We remember the victims of the Aberfan Landslide Disaster

'In that silence you couldn’t hear a bird or a child.'
Aberfan resident

On Thursday 21st October it will mark 44 years since the tragic landslide disaster in Aberfan, South Wales, where 144 people were killed, 116 were children of Pantglas Junior School.

At 9.15 am on Friday, October 21, 1966 a waste tip slid down a mountainside into the mining village of Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales. It first destroyed a farm cottage in its path, killing all the occupants.

At Pantglas Junior School, just below, the children had just returned to their classes after singing All Things Bright and Beautiful at their assembly. It was sunny on the mountain but foggy in the village, with visibility about 50 yards. The tipping gang up the mountain had seen the slide start, but could not raise the alarm because their telephone cable had been repeatedly stolen. (The Tribunal of Inquiry later established that the disaster happened so quickly that a telephone warning would not have saved lives.)

Down in the village, nobody saw anything, but everybody heard the noise. Gaynor Minett, an eight-year-old at the school, remembered four years later:
"It was a tremendous rumbling sound and all the school went dead. You could hear a pin drop. Everyone just froze in their seats. I just managed to get up and I reached the end of my desk when the sound got louder and nearer, until I could see the black out of the window. I can't remember any more but I woke up to find that a horrible nightmare had just begun in front of my eyes."

The slide engulfed the school and about 20 houses in the village before coming to rest. Then there was total silence.

144 people died in the Aberfan disaster: 116 of them were school children. About half of the children at Pantglas Junior School, and five of their teachers, were killed.

Source: http://www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/politics/aberfan/home.htm

The Evening Post

On Monday 18th October we had a very interesting visit from Bryan Henesey, a reporter from The Evening Post, who came in to our class and speak about the newspaper industry. It was really good to hear how newspapers are put together and how a reporter spends his working day. It inspired many of us who enjoy writing articles as we heard how Bryan became a journalist and what he had to learn and study in order to become one. Bryan interviewed the Editors of the Press Teams to find out how they found the role and what the challenges were. Look out for our story coming soon to The Evening Post!!

Adrian Hayes: Polar Adventurer

Exciting news!!!

On Friday we are going to be talking to polar adventurer Adrian Hayes. Adrian is a Guiness world record holder for reaching the '3 Poles' (North Pole, South Pole and Mount Everest) in the shortest period of time in history and a second record for the longest unsupported snow-kiting expedition in Arctic history (Greenland).



Visit his website to read more about his amazing expeditions and generate any questions you may like to ask him.



http://www.adrianhayes.com/

Malcolm Leick

Last Thursday we were very lucky to have a visit from Malcolm Leick. Malcolm is a climber who has climbed mountains all over the world. We were able to see all the equipment that he needed to take with him when he went climbing. Malcolm told us about the time he climbed in the Lost Valley in Glencoe, Scotland in bad weather and had to dig a snowcave for the night. As a result of his adventure Malcolm was in the newspapers and he showed us some of the headlines from his story. He was really interesting to listen to and see what it takes to be a climber.

Forest Fields Fortnightly

This week at Forest Fields Fortnightly we have had a busy time reporting on recent events. In our Press Teams, led by the Editors and Sub Editors, we covered the huge story of the Forest Fields Earthquake. Presuming this would be our lead story, we were surprised to come into the office on Wednesday and be absorbed by the extraordinary rescue of the Chilean Miners. As a whole team we watched the amazing events unfold live on BBC news, we researched the history of how the miners came to be trapped in the mine and then conducted interviews with the Miners who came to visit 'Class Hope'. It was a happy story of survival that fitted brilliantly into our topic.

Below is one the brilliant pieces of reporting by Jamal.

FOREST FIELDS EARTHQUAKE

Earthquake causes terror at Forest Fields School

Report by Jamal

Yesterday, devestation struck in the heart of Nottingham as Forest Fields Primary School was destroyed by a terrible earthquake.

It was a normal Wednesday morning when suddenly the ground started trembling causing children to fall heavily to the floor.The rumble was like a beast roaring , the cracks that apperaed in the tarmac were like jaws trying to consume its prey.

Aftab(10), a pupil at the school, stated "As i got into the porta cabin it looked like they had been turned upside down, windows were shattered, everything had been thrown everywhere. I was shocked and before I knew it, the book case had landed on me and everything went dark.

Meanwhile outside, it was like demons were on the roof throwing slates trying to hit the children.The chimney had been thrown to the ground causing 50 serious injuries like Irfan's broken arm and Hammad's shattered leg.

Mr O'Brien (29),a class teacher, said "When the earthquake started I knew we had to do somthing so we gathered the children and ran down to the Forest Fields Recreation Ground where we knew nothing could hit us."

Friction

Scientist Professer McGregor, who works for the Disaster Research Centre in London, explained how this terrible event happened, "The two tectonic plates collided causing friction which then created energy in the earth that needed to be released. This caused an Earthquake which measured at 4 on the Richter scale."

Help

The aid workers were working at the best of their ability all day to try and restore the school to the way it was, thankfully they could confirm that no one had been killed. Yesterday afternoon, the Prime Minister, David Cameron, made a brief statement that he will do all he could to help the community of Forest Fields recover from this terrible disaster.

If you would like to donate money to the Forest Fields Earthquake appeal please visit their school website.

Natural Disaster Art

This term we've been reasearching natural disasters for our topic about Survivor's. We have been inspired to create some art about natural disasters. We did our art with charcoal, so it can blend in to the pictures such as Tornado,Hurricanes and Earthquakes. We did it so it can show off our exciting topic.

by Shazmeen and Alveena

Forest Fields Earthquake

Last week we had a terrible earthquake that damaged all our school. We all saw the chimney fall down from the largest building and all the debris that fell on all of us (We are lucky to be alive!).We heard very strange noises as the tarmac crumbled beneath our feet, the windows shattered and the electric pylon fell to the floor sending electicity exploding everywhere. When we went inside the portacabins we saw they were completely destroyed and lots of people in our class were injured inside. Suddenly the roof caved in the classroom Aftab(10) he was under the roof when it fell and injured himself.

by Athif and Raheem