Sex Pistols was to offend as many of their countrymen as possible. Revolution vs. revulsion and, while The Clash created a more lasting musical legacy and a string of brilliant and near-brilliant but always adventurous albums, The Sex Pistols broke through in the moment in the public imagination, in the U.K. music press and soon after, across the pond in America where they landed on the cover of Rolling Stone. 

 The Sex Pistols were a back room fabrication, even less authentic than The Monkees. Their nihilism was contrived. The punk attitude was staged, planned, and brilliantly marketed, hypocrisy on a grand scale, and the hypocrisy is the point. Where The Clash earned the heartfelt loyalty of their fanbase through the pursuit of substance and meaning, The Sex Pistols rejected and deconstructed everything, even nihilism — which was the true punk expression. It’s what makes the Sex Pistols the most important punk band in history, the great catalyst that connected with their generation and inspired a movement.

Early rehearsals in rented buildings were suitably chaotic, with the band fumbling through old Who numbers. The group eventually found themselves a permanent HQ in London’s Denmark Street and tightened up their sound by recording a series of demos in ‘76, produced by Chris Spedding.

Most of 1976 consisted of the band playing gigs throughout England and eventually getting signed by EMI later in the year. The EMI deal did not last long, however. Their first single with the label, “Anarchy in the U.K.,” caused quite a stir in England. The good citizens of the British Isles were feeling patriotic; we were about to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II, marking the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne. But these little buggers came along to ruin the whole thing! Workers at the EMI plant refused to pack the band’s single.  

Although the Damned's `New Rose' is hailed as the first punk single to be released, it could be argued that  the Pistols song was the one  that best epitomised this emerging subculture.The lyrics portray a particularly sensational, violent concept of anarchy that reflected the pervasive sense of embittered anger, confusion, restlessness, economic frustration and social alienation which was being felt by a generation of disenfranchised youth amidst the declining economic situation and bland music scene of the mid-1970s.

Anarchy the UK was  a cataclysmic wall of noise that provided the perfect foil for Rotten’s snarling vocal. It  was nailed in three takes. and articulated more in under four minutes than most bands do over decades-long careers.

From the sneering `I am an antichrist, I am an anarchist', to the final lingering `destroy', the track was, as  Jon Savage noted, `a call to arms, delivered in language that was as explosive as the implications of the group's name'. " The track is immediately confrontational, and begins with a contemptuous, laughing John Lydon - lead vocalist - delivering a drawn-out declamation of the words `right, now'. The tone is almost one of mocking the audience, celebrating the emergence of punk against the stale musical environment of the time, as well as the increasing economic and social breakdown that was gripping Britain. 

As the track continues, themes such as the Antichrist, the destroying of passersby, the IRA and Council Estates are juxtaposed, almost laboured so as to produce clashing half rhymes. Whilst UK, UDA and IRA are fused together, the line `I use the NME, I use anarchy' highlights the ambiguity of syllabic pronunciation: the question as to Lydon actually meaning `enemy' - rather than a reference to the established popular music press and the New Music Express - could be asked. Moreover, the track pulls upon a notion that will become more evident in the latter single `God Save the Queen': the idea that those listening lack a sense of future. It could be argued that the Pistols do indeed sum up the unemployment figures of July 1975, of the seemingly apocalyptic atmosphere of the time. `Anarchy in the UK' seems to sum up this sense of helplessness, this supposed lack of future in 1970s Britain. Yet this track also moves towards establishing the idea of a punk rock aesthetic.

Anarchy in the UK -Sex Pistols

Three more singles followed before Never Mind The Bollocks eventually appeared. The cancellation of two record deals, with A&M and then EMI, had thrown obvious delays into the works as other labels were reluctant to pick up the most controversial band around. Flush with cash from the massive success of Tubular Bells, Richard Branson’s Virgin swooped in to rescue the album project, so a quick album that was begun in March eventually ended in August 1977. By the time Never Mind the Bollocks… finally hit the shelves, punk was as much a part of the mainstream as disco and AOR rock, and the much ballyhooed desire to shake up the system was somewhat undermined by the fact that they were now as much a part of the system as anyone else. Of course, it was going to be a hit due to name recognition and a marketing campaign based purely on the cheap shock value of having a profanity in the window of your local record shop.. ‘

In early November 1977, the London Evening Standard reported how a Virgin Records shop manager in Nottingham was arrested for displaying the record after police warned him to cover up the word “bollocks”. Chris Seale, the shop’s manager, may or may not have colluded with McLaren and Branson at their behest, as, following Seale’s arrest, Branson announced that he would cover his legal costs and hired Queen’s Counsel John Mortimer as defence barrister.

In typically McLaren-esque fashion, the resulting media furore was a publicity masterstroke, keeping the album in the public consciousness for months as Mortimer produced expert witnesses who were able to successfully demonstrate that the word “bollocks” was not obscene, and was actually a legitimate archaic English term referring to a priest, and which only meant “nonsense” in the context of the album’s title.

By the time of its release, a full 11 months after the release of their debut single the Sex Pistols were already extremely controversial. They had caused outrage in suburban Middle England after appearing as late replacements for EMI labelmates  Queen on Today, a live London regional TV show. When presenter Bill Grundy, contemptuously encouraged them to swear, they duly obliged, damaging his career while catapulting themselves to notoriety, and sparking a moral panic.causing the Daily Mirror the next day to run with the headline ‘The Filth and the fury’  A&M  would then sign the band, only to drop them after only six days. Turning up drunk , then trashing A&M' offices probably helped to further  fuel their anti-establishment image although such notoriety did little to harm the record's sales in the UK... 

The subsequent national newspaper headlines and ensuing moral panic led venues, under pressure from councils, to cancel gigs by the Sex Pistols, fearing violence, vandalism and who knows what else, It would see a rise in extreme hairdos, an increased rejection of social and consensus acceptability, that was condemned by the press at the times. But to be vilified for your stance at the time was a badge of honour, not a condemnation.

Oddly, for a band so frequently credited with lighting the fuse for punk, the Sex Pistols were one of the very last of the first-wave punk acts to release a debut album.While no one would ever dare question Sex Pistols’ cultural impact, such was Malcolm Mclaren’s obsession with publicity stunts, that by the time Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols was finally released in late October ’77, they had very nearly missed the bus. Both The Damned and The Clash had beaten them to the punch when it came to album releases, and even Buzzcocks – a band only formed after they had seen the Sex Pistols perform – had managed to release their iconic Spiral Scratch EP.

 Graphic designer Jamie Reid was responsible for iconic cut-and-paste, collage style that was used on every Sex Pistols release, not just Never Mind The Bollocks  Reid’s contribution to punk visual aesthetics is every bit as important as the likes of Vivienne Westwood. He tapped into the sense of underground danger that the band threatened, producing a garish yellow sleeve with red that captured that sense of samizdat self-production, that the listener was holding something that wasn’t officially sanctioned.

Literally, Britain’s establishment and self-appointed moral guardians considered the Sex Pistols to be too dangerous for consumption, poised to undermine the nation’s youth with their debauchery and a threat to public decency and order – or, they were the saviours of music, depending on who you asked.

Like Elvis before them and the explosion of acid house and rave a decade later, all the efforts of formal censorship only drove punk underground and made it more appealing to the nation’s bored, alienated youth.

Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols is now considered a highly influential 'rock classic'; lyrically and musically it was a violent assault on contemporary British foibles and frailties. Lead singer Johnny Rotten's slurred, angry vocals scream about corporate control, intellectual vacuity and political hypocrisy, whilst Steve Jones's ' multi-layered guitar tracks created a much emulated 'wall of noise' foil to this sneering contempt (Producer Chris Thomas  who had worked with the likes of Pink Floyd, took a different approach from earlier punk records, achieving a very clear sound layered with multiple guitar overdubs). Some have however argued that the album is over-produced, and that the Pistols had lost their initial spark of energy and exuberance by the time it was recorded. The band's previous singles, such as "Anarchy the UK.", were re-recorded for the album, and many fans believe they lack the energy of the originals,  but articulated more in under four minutes than most bands do over decades-long careers. .

Yet opening with the sound of jackboots marching, like a tuning fork chiming the notes of dystopia for Never Mind The Bollocks… perfectly,"Holidays; in the Sun" is completely iconic but only the fourth most famous moment on an extraordinary record. Inspired by a trip to Berlin, Johnny Rotten said of the inspiration: “Being in London at the time made us feel like we were trapped in a prison camp environment. There was hatred and constant threat of violence. The best thing we could do was to go set up in a prison camp somewhere else. Berlin and its decadence was a good idea… The communists looked in on the circus atmosphere of West Berlin, which never went to sleep, and that would be their impression of the West.”

At the same time that David Bowie was using the Berlin Wall as the basis for a sprawling, epic of hope for humanity with "Heroes" the Pistols were using it as a metaphor for how fucked the world was. Rotten’s opening lyric is a reference to a piece of graffiti that appeared during the famous Situationist riots in Paris in 1968 – “a cheap holiday in other people’s misery” – set to a powerful riff cheekily nicked from The Jam’s own 1977 debut single ‘In The City’.  

Holiday in the Sun - Sex Pistols

After the controversy of two blistering and scabrous punk singles, it was appropriate that Pretty Vacant’ , probably the most musically adept moment on Never Mind The Bollocks… was the track that finally put the Sex Pistols on ‘Top of the Pops’ and into the nation’s living rooms as a musical unit, rather than pantomime hate figures. To many, it’s an ironic middle finger at their parents’ generation for dismissing their kids as lacking moral fibre – as every generation seems to do to the next.

Pretty Vacant - Sex Pistols

Of course, Never Mind The Bollocks is home to by far the most well-known punk song in history. God Save The Queen’ was the first Pistols track to be recorded with bassist Sid Vicious, and the track seems to benefit from his untutored, attack-minded approach as opposed to the more subtle dynamics from the ousted Glen Matlock, fired in February 1977 because he apparently ‘liked The Beatles’. Released in late May to coincide with  the ' mad parade'  of the Queen's Silver Jubilee,  the Sex Pistols  were seen to embody a thriving awakening politically charged youth culture.Queen’s Silver Jubilee,  the Pistols crashed the establishment’s street party with the perfect pop-culture subversion, playing on a barge sailing up the River Thames on Coronation Day (June 7^th) in an attempt to escape a local ban through a loophole by performing on water, before they were arrested.

 God Save The Queen’ became an alternative national anthem, hitting the top of the NME’s single chart but only at no.2 in the official singles chart used by the BBC (behind Rod Stewart’s ‘I Don’t Want To Talk About It’) in what many decried as an industry conspiracy after many shops refused to stock the single, and radio airplay all but banned. In 2021 four decades after Lydon’s bellowing call to apathy “There’s no future / in England’s dreaming”, the song’s urgency and sentiment now echoes louder than ever for those of us terrified by the insanity of Brexit, and of neo-liberalism’s general race to the bottom.

God Save the Queen - Sex Pistols

 

The unbelievably ferocious "Bodies " uses a graphic theme of abortion, making it the most straight-up controversial track in the Sex Pistols’ canon alongside the seriously fucked-up ‘Belsen Was A Gas’. With its breakneck pace, Paul Cook’s thudding, brutal drums and Steve Jones’ buzzsawing guitars, it informed a great deal of hardcore and trash metal in the years afterwards.

Bodies - Sex Pistols

Given the album’s legendary status, a total newcomer to it might be surprised by how uneven it is in places, but the entire album was a screeching, hissing, spitting absolutely primal rebuttal to shitty circumstances and served as the raised fist of the downtrodden and the marginalised. It raised thousands if not millions of British youths on safety pins and shredded clothes and, despite their government’s desperate attempts to prevent it from ever happening, showed that regular people could stand up and challenge authority.

The BBC refused to acknowledge it, let alone even play it. This didn’t stop it from rocketing up the charts as a disenfranchised generation of youths latched onto the unquestionable ‘fuck you’ the Sex Pistols had spat at the feet of the monarchy. When it only reached number two there were claims of it being rigged to prevent such a shocking song climbing all the way to number one.

The disintegration of the Sex Pistols came quickly and messily, as now seems so preordained for such a white-hot and chaotic band. An American tour of the Deep South in January 1978 was marred by infighting, drug addictions and hostile band-audience situations, and on the 14^th of that month they played what would be their final gig at San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom, with a deeply disillusioned Rotten uttering the immortal phrase “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” as the last chords of their encore number, their well-known cover of The Stooges’ ‘No Fun’, came to a lacklustre end. Within three months of Never Mind the Bollocks release Lydon would declare his discontentment with Sex Pistols and the band would split, only for Mclaren to start his barrel-scraping exercise a few short months later, as there was more cash to be milked from the now dead cash cow. 

 Lydon of course would go on to form the successful Public Image Ltd and enjoy a solo career, but in recent years has become an ever more erratic character, with his contradictory statements on where he stands politically and occasionally popping up in ill-judged adverts. Cook, Jones and Matlock have each gone on to great things in their career, forming bands, becoming celebrated sidemen and making guest appearances alongside acts as diverse as Edwyn Collins, The Faces, Iggy Pop and Siouxsie and The Banshees. Vicious would of course die young, thus cementing his place as the most iconic member of Sex Pistols alongside Lydon, and becoming punk’s ever young martyr.

The Sex Pistols have since reunited for a tour and live album in 1996, making no secret that the effort was a money-grab. They have since performed occassionally together in Europe.The Sex Pistols are no strangers to being headline news but after a ruling in August they have been brought back into the limelight, this time not for their outrageous antics, but over licencing rights to their music.

A new TV drama Pistol is set to hit our screens next year which will detail the life and music of The Sex Pistols. But this TV Drama  caused the former band members to take their argument to the High Court. Lydon, had been sued by drummer Paul Cook and guitarist Steve Jones after Lydon prevented the use of Pistols songs in the series Pistol. Lydon lost the case, with a judge ruling that Jones and Cook were allowed to overrule him using a majority rule created in the terms of a band agreement.

Lydon had claimed he wasn’t aware of the extent of the agreement, but judge Sir Anthony Mann said: “I reject the suggestion made by him that he did not really know or appreciate its effect. That piece of evidence was a convenient contrivance. It is highly likely that, even if he did not read it himself, it will have been explained to him and he will have understood its effects.

Pistol is based on Steve Jones’s memoir Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol. Jones and Cook had said in a joint statement immediately following the ruling in their favour: “We welcome the courts ruling in this case. It brings clarity to our decision making and upholds the band members’ agreement on collective decision making. It has not been a pleasant experience, but we believe it was necessary to allow us to move forward and hopefully work together in the future with better relations.”

 History can be shortsighted: the Sex Pistols, a band so beloved for their music, their live show, and their ideology, is eclipsed by their mythology. and the histrionics notwithstanding, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols wound up being one of the most important records in rock history. If you remove the chaos, the anarchy and the style over substance, you have an incredible political statement about England in the late seventies. It is a giant middle finger to the establishment and a rallying cry to just go completely ape shit. It’s a shame the message got lost in the antics of a band who really did not give a fuck. In my eyes, that’s what being punk is really about.

The music industry was so threatened by these guys that they thought they had no choice but to deride their messages as mere juvenile ranting, the bark and howl of an underclass that is not worth a nickel. They didn’t mind making money off of it but they sure as shit weren’t going to hold it up and say, “This is a flawless work.” Which many argue it is.

In the years since it was released  music has exploded. Rage has become an economic juggernaut. Volume has increased, censorship both implied and explicit has ebbed, and no one is shocked when they encounter uncomfortable topics presented with all the unpleasant details right out front.

But when The Sex Pistols hit the scene, this was far from the case. They were unseemly. They were unruly. They had unabashed scorn for anything that smacked of the establishment. They hated hippies as much as businessmen. The baby boomers who thought their softly strummed odes to fucking while stoned were going to change the world were the biggest resisters to the noise and clamor of these hooligans.

The Sex Pistols defined a generation and captured a feeling within the nation that simply no one else could of. The band created a truly distinctive sound and ‘Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols’ impact and influence still strongly resonates with musicians, artists and people to this day. Upon its original release in 1977, it may have been the notoriety surrounding the Sex Pistols that propelled the album to #1 in the UK. Over forty years later, however, it’s the attitude and intelligence of the songwriting that resonates and retain a pertinence and a spite that allow us to remember just why punk resonated so widely and deeply.

The Pistol's were not the first punk band but they were the first  punk band to fully capture public interest, their legacy was not musical. It was socio-political, creating a wave in fashion, in attitude, and in the relationship of the youth to its leaders. And the mission of punk as a movement in England, ignited by The Pistols — to cleanse rock and roll of its charlatans and false idols, and to rewrite its ethos ,was deep and lasting, and ultimately effective.

Alongside band,like the Clash, the Ramones, the Stranglers, the Buzzcocks, X Ray Spex and the anarcho punk movement that would emerged epitomised by bands like the seminal Crass, who formed in November 1977, the Mob, Zounds and the Subhumans among many others, the Pistols helped create and shape punk rock, an aesthetic and political revolution that has since swept the world with a steady stream  of punk inspired acts, some with bold new approaches, have managed to keep the smouldering scene.burning despite the music press and others pronouncing its proverbial fifteen minutes offically over.

Punk in all of its forms has always given voice to the alienated. It is a wrench tossed into the works of a mechanized consumer society. Punk has given us music to thrash to and iconoclastic poetry to feed our rebellious spirit. Whether simmering under the surface of polite society or exploding in our faces, the punk ethos is eternal, and during that foul season in the U.K. of economic downturn and social upheaval the album that broke open the earth was Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols. And it's influence didn't end with punk, The album was also embraced by many members of the metal community and had an undeniable impact on the genre.

 Punk's far from dead, neither is the true spirit of anarchy, more than a fashion statement to be commodified and sold, and hijacked by the mainstream,  it's early instigators being accused of selling out, it's influence on arts and culture is undeniable.

And  despite Rotten's recent descent  into vacuousness we can at least still enjoy Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols and can still play our part in acts of cultural subversion, changing the world through art and ideas, that are no less  needed than in the present times we live.

With a ramshackle corrupt Government, increasing intolerance, and a seeming acceptance of ever more authoritarian inclined politicians  who keep lying to us, with the Tories treating benefit cuts like a joke, creating  poverty, alienation and division,as we drift towards a draconian police state, with problems like imminent climate disaster escalating on a daily basis, that some people  just continue to willfully ignore, it seems we are still sleeping and dreaming, and jeopardising our future. Never mind the Bollocks, remember that anger is an energy, that will never die.

 Problems - Sex Pistols

Proscribing of Palestinian human rights organisations

Israel’s appalling, unjust  and shocking designation of six Palestinian civil society organizations as “terrorist organizations” is an attack on human rights defenders, freedom of association, and the right to public participation, and should be immediately revoked, the UN human rights chief said Tuesday.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said the organizations are some of the “most reputable human rights and humanitarian groups in the occupied Palestinian territory” that have worked closely with the UN for decades.

“Claiming rights before a UN or other international body is not an act of terrorism, advocating for the rights of women in the occupied Palestinian territory is not terrorism, and providing legal aid to detained Palestinians is not terrorism,” Bachelet said in a statement.

She asserted that the designation decisions under the Israeli Counter-Terrorism Law of 2016 are vague or unsubstantiated.

They included peaceful and legitimate human rights activities, such as providing legal aid to Palestinians in detention, organizing activities for women in the West Bank, and “promoting steps against Israel in the international arena.”

The rights chief reiterated that counter-terrorism legislation must not be applied to legitimate human rights and humanitarian work.

The banning of organizations must not be used to suppress or deny the right to freedom of association, quash political dissent, silence unpopular views, or limit the peaceful activities of civil society.

The national authorities responsible for proscribing organizations must comply fully with international human rights obligations, said the rights office.

These include respecting the principles of legal certainty, proportionality, equality, and non-discrimination.

“Restricting the space for legitimate activities under international law is not only wrong but counter-productive, as it risks limiting the space for peaceful dialogue,” said Bachelet.

She noted that the organizations include some of the critical partners of the UN Human Rights Office and they face far-reaching consequences due to “this arbitrary decision,” as do those who fund them and work with them.

Bachelet said: “And the crucial work they perform for thousands of Palestinians risks being halted or severely restricted.”

The published designation decisions by the Israeli Minister of Defense state that the organizations have become the “arm” of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

It says that they obtained financial resources, which in practice reached the “(PFLP) terror activity” or supported their activities.

The rights office said there is no evidence presented to support these accusations, no information on the type of alleged “PFLP terror activity,” nor has any public process been conducted to establish the allegations.

The designations against the six organizations on Oct. 19 are the latest in a long-running series of actions to undermine and restrict human rights defenders and civil society organizations working for the human rights of Palestinians.

These include using military regulations to declare groups unlawful, said the rights office.

The organizations are Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association; Al Haq; Defense for Children International – Palestine; Union of Agricultural Work Committees; Bisan Center for Research and Development; and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees.

The Minister of Defense's designation of prominent Palestinian civil society organizations,  as terrorist organizations, is a draconian measure that criminalizes critical human rights work. Documentation, advocacy, and legal aid are fundamental activities for the protection of human rights worldwide. Criminalizing such work is an act of cowardice, characteristic of repressive authoritarian regimes. These organisations speak the language of universal human rights, They use a rights-based approach to their work, including a gendered analysis, to document human rights abuses of all kinds in Palestine, including business-related human rights abuses.

This designation would effectively ban the work of these human rights defenders, and allow the Israeli military to arrest their staff, shutter their offices, confiscate their assets and prohibit their activities and human rights work. 

The Israeli military has frequently targeted human rights defenders in recent years, as its occupation has deepened, its defiance of international law has continued and its record of human rights violations has worsened. The definition of terrorism is the unlawful unlawful use of violence and intimidation especially against civilians in the pursuit pf political aims AKA Israel's apartheid regime. This announcement is a clear declaration of war against Palestinian civil  society. These orgs which the public relies heavily on, provide the world with vital data and analyses that expose Israeli crimes. Anti-terrorism is nothing but a racist tool to crush Palestinian society and prevent legitimate criticism.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, who work closely with many of these groups previously mentuoned, said in a joint statement:

“This appalling and unjust decision is an attack by the Israeli government on the international human rights movement. For decades, Israeli authorities have systematically sought to muzzle human rights monitoring and punish those who criticize its repressive rule over Palestinians. While staff members of our organizations have faced deportation and travel bans, Palestinian human rights defenders have always borne the brunt of the repression. This decision is an alarming escalation that threatens to shut down the work of Palestine’s most prominent civil society organizations. The decades-long failure of the international community to challenge grave Israeli human rights abuses and impose meaningful consequences for them has emboldened Israeli authorities to act in this brazen manner.

How the international community responds will be a true test of its resolve to protect human rights defenders. We are proud to work with our Palestinian partners and have been doing so for decades. They represent the best of global civil society. We stand with them in challenging this outrageous decision.”

The Palestine Authority condemned what it said was an “unhinged assault” on Palestinian civil society.

“This fallacious and libellous slander is a strategic assault on Palestinian civil society and the Palestinian people’s fundamental right to oppose Israel’s illegal occupation and expose its continuing crimes,” it said.

The US Department of State spokesperson Ned Price said his office had not been given advance warning of the designation.

“We will be engaging our Israeli partners for more information regarding the basis for the designation,” Price said on a telephone briefing with reporters in Washington.

“We believe respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and a strong civil society are critically important to responsible and responsive governance,” he said.

In light of  this provocation  I would like to ask you to write as a matter of  urgency to your MP.  request that they sign the folllowiing EDM 583

Proscribing of Palestinian human rights organisations 

 

"That this House condemns the declaration of 22 October 2021 made by Israeli Minister of Defence, Benny Gantz, which designated six Palestinian civil society groups as terrorist organisations; notes that the Israeli authorities have not provided any evidence to substantiate their claims about the organisations; further notes that the targeted groups Al-Haq, Addameer, Bisan Center, Defence for Children International Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, and the Union of Palestinian Women's Committees are organisations deeply committed to protecting the human rights of Palestinian communities, highlighting Israel's illegal policies and also those of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas; further notes the statement of 22 Israeli civil society groups based in Israel in support of the six NGOs; views this as a further direct assault on Palestinian civil society in an effort to isolate and suffocate Palestinian human rights defenders; recognises the significant impact this assault has on some of the most prominent Palestinian civil society organisations including on the local and international public's right to information about the reality of human rights violations in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories; calls on the Government to demand that the Israeli Government reveal any evidence against those organisations; and further calls on the Government to reaffirm its support for Palestinian and Israeli civil society and human rights organisations as a key foundation in building a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians. "

 

https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/59067

and ask them to press Israel to revoke immediately their decision  and end our complicity with  Israeli apartheid :https://palestinecampaign.eaction.online/defendPalestinianorganisations/search?fbclid=IwAR04WvuOEzVP4gjZBWyXlZcHc7qyiP-nX-ESOxExK1fcHuLdGsRVn1XbRpo

Israeli Government'si attack on six Palestinian civil society group must be  resisted

https://www.map.org.uk/news/archive/post/1304-israeli-governmentas-attacks-on-six-palestinian-civil-society-groups-must-be-resisted

Tribulation

The days  are getting darker

Sounds of protest cancelled out

Tableau's of despair, consuming all

As cicada's cry sings into a world so blue

In the oceans of misery, the woods so deep

We scramble with voices broken beyond repair

Downwards we sink, as Gods ignore

Pushing us away in times of needing

Drunk with power, stops releasing

Constellations consolidation fail to shine

The trees around, shed their leaves like tears

So lost we become, no longer want to return

Simply seek escape for ever and ever

Find some peace, salvation currently invisible

Under the weight of the world, beyond containment

When the nights get far too long in disorientation

Deposited from the debris, mind can gently sleep.

Remembering the injustice of Aberfan

 

 

Today I  once again mark the tragic day when  on Friday 21 October 1966, a terrible disaster struck the close-knit and thriving  coal mining village of Aberfan in  the South Wales Valleys, a tragedy which still stuns those of a certain age, and which has lessons still very relevant to new generations.

For decades leading up to 1966, excavated mining debris from the National Coal Board's Merthyr Vale Colliery had been deposited on the side of Mynydd Merthyr, directly above Aberfan,  onto highly porous sandstone that contained numerous underground springs.

On this morning  21I October 1966 it was raining, as  hard and unrelenting as it had been for days, running into weeks. As the children left the coal-fire warmth of home they emerged into streets shrouded with a dense, cold fog.

Mothers waved goodbye from the doorstep, never imagining in their worst nightmares that it would be for the last time. 

The 240 pupils of the Victorian red brick Pantglas Junior School wound their way through the gullies, the back lanes of the miners’ terrace houses, crunching over layers of sodden clinker swept from the hearth and tipped there on a daily basis. They were excited. At midday the half-term holiday would begin. 

And so the world turned in Aberfan much as it had done for the past 100 years, when the community burgeoned around the Merthyr Vale colliery which began in 1869.

At around quarter past nine disaster struck, an avalanche raced down the steep hill a black tidal wave that would engulf everything in its path in a catastrophic tragedy. It would smother a farm, around twenty houses, demolish Pantglas Junior School and severely damage the Secondary School. It is a mercy that lessons in the secondary school did not start until 9:30, meaning that many of those children were still walking towards the building at the time of the landslide. The eye-witnesses report that when the landslide stopped there was complete silence: for example a local hairdresser who witnessed the landslide reported that “In that silence you couldn’t hear a bird or a child”  

Immediately desperate parents rushed to the scene, many digging through the rubble with their bare hands, trying to rescue the buried children. Police from Merthyr Tydfil arrived on the site, volunteers rushed to the village including miners from local collieries and other pits across South Wales. Conditions remained treacherous with a large amount of water and mud still flowing down the slope. Some children were pulled out alive in the first hour, but no survivors were pulled out alive out of that sticky black tomb after 11 am. Emergency services workers and volunteers continued their rescue efforts but it was nearly a week before all the bodies were recovered.Though many of them have now also passed, the horrific memories of Aberfan would haunt the first responders who came to the aid of the survivors for the rest of their lives. 

The final death toll was 144, including 116 children between the ages of 7 and 10. It was a whole week before all the bodies were recovered. Most of the victims were interred at Bryntaf Cemetery in Aberfan in a funeral held on 27 October 1966, attended by more than 2,000 people.

The shock  that was felt went beyond South Wales too. The television coverage allowed a collective witnessing of the disaster and turned it into a national tragedy. Parents, children, mining communities, Welsh exiles, people who had been evacuated to the area during the Second World War – so many people across Britain and worldwide felt a deep personal empathy and sympathy with those who suffered in the disaster. The surviving 50,000 letters of condolence sent to the village are a testament to that sympathy.The writings show of the warmth of the nation and its people. 

This horror was compounded and made even more poignant as news emerged of previous warnings and previous slides that had been brushed aside. The National Coal Board's(NCB) area management had been made aware of the concerns regarding the tipping of spoil above the primary school, because in 1964  local councillor Gwyneth Williams,  had warned that if there were a landslip it would threaten the school and the children within it. And just two years before the disaster two mothers had given a petition to the school, with concerns over flooding, and also passed it to the local council.  Waterworks engineer DCW Jones also sent a letter to a colleague and the National Coal Board in 1963, expressing concern about the tip.  Even the headmaster, who would  perish in the disaster, had issued warnings about the dangers of the tip.  Despite all this  the NCB's area management did not adequately act upon these concerns. 

Did the NCB have the decency to acknowledge their blame, to bow their head in shame, like hell no, but we were to  learn sadly far too late that the NCB  was ostensibly a capitalist organisation more concerned with profit than lives.. Also some in the media disgraced  themselves. One reporter was heard asking a child to cry for hr dead friends as it would make a good picture. It is not difficult to understand how grief morphed into a deep, visceral anger.

The Rt. Hon. Lord Robens of Woldingham, a former trade unionist and Labour politician whom the Macmillan government had appointed chairman of the National Coal Board, arrived 36 hours later, having first gone to Guildford to be installed as chancellor of Surrey University. He told a TV reporter that the slide had been due to 'natural unknown springs' beneath the tip and that nothing could have been done to prevent the slide. This was not true, the springs had been known about and were marked on maps of the area. Yet the NCB had continued to tip on top of these springs. The potential danger posed by the tip to Pantglas school had also been previously acknowledged. There had also been previous incidents of tip instability in South Wales that would have given clear information on the very real dangers posed.

Lord Robens  also claimed that it was too expensive to remove the tips, with an estimated cost of £3 million pounds.  In response, the community of Aberfan formed a Tip Removal Committee to actively seek out contractors for estimates to remove the tips.  Eventually the tips were removed by the NCB, but using £150,000 that Lord Robens appropriated from the disaster fund.  Understandably, this caused long-term resentment in the community.  In 1997, this sum (but without interest) was repaid to the fund by the UK government. 

Prime Minister Harold Wilson, who had reached Aberfan 24 hours before Robens, ordered an inquiry under the Tribunals of Inquiry Act 1921, headed by a judge assisted by an engineer and a planning lawyer.

The subsequent tribunal placed blame for the disaster upon the National Coal Board stating in its damning conclusion: 'The Aberfan disaster is a terrifying tale of bungling ineptitude by men charged with tasks for which they were totally unfitted'.

Nevertheless, the top management of the NCB tried to give the impression at the inquiry that they had 'no more blameworthy connection than the Gas Board'. The NCB wasted up to 76 days of inquiry time by refusing to admit the liability that they had privately accepted before the inquiry had started. The tribunal called this 'nothing short of audacious'. This may be the strongest language ever used in a tribunal report about a UK public body.

The Aberfan inquiry of 1967 stated: ‘Our strong and unanimous conclusion is that the Aberfan disaster could and should have been prevented’.Blame  for the disaster rests upon  the National Coal Board. The legal liabilities of the National Coal Board to pay compensation for the  personal injury  fatal or otherwise) and  damage to property is incontestable and uncontested."  

Shouts of 'Murderers!; were heard as the names of the child victims were read out at the public enquiry. One grief stricken father determined to oppose  the official causes of this child's death- 'by asphyxia and multiple injuries' insisted that the cause of death on the death certificate should read "Buried Alive by the National Coal Board".

Unbelievably, the Charity Commission opposed the plan for a flat rate of compensation to the bereaved families, instead suggesting that for payment to be made, parents should have to prove that they had been ‘close’ to their dead children, and were thus ‘likely to be suffering mentally’.

Meanwhile, Aberfan villagers lived in fear that tip no.4 and tip no.5 situated above tip no.7 might start to slide as well. The NCB refused to pay to remove them, and the Labour government wouldn’t make it pay. Instead the money was taken from the disaster fund – an act later described as unquestionably unlawful by charity law experts. 

A section of the report condemned the behaviour of Lord Robens:"For the National Coal Board, through its counsel, thus to invite the Tribunal to ignore the evidence given by its Chairman was, at one and the same time, both remarkable and, in the circumstances, understandable. Nevertheless, the invitation is one which we think it right to accept." 

A few weeks later,  Lord Robens offered to resign. The minister, Richard Marsh, refused to accept his resignation.Havingg led the Coal Industry through a then rare strike-free period he was considered far to valuable to Harold Wilson's Labour Government to let go.And so the people  pf Aberfan, were left to deal with their tragedy virtually alone.

The Commons debated the disaster in October 1967. The debate was painful and inconclusive. But at least Aberfan made the dangers of ignoring workplace risks and the catastrophic effects on both occupational and public health and safety all too obvious.

 The Wilson government found the NCB guilty, but the price they placed on each small head was just £500.  Worldwide, people were less insensitive, donations poured in daily and a trust fund was set up, that attracted donations of £1,750,000 (equivalent to about £30 million today), with money being received in the form of more than 90,000 contributions from over 40 countries.  This fund distributed the money in a number of ways, including direct payments to the bereaved, the construction of a memorial, repairs to houses, respite breaks for villagers and the construction of a community centre.  However, the fund itself attracted considerable controversy.  First, when the fund was created it did not include any representatives from Aberfan itself;  and another insult ensued. The bereaved families were not thought to be competent enough to distribute the funds. The grieving families were outraged. The villagers took it upon themselves to form a Parents and Residents' Association, and their solicitors eventually persuaded bureaucrats to include five representatives from Aberfan. The ten officials who were not from Aberfan accepted highly paid salaries from the fund.

The Government of the day was also extremely insensitive to the victims families, and people would have to wait for years for compensation. It was also to  the eternal shame of Lord George Thomas of Tonypandy that he did not do more to support the people of Aberfan, and it was the shame of the establishment that funds raised for the disaster were used to move the slag heaps from the school. Thomas many believed was more interested in toadying up to Royalty than supporting the people of the valleys. Perhaps what moved Welsh Labour to take some action were the fear of other voices speaking out. Plaid Cymru MP, Gwynfor Evans elected in 1966 suggested that had the slag heap  had fell on Eton or a school in the Home Counties more would have been done. 

The security of Labour’s hold on south Wales and the governments shameful marginalisation of the village’s needs after the disaster meant he was probably quite right. Indeed, the disaster played a key role in convincing some in Wales that both the nationalised coal industry and Labour governance were no longer operating in the interests of the working-class communities they were supposed to represent.

Aberfan  at least added to a growing sense that the risks the public were exposed to by industry had to be controlled. This feeling eventually led to the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act (HSWA) 1974 which aims to protect both workers and non-workers from the risks of workplace activities. 

Indeed, the HSWA notably requires that employers must safeguard people not in their employment. This includes members of the public, contractors, patients, customers, visitors and students. This may be seen as Aberfan’s legacy. Unbelievably, the committee which effectively led to the creation of the HSWA was chaired by none other than Lord Robens! 

Earlier legislation such as the Factories Acts focused on specific industries or workplaces. This meant over 5 million workers had no Health & Safety protection – as well as the generally ignored public. The law was then more concerned with making sure machinery was safe! 

One key feature of the 1972 Robens Committee Report that is echoed in today’s Health & Safety is the principle of consultation. So whilst we can be comforted by the fact that legislation is more demanding and the safety of people is put first, history tells us that we must never be complacent, take the example of Hillsborough for instance. .

Today  we remember the people of Aberfan, their collective loss, a community that is still profoundly affected by this disaster and injustice, having paid the dirty price of coal,  one in three survivors still suffering  from Post traumatic stress,  over 50 years after this tragic event took place. The community of the Welsh town was deeply traumatised – the psychological and emotional effects rippled from one generation to the next, people felt guilty that they were left alive, they did not feel like survivors, cases of children not being allowed to play in the street, in case it upset other parents. 

What happened at Aberfan on 21 October 1966 left an indelible mark on the valleys of south Wales. Even today, the name Aberfan evokes sadness and contemplation. Most British people born before 1960 remember what they were doing when they heard the tragic news. 

The community suffered a second devastating blow with the closure of Merthyr Vale Colliery, Aberfan’s main employer, in 1989 and  along with the rest of the disinherited industrialised south Wales Valleys, has struggled with high unemployment and its incumbent social problems.

The devastating loss caused by the tragedy, as well as the impact it had on not only survivors, but the Aberfan community for generations, will never be forgotten. and the sores and wounds of this tragedy are now forever  ingrained in the memories  and feelings of the people of Wales because of the collective loss of a generation that was wiped out.There are thousands upon thousands of Welsh people with personal or family connections to the coal industry, and for them the disaster is not simply something that happened in another time and another place. It is part of their own family history. So today again we  try not to forget  the children and adults who died, this human tragedy, that  many say could easily have been  prevented. 

The disaster also summed  up the relationship Welsh society has with its coal mining heritage. At one level, there is an immense popular pride in the work miners undertook and the sacrifices they endured. There is also a recognition that it was coal that made modern Wales. Without it, communities such as Aberfan would not have existed at all. Indeed, the knowledge that it was their labour that created the aste above the village added guilt to the grief felt by some bereaved fathers. 

Aberfan is now known  today as one  of one of Wales worst mining disasters in it's history,but brought back memories of the pit disasters of Senghennydd (1913 - 439 killed)  https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2016/10/senghennyd-mining-disaster-lest-we.htmland Gresford (1934 - 263 killed) https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2016/09/gresford-colliery-disaster.html  

and the numerous less-known accidents that killed and maimed individual miners. Such fatalities continued to occur in the wake of 1947 but miners accepted the dangers inherent in their occupation. Aberfan however was different. This time it was their children that were killed, and by implication, a part of the future was lost,  because of mans greed.  It is important to note that no employee of the NCB was ever disciplined for the breaches that caused the disaster.

Like  the Hillsborough victims, the people of Aberfan were let down by the very institutions that owed them a duty of care, and just like at Hillsborough those institutions sought to obstruct the search for truth and the solace it might provide. 

And, as with Hillsborough, justice was a long time coming. More than three decades later the Charity Commission apologised, and a Labour Government under Tony Blair eventually paid back to the Disaster Fund the money taken from it in 1966 by the NCB. 

Today as we remember the people of Aberfan, their collective loss, a community that is still profoundly affected by this disaster, Lest we forget, the lessons of  Aberfan, that still holds a profound relevance today. They touch on issues of public accountability, responsibility, competence and transparency. Aberfan was a man-made disaster. This is a fact that often needs underlining. There was nothing “natural” about it, nothing freakish about the geology of Aberfan, nothing uniquely unforeseeable about the deadly slide. It happened because of a mix of negligence, arrogance and incompetence for which no individual was punished or even held to account.so as we remember today lets not forget the shocking way these families were treated by a system that failed to value them.

The disaster was dramatized for the first time onscreen in the third season of The Crown; the episode, titled “Aberfan,” details the day leading up to the tragedy and its aftermath, as the town’s surviving inhabitants dig through the rubble and eventually receive a visit from Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman)

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited Aberfan on 29 October to pay their respects to those who had died. Their visit coincided with the end of the main rescue phase; only one contracting firm remained in the village to continue the last stages of the clear-up. 

Marjorie Collins, an Aberfan woman who lost her son in the disaster, remembered the queen’s visit in a 2015 interview with ITV: “They were above the politics and the din and they proved to us that the world was with us, and that the world cared.” Another mother told ITV that no one judged the queen for her delayed response. “We were still in shock, I remember the Queen walking through the mud,” she said. “It felt like she was with us from the beginning.” 

Leon Rosselson  one of England's most respected songwriters wrote the following  song ‘Palaces of Gold’ in response to news of the disaster at Aberfan. It appeared on his 1968 album A Laugh, a Song, and a Hand-Grenade:

Palaces of Gold - Leon Rosselson

If the sons of company directors,
And judges’ private daughters,
Had to got to school in a slum school,
Dumped by some joker in a damp back alley,
Had to herd into classrooms cramped with worry,
With a view onto slagheaps and stagnant pools,
Had to file through corridors grey with age,
And play in a crackpot concrete cage.

Buttons would be pressed,
Rules would be broken.
Strings would be pulled
And magic words spoken.
Invisible fingers would mould
Palaces of gold.

If prime ministers and advertising executives,
Royal personages and bank managers’ wives
Had to live out their lives in dank rooms,
Blinded by smoke and the foul air of sewers.
Rot on the walls and rats in the cellars,
In rows of dumb houses like mouldering tombs.
Had to bring up their children and watch them grow.

In a wasteland of dead streets where nothing will grow.

I’m not suggesting any kind of a plot,
Everyone knows there’s not,
But you unborn millions might like to be warned
That if you don’t want to be buried alive by slagheaps,
Pit-falls and damp walls and rat-traps and dead streets,
Arrange to be democratically born
The son of a company director
Or a judge’s fine and private daughter.

 

Memory of the disaster remains at the fore in Aberfan.and .the memorial is quietly observed every year unless there is a key anniversary.Here is an evocative poem written  at the time  by local poet Ron Cook.

Where Was God - Ron Cook

Where was God that fateful day
At the place called Aberfan.
When the world stood still and the mountain
Moved through the folly of mortal man.
In the morning hush so cold and stark
And grey skys overhead.
When the mountain moved its awesome mass
To leave generations of dead.
Where was God the people cried
Their features grim and bleak.
Somewhere on their knees in prayer
And many could not speak.
The silence so still like something unreal
Hung on the morning air.
And people muttered in whisper tones
Oh God this isn’t fair.
The utter waste of childhood dreams
Of hope and aspirations.
A bitter lesson to be learnt for future generations

But where was God the people cried.
The reason none could say
For when the mountain moved its awesome mass.
God looked the other way.

 The Aberfan Memorial Garden was created on the site of Pantglas School and was opened in 1970.  A section of the school playground wall has been retained in the Memorial Garden while the other walls evoke the former layout of the school. 

In 2019, the Memorial Garden underwent major renovations, principally replacing all the old walls. The National Botanic Garden of Wales was involved in designing and planting the current bee-friendly garden. It includes commemorative trees presented by the Queen and the Prince of Wales, another planted by local schoolchildren on the 50th anniversary, and a recently added tree dedicated to the teachers and staff at the school.  

The Memorial Garden design incorporates reclaimed and recycled materials, such as stone from disused local bridges for the walls, and benches made from recycled plastic bags, which also reduced the level of maintenance required. 

At the Aberfan Cemetery Memorial, which was renovated extensively in 2007, most of the victims are buried side by side, with each grave marked with linked archways carved in pearl white granite.The names of all 144 victims are inscribed on a large granite cross at the Cemetery Memorial, where there is also a separate enclosed garden for quiet reflection and offering a long-awaited. redemption from so much pain that was inflicted on this cruel October morning all those years ago. 

I conclude this post with a poem I wrote a few years ago

Cofiwch Aberfan/ Remember Aberfan

On October 21 1966

a ticking timebomb of slurry

left a community scarred

angels laughter forever lost

buried deep in the wounds of history

my nation mourns with anger 

bitterness and shame

after the spoils of injustice

drowned a community in coal

left generations in ruin

our tears keep on flowing

never ever  forgiving.

  

Cofiwch Aberfan : This clock stopped ticking at 9.13 on the morning of October 21,1966