The story begins in the Taff Valley, where sixty years ago a mountain of coal waste slid onto a school. This week King Charles III, Queen Camilla and Prince William went to Aberfan to mark the anniversary, and what unfolded was as much about listening as remembering. Charles said it was “profoundly humbling” to hear the testimonies of those who survived.
What happened on 21 October 1966
After several days of heavy rain, the upper flank of colliery waste tip number seven subsided by three to six metres. At 9:15 a.m. more than 150,000 cubic metres of saturated debris broke away and ran downhill at speed. A slurry twelve metres deep reached the village. It destroyed a farm and 20 terraced houses on Moy Road, then struck Pantglas Junior School, filling classrooms with mud and rubble up to ten metres deep. In total, 116 children and 28 adults died.
The hillside had been a bad place for a tip. Years of mining spoil from Merthyr Vale Colliery had been heaped on Mynydd Merthyr over porous sandstone riddled with underground springs. Local authorities had raised specific concerns in 1963 about tipping above the primary school, and the National Coal Board’s area management largely ignored them. The village had also flooded at least 11 times between 1952 and 1965. A 76-day public inquiry followed, yet no one was prosecuted and no one lost a job.
A royal regret
Queen Elizabeth II waited eight days before going to Aberfan, arriving shortly after a mass funeral. Her former private secretary, the late Lord Charteris, later said he had given her poor advice and that the delay was the biggest regret of her reign. She went back to the village three more times. On the 50th anniversary she sent a message, read out by the then Prince Charles, praising the “remarkable fortitude, dignity and indomitable spirit” of the people there.
The anniversary
The King and William laid wreaths at the Aberfan Memorial Garden, built on the site of the destroyed school, and the Queen placed a posy. A prayer and a moment of silence were held, and the Ynysowen Male Voice Choir, formed after the disaster, sang. The royal party met retired emergency workers, former pupils and members of the Aberfan Wives, a support group for bereaved mothers. William also unveiled an Aberfan Memorial Tree at Ynysowen Community Primary School, which was founded to carry on Pantglas’s legacy.
“We have heard stories of heartbreak, but also of heroism,” Charles said in the garden. Rona Price, 94, a former policewoman who attended the scene, called meeting the royals a “great honor”. Survivor Jeff Edwards thanked the family for their “enduring support, compassion and commitment”.
Irene Hollett, a former pupil, spoke to Prime Minister Andy Burnham when he visited on Monday. “You feel grateful that you are still around 60 years on, but then you miss your friends and family that we lost at the time,” she said. “You can feel a bit of guilt that you are still here.” Burnham called the disaster one of the “most horrifying tragedies this country has ever seen” and said it was of “critical importance” that Wales’s remaining coal tips are made safe.
Sources
- Royal Family to visit Aberfan to mark 60 years since disaster
- Aberfan
- King Charles and family mark 60th anniversary of Aberfan disaster
Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author (Public domain)
