On 21 October 1966, at around 9am on the last day of term at Pantglas Junior School in Aberfan, a tip on Merthyr Mountain collapsed. Heavy rain for weeks had saturated the tip which had been built over natural underground springs. The tip had started moving earlier in the morning before an avalanche of liquified coal waste roared down the mountainside at high speed, destroying a farm cottage, crossing a canal and railway and crashing into the Junior School and the surrounding homes. 144 people died, of which 116 were children mostly between the ages of 7 and 10. Mercifully the Infant School was untouched. A massive rescue effort was undertaken by the local community, including many miners, to save those trapped under the debris. While many were saved, no survivors were found after 11am. Human error and neglect were major factors in the disaster.
On the 60th anniversary of the disaster Paul Harries, who was 6 years old at the time and who survived, has told his story for the first time. He had walked from the Infant School to the Junior School hall to pay a shilling for his school dinner to Nansi Williams, one of the school dinner ladies, when the Junior School was engulfed.
Nansi Williams, who was a single lady in her 30s, was one of the heroes that day. She managed to get Paul and 4 other children under a table and held them so as to shield them. They were found alive under Nansi’s body. She saved their lives but lost her own life. Paul said, “Apparently she was holding as much of us as she could and was trying to get us under the table. She gave everything to give us a future, and she lost everything. Nansi Williams was a hero. A true hero. My hero.” A purple plaque will be unveiled on the 60th anniversary commemorating Nansi’s courage.
When I was training for the ministry, I preached in a small church in Merthyr Vale, near Aberfan, and was shown a memorial to the children from the Sunday School who had died in the disaster. They and many other children in those days heard of God’s great love for them in his Son Jesus. He gave his life so that through his death on the Cross and resurrection he would open the way for us to go to heaven. Their parents, and all those who suffered grievous loss in the disaster, could also experience God’s comfort knowing that he understood their loss because his only Son gave his life to give us a future and a hope.