Aberfan - 40 years on...

21st October 1966 may not mean much to many people, but for those of us born and bred in the Valleys of South Wales it is a tragic date.

On that fateful day, a coal tip collapsed sending thousands of tons of mud and colliery waste down Merthyr Mountain, destroying a school and about 20 houses and killing 144 people. The name Aberfan, barely known outside the valleys until that moment, flashed across the world.

Many will have memories of that day, but mine centre around my Dad and my young brother. At that time, my father worked for South Wales Gas Board, and as such, he played a vital role on site at Aberfan, making sure that no further complications were added to the tragedy by problems with gas pipes, and also, so I now understand, acting as an important Quartermaster, obtaining much needed tools and supplies for the rescuers. He never spoke to me about that day at all.

Forty years ago, the news was not quite as instant as it is today, and mobile phones did not exist. It was therefore some while before an emergency announcement could be made to avoid drinking water for a few hours, as the sludge may have contaminated water supplies. By the time this news reached my Junior School, my brother, only 5 years old, had already taken a drink from the school water fountain. He became very ill indeed, and at one point, we feared greatly for him.

I can never visit the valleys these days without remembering the terribly white, spotlessly clean rows of gravestones across the hillside at Aberfan, and for those of us who lived through those days, 40 years on seems not a lot of time, really. We were touched when The Queen visited Aberfan within a few days, and was given a posy of flowers, with the inscription: "From the remaining children of Aberfan".

Today we remember a lost generation, and those left behind who still mourn deeply