0:00:02 > 0:00:0850 years ago, a roaring avalanche of coal waste crashed into a school
0:00:08 > 0:00:12and 18 houses in the South Wales village of Aberfan.
0:00:12 > 0:00:17Death and destruction were wrought in a few unbelievable minutes.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21It was a race against time to rescue survivors.
0:00:21 > 0:00:27I was gasping for breath because the air was getting less and less...
0:00:27 > 0:00:32but at least I had that pocket of air. But the panic, I think, set in,
0:00:32 > 0:00:34really, what, how was I going to get out?
0:00:35 > 0:00:39"I'm sure there's somebody under here," he was shouting.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41And when he dug onto my stomach,
0:00:41 > 0:00:44I could, like, feel the air coming into me.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47Oh! It's...it's like something out of this world, like.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50And I could take a breath, like.
0:00:50 > 0:00:56116 children and 28 adults were killed.
0:00:56 > 0:01:02Not a day goes by that any of us ever forget this terrible disaster.
0:01:02 > 0:01:07It lives with you and it's as vivid as if it was yesterday.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10She went through a lot when she was a little baby
0:01:10 > 0:01:13and, to come through all that, and then this happens.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16Why? Why does it happen?
0:01:16 > 0:01:18But it's no good thinking too much about that.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21You've got to get on with your life and we've all helped one another,
0:01:21 > 0:01:23really, over the years...
0:01:23 > 0:01:26and we always will do.
0:01:26 > 0:01:31In this film, the people of Aberfan tell their stories of tragic loss,
0:01:31 > 0:01:34miraculous survival and heroic rescue.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39They also reveal how they have coped
0:01:39 > 0:01:41with the consequences of the disaster.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46This is their story of surviving Aberfan.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01Half a century after the Aberfan disaster,
0:02:01 > 0:02:04the site of the school is now a memorial garden,
0:02:04 > 0:02:07visited by people from all over the world...
0:02:08 > 0:02:10..but it stirs the deepest emotions
0:02:10 > 0:02:13for the survivors of a day they can never forget.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20Jeff Edwards, a former mayor of Merthyr Tydfil,
0:02:20 > 0:02:24is a survivor of that day.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28Well, this is the site of the Pantyglas School and it's now the Memorial Gardens,
0:02:28 > 0:02:32which commemorates the disaster of 21 October, 1966.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36The design of the gardens is based on the classrooms within the school itself.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39This would to be standard four, this would be standard three,
0:02:39 > 0:02:42this was standard two, standard three,
0:02:42 > 0:02:43standard two and standard one.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49Here, I think it's quite calm
0:02:49 > 0:02:52and it's a serene place, really, for us
0:02:52 > 0:02:56and, effectively, it brings back the memories of the day.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00But I get a lot of solace in actually coming here.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06The school faced onto Moy Road, with the mountainside behind.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09In the mid-1960s,
0:03:09 > 0:03:13this was the heart of the community for the young children of Aberfan.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17Yeah, you couldn't get in the card school!
0:03:17 > 0:03:20Alan Thomas is looking at old family photos
0:03:20 > 0:03:22with his younger brother Phil.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26Both have fond memories of their early childhoods with their friends
0:03:26 > 0:03:28at Pantglas Junior School.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33We were all the same. Either your dad worked in the colliery,
0:03:33 > 0:03:35or he worked in Hoover's.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38It was a fabulous...well, I enjoyed school, anyway.
0:03:38 > 0:03:40I never missed.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43You know what I mean? Always went to school.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47The teachers - even the teachers were lovable.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49They were like your special mothers!
0:03:49 > 0:03:52They were very thoughtful and caring.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58This is Hettie Williams, a former teacher at Pantglas School.
0:03:59 > 0:04:04Her memories of the children before the disaster bring back strong emotions.
0:04:05 > 0:04:0921-year-old Hettie was in charge of the first year juniors.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12This was where my classroom was
0:04:12 > 0:04:17and, on the anniversary, I come back to the school
0:04:17 > 0:04:22because that's where my memories are
0:04:22 > 0:04:26and I can still see the children in their classes and things.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29And I come, and there's a tree over there that's...
0:04:30 > 0:04:33..twisted, and I've taken a fancy to the tree,
0:04:33 > 0:04:38so I like to go there and put my flowers under that tree.
0:04:38 > 0:04:43And I feel I can feel my children around me and you can think back
0:04:43 > 0:04:46to the days when it was a lovely place.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52I can see, um, the tables and chairs,
0:04:52 > 0:04:56with the children sitting in them and they were such a happy
0:04:56 > 0:04:59group of children. They were just adorable.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05Marilyn Brown lost her ten-year-old daughter Janette in the disaster.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10She has cherished memories of her little girl ever since.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16For Marilyn, it is a comfort to keep photographs of Janette
0:05:16 > 0:05:20around her home so that she can touch them as she passes.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27I don't know. It gives me a sense of...
0:05:27 > 0:05:30she is still with us, you know.
0:05:30 > 0:05:31There's that feeling of...
0:05:33 > 0:05:38Yes, yes, I do remember you and I will always remember you.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41And another thing, as well, I think about and I think
0:05:41 > 0:05:44she would have been 61 now and I think,
0:05:44 > 0:05:47"What would she have been like now? What would she have done?"
0:05:48 > 0:05:50Janette was a fighter.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52When she was born,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55she was rushed to Sully Hospital outside Cardiff
0:05:55 > 0:05:58with two holes in her gullet.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00When we eventually went down to Sully to see her,
0:06:00 > 0:06:04she'd had two operations and they asked if I would stay there
0:06:04 > 0:06:08with her, you know. She needed breast milk to keep her alive.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11I'd be woken up at two in the morning, four in the morning,
0:06:11 > 0:06:13every two hours, really.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16And then, eventually, she came and she was fine.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21Whoa! Biccy.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25You want a biccy, huh? Come on.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27This is Gerald Tarr.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30He has lived in Aberfan most of his life.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33As a young married man in the mid-'60s,
0:06:33 > 0:06:37Gerald lived with his wife Shirley in Moy Road near the school
0:06:37 > 0:06:41and worked at Merthyr Vale Colliery in the village.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44I was a collier - that's digging the coal out.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46It was really hard work, like.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51You'd be on your hands and knees sometimes, all day,
0:06:51 > 0:06:56but when you went low, over a fault on the ground, you know,
0:06:56 > 0:06:58your back was bent.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00And sometimes the coal was hard, really hard.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04Oh, it would be murder, then, digging it.
0:07:05 > 0:07:10But I never really liked it underground but, at that time,
0:07:10 > 0:07:13there wasn't much work about and it was good money in the pit.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18Coal dominated life in Aberfan.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22The mine was the main employer and much of the land was owned
0:07:22 > 0:07:23by the National Coal Board.
0:07:25 > 0:07:28Mining coal produced a huge quantity of waste
0:07:28 > 0:07:30that was expensive to transport,
0:07:30 > 0:07:33so it was dumped up on Merthyr Mountain,
0:07:33 > 0:07:35above the village, in huge tips.
0:07:37 > 0:07:42These tips became a forbidden playground for many of Aberfan's children.
0:07:44 > 0:07:50As youngsters, we had quite an eventful and adventurous life, really.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53An enjoyable one, with all my friends.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56We used to play on the tips themselves
0:07:56 > 0:07:58and we never told our parents that we used to go up there,
0:07:58 > 0:08:03because we would have had a row had we gone, when we got home,
0:08:03 > 0:08:04so we kept that very quiet,
0:08:04 > 0:08:08but it was an adventure playground for us, really.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14Aberfan's children also knew about the springs and streams
0:08:14 > 0:08:17that ran down the mountainside to the River Taff.
0:08:20 > 0:08:25One man who remembers the stream as a boy is Bernard Thomas.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27Like other survivors,
0:08:27 > 0:08:31he returns to the site of his old school every so often.
0:08:31 > 0:08:33It is not difficult for him to picture the tips
0:08:33 > 0:08:35that once stood on the mountain above.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39As a kid, myself and a good many others
0:08:39 > 0:08:42used to go up and play around the mountain,
0:08:42 > 0:08:45around the tips, towards the tips there,
0:08:45 > 0:08:50and we used to dam part of the stream and make a swimming pool
0:08:50 > 0:08:52not far from the tip and swim in it.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54The water was freezing cold.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57Of course, we didn't realise the danger.
0:08:57 > 0:08:59You don't see it when you're a kid.
0:09:01 > 0:09:06In fact, the covering of this water with coal waste was to prove fatal
0:09:06 > 0:09:08to the children of Aberfan.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11After decades of dumping on the mountain,
0:09:11 > 0:09:15the latest tip was built up over the springs and stream.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19Gradually, the water liquefied the waste into a slurry.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25Both the junior and senior schools lay directly below the tips.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30Teachers never imagined their children's lives were at risk.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34It was a disaster waiting to happen...
0:09:35 > 0:09:40..and on 21 October, 1966, it did.
0:09:47 > 0:09:53Early that Friday morning, Aberfan was shrouded in thick autumnal fog.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58Households with families were stirring for another school day.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04Like his brother Alan, Phil Thomas enjoyed school.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08He was ten and in a mixed-age class in the junior school.
0:10:08 > 0:10:1112-year-old Alan was now in the senior school,
0:10:11 > 0:10:15but both boys always set off for school together.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18Got up in the morning, Mam called us, "Breakfast!"
0:10:19 > 0:10:21Me, my brother and my sister.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26We had breakfast that morning...dressed...
0:10:28 > 0:10:32..out through the door, down to catch the bus then, for school.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35Couldn't see no further than your nose. It was a horrible day.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39Jeannette wasn't very good that morning.
0:10:39 > 0:10:41She didn't want to go to school,
0:10:41 > 0:10:44but it was trying it on, really. You know what they are.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46They don't want to go to school sometimes.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48Sent her out of the door,
0:10:48 > 0:10:52watched her walking up the street, and shut the door and came in.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55I said, "Good. I'll have a nice cup of tea now.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57"I'll have MY breakfast now."
0:11:02 > 0:11:07In 1966, Karen Thomas lived with her parents near Moy Road.
0:11:07 > 0:11:08She was aged seven at the time
0:11:08 > 0:11:12and would walk to school with her cousins, who lived nearby.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16My cousins lived six doors away,
0:11:16 > 0:11:21so I'd call for them and my mother would stand on the door and we...
0:11:21 > 0:11:24the three of us left for school that morning,
0:11:24 > 0:11:28with my auntie and my other cousins standing on the door.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32We walked to the bottom of the street and, when we looked back,
0:11:32 > 0:11:36we couldn't see them cos it was very, very misty and foggy,
0:11:36 > 0:11:40so we just carried on walking, laughing, going to school.
0:11:42 > 0:11:47The headmistress of Pantglas School was 64-year-old Ann Jennings.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51She ran a tight ship and was adored by junior staff,
0:11:51 > 0:11:53like Hettie Williams.
0:11:53 > 0:11:58At nine o'clock, Miss Jennings rang the bell for the start of the day.
0:11:58 > 0:11:59I went into the classroom.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02Of course, the children were excited because it was half term,
0:12:02 > 0:12:07we were going to break up, and on the last day of term
0:12:07 > 0:12:09we didn't have assembly in the morning,
0:12:09 > 0:12:11we'd have assembly in the afternoon,
0:12:11 > 0:12:14so Miss Jennings could say, you know, not to go and play on the railway,
0:12:14 > 0:12:16not to go down by the river, to keep themselves safe.
0:12:19 > 0:12:24Children in schools up and down the valleys were settling down
0:12:24 > 0:12:26for their first lessons of the day.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32I went to get a library book and walked back to my seat,
0:12:32 > 0:12:35which was completely the other side of the room
0:12:35 > 0:12:39and I was about the third desk up from the front.
0:12:39 > 0:12:44And we sat down and then Michael Davies, the teacher,
0:12:44 > 0:12:45started the first lesson.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52The paying of dinner money was common to most primary schoolchildren.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58There was a knock on the door for us to go to the dinner lady,
0:12:58 > 0:13:02so five of us that were nearest the door left the classroom
0:13:02 > 0:13:05and we went to pay our dinner money.
0:13:05 > 0:13:10Teacher said could I go on an errand with Robert
0:13:10 > 0:13:13down to the other school to pick up money
0:13:13 > 0:13:17he owed for dinners off his sister Margaret,
0:13:17 > 0:13:20so me and him set off that day.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22We went down to the other school,
0:13:22 > 0:13:24we chatted to some of the children
0:13:24 > 0:13:26who were up on the wall and the gates.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31It was 9:15.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34At that moment, high above on tip number seven,
0:13:34 > 0:13:38a crane operator suddenly saw the coal waste slip away
0:13:38 > 0:13:40from the edge of the tip.
0:13:40 > 0:13:44It was the start of a massive avalanche of liquefied slurry,
0:13:44 > 0:13:48a flow slide that careered down the mountain towards Aberfan.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54Hundreds of feet below, shrouded in fog,
0:13:54 > 0:13:59the children and adults in Pantglas School and the houses alongside
0:13:59 > 0:14:00were in mortal danger.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05Miner Gerald Tarr lived in one of the houses.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09His wife Shirley had gone to work and he was in bed after finishing
0:14:09 > 0:14:12another night shift at the colliery.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14I had a big dog in them days,
0:14:14 > 0:14:16Buster we used to call him,
0:14:16 > 0:14:21and the dog ran upstairs and banged the bedroom door open,
0:14:21 > 0:14:25run in the bedroom and his ears were sticking up in the air.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27So I went to get up. I said, "What's the matter, boy?
0:14:27 > 0:14:30"What's the matter? What's the matter with you?
0:14:30 > 0:14:33And, with that, the whole ceiling...
0:14:33 > 0:14:36the whole ceiling split right open all the way.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39All the way through. About a foot, like that.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42I thought, "What the hell's happening here?"
0:14:42 > 0:14:47Well, with that, then, the back wall come down on top of me
0:14:47 > 0:14:49and squashed me down into the bed.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52I could feel it squashing me down.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55The next thing I realised, I woke up buried alive.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01The avalanche consumed 18 houses on Moy Road,
0:15:01 > 0:15:05just where Phil Thomas was waiting with his friend Robert.
0:15:06 > 0:15:08You couldn't see,
0:15:08 > 0:15:11you could hear, but you couldn't see what was coming.
0:15:11 > 0:15:16It was like if somebody was throwing at us, so me and Robert run.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19Robert went back towards...
0:15:21 > 0:15:24..our school and I run straight forward.
0:15:25 > 0:15:30I remember something hitting me on the back of the head
0:15:30 > 0:15:31and I was falling.
0:15:32 > 0:15:37The wall of slurry ploughed into the junior school.
0:15:37 > 0:15:42We heard this rumbling, thought it was thunder or a jet flying over.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45And next, the teacher shouted "run" or something
0:15:45 > 0:15:47and pandemonium broke out.
0:15:47 > 0:15:48I just stayed sitting at my desk.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52And looked up like that and I could see all...
0:15:52 > 0:15:54out of the mist, out of this fog, all this...
0:15:54 > 0:15:56like, a wall of slurry.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58Like a tidal wave, tsunami...
0:15:59 > 0:16:03..coming towards the school. I thought, "Oh, that'll stop outside."
0:16:03 > 0:16:08And, all of a sudden, it hit the school, such a force, and the noise was...the noise was unbelievable.
0:16:12 > 0:16:13At the other end of the hall,
0:16:13 > 0:16:19glass started coming down the corridor from the headmistress's room
0:16:19 > 0:16:24and Nansi the dinner lady jumped on top of us.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27The wall, I think, more or less pushed us all together
0:16:27 > 0:16:29and she took the full impact.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37240 children were in Pantglas School when the avalanche struck.
0:16:39 > 0:16:44It completely destroyed three classrooms on the east side of the building
0:16:44 > 0:16:48and filled most of the classrooms at the rear with watery black waste.
0:16:52 > 0:16:54At the front of the school,
0:16:54 > 0:16:59Hettie Williams was in her classroom with 35 children aged six and seven.
0:17:00 > 0:17:06I went to the door and there was like an iron girder through the glass
0:17:06 > 0:17:09and, when I looked out, the corridor was like a...
0:17:09 > 0:17:13Well, like a tunnel. Things had come down but it looked as if there was a
0:17:13 > 0:17:15gap at the bottom.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19So I said to the children, "Right, now, you go straight out and it's fire drill.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23"You stand in the yard. Don't go running around."
0:17:23 > 0:17:26And I went first and, when I got outside,
0:17:26 > 0:17:28I couldn't believe what I could see
0:17:28 > 0:17:33because...our end of the room was still standing -
0:17:33 > 0:17:35that was up -
0:17:35 > 0:17:38but there was black behind where the classrooms were.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40You couldn't see anything.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43It was as if the mountain was right up on the school.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47It was.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50One and a half million cubic feet of liquefied slurry
0:17:50 > 0:17:53had engulfed everything in its path,
0:17:53 > 0:17:55right into the centre of the village.
0:17:58 > 0:18:02Phil Thomas was caught up in the avalanche on Moy Road
0:18:02 > 0:18:05but, miraculously, survived.
0:18:06 > 0:18:07I woke...
0:18:09 > 0:18:11..pitch-black, buried.
0:18:11 > 0:18:14Couldn't see a thing.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17I started crying, shouting for my mum.
0:18:19 > 0:18:24Karen Thomas and four of the children were trapped alive
0:18:24 > 0:18:28beneath the body of dinner lady Nansi Williams.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32We were shouting at the dinner lady and I was trying to pull her hair,
0:18:32 > 0:18:36because I could just touch her hair, to see if we could have a response
0:18:36 > 0:18:39from her because she wasn't saying anything to us.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43I just thought to keep pulling her hair to try and wake her up.
0:18:46 > 0:18:48We just didn't know what...
0:18:48 > 0:18:52what was happening cos we just couldn't hear anyone else.
0:18:52 > 0:18:57It was just our voices and our screams that we could hear.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01The other memory is of the other kids screaming.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05Fear, screaming for help.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08Screaming at the teacher, like, screaming for their parents.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13I thought I'd better try and get out of here as quick as possible,
0:19:13 > 0:19:16try and get up. Sat up...
0:19:16 > 0:19:19and looked round, and I saw my teacher, and I thought,
0:19:19 > 0:19:22"I'll get across to Mr Williams now." And he'll help me out through...
0:19:22 > 0:19:27the small panes of glass at the top of the classroom door were smashed through...
0:19:27 > 0:19:33and we get out through there and across the main hall of the school.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37110 children and four teachers were able to escape from the parts of the
0:19:37 > 0:19:39school left standing -
0:19:39 > 0:19:42these were mostly from the younger classes -
0:19:42 > 0:19:47but those with 7-11-year-olds took the full brunt of the avalanche.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53With the fog lifted,
0:19:53 > 0:19:58the first locals on the scene combined together in a frenzied search for survivors.
0:19:59 > 0:20:04I got up to the school and I just couldn't believe that part of the school
0:20:04 > 0:20:08had come down and my first thought was,
0:20:08 > 0:20:11"Oh, the children have already come out."
0:20:11 > 0:20:14But someone said, "No, the children are in there."
0:20:14 > 0:20:16Confusion reigned.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20The sheer size of the avalanche made it difficult for rescuers to grasp
0:20:20 > 0:20:22the severity of what they faced.
0:20:22 > 0:20:27The first call to the emergency services was recorded at 9:25.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34The Coal Board's Mines Rescue Service was established
0:20:34 > 0:20:37to rescue miners trapped underground.
0:20:40 > 0:20:41But with Aberfan,
0:20:41 > 0:20:45the men of this elite squad were given little information
0:20:45 > 0:20:47about the emergency they had been called to.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51We were all changed. We were all sat there in the van
0:20:51 > 0:20:53and we were going to some school in Merthyr.
0:20:56 > 0:20:58And I always remember, I turned to the men in the van,
0:20:58 > 0:20:59I said, "Gents...
0:21:01 > 0:21:03"..this is going to be something terrible.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07"What the hell do they want the Mines Rescue Service at a school for?"
0:21:10 > 0:21:14In 1966, Len Haggett was an officer with the Merthyr Tydfil Fire Brigade.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18Within a few hours minutes of the call from Aberfan,
0:21:18 > 0:21:20fire engines were on their way.
0:21:21 > 0:21:26This is the first time Len has spoken about his harrowing memories of the disaster.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30This is the route that I drove the emergency tender down.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35The call had been received to a house that had collapsed
0:21:35 > 0:21:41in Moy Road, Aberfan and that's what we were responding to, actually.
0:21:42 > 0:21:48But there was no way that anyone was aware...
0:21:49 > 0:21:52..that the school had been involved.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56The fire brigade was proud of its service.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59It was Len's job to rescue people,
0:21:59 > 0:22:04but nothing could prepare him for the catastrophe of Aberfan.
0:22:04 > 0:22:09This is the entrance that I pulled into Moy Road.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11Immediately, we came here,
0:22:11 > 0:22:14it became obvious that it wasn't a house that was involved.
0:22:14 > 0:22:19It was a row of houses that simply collapsed
0:22:19 > 0:22:22and there was a wall of slurry,
0:22:22 > 0:22:2620-to-30-foot high, straight off the road going up.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31The vast amount of slurry divided the rescue effort between
0:22:31 > 0:22:33one end of Moy Road and the other.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38At the school, no tools were immediately available,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41so some women worked with their hands -
0:22:41 > 0:22:44one of them was Mary Morse.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48I tried to help as much as I could and I just got involved
0:22:48 > 0:22:50in the line of women that were there.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52We were at the side entrance of the school.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58Brick for brick was picked up off the floor and passed along,
0:22:58 > 0:23:01and put to one side. It was like a conveyor belt,
0:23:01 > 0:23:03exactly like conveyor belt.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07But we were just numbed,
0:23:07 > 0:23:09just numbed, that's all I can say.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18Many mothers and families stood on Moy Road watching
0:23:18 > 0:23:21as more and more people joined in the rescue -
0:23:21 > 0:23:24amongst them was the Mines Rescue Team.
0:23:27 > 0:23:29We'd arrived there at 9:50 that morning.
0:23:29 > 0:23:30We pulled up outside the school.
0:23:31 > 0:23:33Well, it was just chaotic.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37I don't think anybody realised what they were doing or anything.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41We were running around like fools, we were, everybody.
0:23:43 > 0:23:45And why?
0:23:45 > 0:23:48Come back to the same thing all the time, don't we? Cos it's children.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53Together with the emergency services,
0:23:53 > 0:23:58miners from the local colliery started to organise a more co-ordinated rescue operation.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04But now the race to find survivors became even more urgent.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10When the avalanche hit the old railway embankment above the school,
0:24:10 > 0:24:14it fractured two big water mains that supplied the whole of Cardiff.
0:24:15 > 0:24:20Hundreds of gallons of water flooded into the already saturated slurry.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24In the mayhem around the school,
0:24:24 > 0:24:2712-year-old Alan Thomas was desperately looking for his brother Phil.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33I come out of the school and down this road here,
0:24:33 > 0:24:38and I got as far as this point, where there was a...
0:24:40 > 0:24:44..a river, basically, of slurry and water,
0:24:44 > 0:24:47where the mains pipe had been burst
0:24:47 > 0:24:50and the water was being channelled down
0:24:50 > 0:24:53through the gully here, down to the river.
0:24:53 > 0:24:58As I reached this point, I looked up and noticed that my mother
0:24:58 > 0:25:01was standing on the other side...
0:25:03 > 0:25:04..which I didn't expect.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08You normally see waves in the sea,
0:25:08 > 0:25:11but if you can imagine waves coming down through a gully
0:25:11 > 0:25:14and heading down towards the river,
0:25:14 > 0:25:18it was horrific. It's frightening.
0:25:18 > 0:25:21It's unnatural. You can't believe that it was happening,
0:25:21 > 0:25:26the amount of water and where it was coming from, brown slurry,
0:25:26 > 0:25:29thick, and it went down all the way to the river.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34I'm standing on the pavement shouting to her, "I can't find Phil!"
0:25:35 > 0:25:40And she just...come through the water without a care.
0:25:44 > 0:25:45At that moment,
0:25:45 > 0:25:50Alan's younger brother Phil had been found alive but trapped in rubble on
0:25:50 > 0:25:51the other side of the avalanche.
0:25:53 > 0:25:58He was in grave danger as the torrent of water from the fractured main spread through the slurry.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04Firemen now battled to free the injured boy before he drowned.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10He was terrified, understandably, and he was trapped by his feet.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15And though we could get at his head and shoulders,
0:26:15 > 0:26:17we just could not get him out.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22And there was probably about six or seven people around this stone...
0:26:24 > 0:26:28..trying to lift it, but not succeeding.
0:26:28 > 0:26:30And then, the inrush of water started
0:26:30 > 0:26:33and you could hear the people calling, "The water is coming!"
0:26:35 > 0:26:41And the water was coming, and it was coming in and around this young lad.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47And we had to hold his head up, back,
0:26:47 > 0:26:52out of the water that was coming and we done one final lift
0:26:52 > 0:26:58and how they lifted that wall that day I don't know, but we did.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02We raised it just long enough
0:27:02 > 0:27:06to get your arms around, under his shoulders
0:27:06 > 0:27:10and, as they lifted to pull, and he came out.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15And if he hadn't come out, within a few minutes, he would have drowned.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21The fact that that young boy was alive and he'd been saved,
0:27:21 > 0:27:24that was elation, without a shadow of a doubt.
0:27:27 > 0:27:29Firemen worked against the clock
0:27:29 > 0:27:33to pull survivors from the ruins of their houses.
0:27:33 > 0:27:38Gerald Tarr was pinned down by a bedroom door.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40They couldn't get my shoulder out...of my arm.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42It was the other side of this door
0:27:42 > 0:27:45and this door had crushed me down, like.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49But as they was digging, this chap come down
0:27:49 > 0:27:51and I could hear him on top of me. "The pipe have busted," he said.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54"If you don't get him out," he said, "he's going to drown."
0:27:54 > 0:27:56Gaw, I started to claw at the door.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59I was ripping my fingers into this door, trying to...
0:27:59 > 0:28:01I thought, "I'm not going to drown after all this," like,
0:28:01 > 0:28:05you know what I mean? I thought, "Oh, my God!"
0:28:05 > 0:28:07This fellow says, "Stop clawing!"
0:28:07 > 0:28:10I'd taken my nails off my fingers, trying to claw this door.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13So he put a jack under there.
0:28:13 > 0:28:18He pressed a button and up the door come, six or seven inches.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20And he dragged me out, look.
0:28:20 > 0:28:22"Oh," I thought, "Thank God for that."
0:28:22 > 0:28:25"I'm not going to drown." You know what I mean?
0:28:25 > 0:28:28They chucked me on a blanket then
0:28:28 > 0:28:31and rushed me to the ambulance, like.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37The flood of water was having a devastating impact.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41A million cubic feet of slurry was still moving.
0:28:41 > 0:28:44It was now starting to engulf the senior school.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52Back in the wrecked classrooms of the junior school,
0:28:52 > 0:28:57firemen were inching their way through the mass of muck and rubble.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01On my left-hand side, there was a girl's head
0:29:01 > 0:29:07and that head was just straight here,
0:29:07 > 0:29:09next-door to my face, really...
0:29:10 > 0:29:15..and I couldn't get away from it, and the person had died.
0:29:16 > 0:29:20All I could see was a small aperture of light.
0:29:22 > 0:29:24And the next thing I remember,
0:29:24 > 0:29:28the firemen came and they smashed a window and they got in.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30They got down to the desk itself,
0:29:30 > 0:29:34and they just couldn't shift it because all the stuff was around.
0:29:34 > 0:29:39And they got their hatchets out and they actually broke up the desks.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44This was the moment Jeff Edwards was brought out.
0:29:49 > 0:29:51Something hit me on my shoulder
0:29:51 > 0:29:54and I screamed,
0:29:54 > 0:29:57and then we all started to scream
0:29:57 > 0:30:01and then we could see there was a little bit of daylight coming.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05So we shouted and we could hear somebody shouting, "There's some here!"
0:30:05 > 0:30:09Then he shouted down to tell us, "You're OK! We're getting you out!"
0:30:11 > 0:30:15Men and women from the community carried the children to the triage
0:30:15 > 0:30:18set up in the playground at the school's entrance.
0:30:22 > 0:30:25After seeing her class to safety,
0:30:25 > 0:30:29teacher Hettie Williams stayed on to help with the rescue.
0:30:29 > 0:30:30If they brought a child out,
0:30:30 > 0:30:34we would bring that child and take it to the doctors then.
0:30:35 > 0:30:42A lot of the children that were handed over to us were injured -
0:30:42 > 0:30:44didn't know what had happened to them.
0:30:44 > 0:30:46They were in shock, really.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50But to see a face, they would smile and say, "Oh, Miss!"
0:30:50 > 0:30:53Some of them...some of them didn't talk at all.
0:30:53 > 0:30:56But it was so wonderful to see - if somebody's eyes moved,
0:30:56 > 0:30:59it was absolutely fantastic.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03Karen Thomas and her four friends were carried to the triage.
0:31:05 > 0:31:06Like all those rescued,
0:31:06 > 0:31:10here she was given first aid and her injuries assessed.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14Karen was diagnosed with internal bleeding.
0:31:14 > 0:31:19There was a lot of people around me and they were examining me and,
0:31:19 > 0:31:24the next thing I know, I was being bandaged from my neck to my feet,
0:31:24 > 0:31:25not for me to move,
0:31:25 > 0:31:30and I was put on a stretcher and put into an ambulance.
0:31:39 > 0:31:41As news of the disaster spread,
0:31:41 > 0:31:46more and more people flocked to Aberfan to help with the rescue.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49The most urgent search for survivors was led by firemen and miners
0:31:49 > 0:31:52working in the ruined classrooms of the school.
0:31:56 > 0:32:01Volunteers dug at the surrounding slurry and formed bucket brigades to
0:32:01 > 0:32:02carry the lethal waste away.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08The flow of water from the broken water mains
0:32:08 > 0:32:11was finally turned off by 11:30,
0:32:11 > 0:32:14but the slurry remained in a dangerous state.
0:32:15 > 0:32:19The spirit of the people there that day was incredible.
0:32:19 > 0:32:24You went around doing what do you think you could for help,
0:32:24 > 0:32:27where it was needing, and if you ever asked...
0:32:29 > 0:32:34..what resources would you want at an incident of that nature,
0:32:34 > 0:32:37we had the best in the world. We had the miners.
0:32:39 > 0:32:41They were the boys who could shift the slurry...
0:32:43 > 0:32:46..and they worked a very good system.
0:32:46 > 0:32:49They would be working and, suddenly,
0:32:49 > 0:32:52you'd hear a whistle-blow and they'd say "Silence".
0:32:54 > 0:32:58And how you could obtain silence in those circumstances,
0:32:58 > 0:33:02with that number of people who were present,
0:33:02 > 0:33:04is difficult to imagine and yet it was.
0:33:04 > 0:33:06You got absolute silence,
0:33:06 > 0:33:09hoping that you could hear a voice, or a call...
0:33:11 > 0:33:13..so you could rescue them.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23But as the hours slipped by into the afternoon,
0:33:23 > 0:33:27the rescuers were confronted by a grim reality.
0:33:27 > 0:33:31All the children they were finding in the school now were dead.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36Many of them were still sitting at their desks, entombed by the slurry.
0:33:37 > 0:33:43I honestly believe that that slurry was travelling at a rate, obviously,
0:33:43 > 0:33:48and once it come into that school, it just swept through the school...
0:33:48 > 0:33:49and the damage was done.
0:33:50 > 0:33:51Very quickly.
0:33:52 > 0:33:57You know, if you can understand the slurry was so small and fine
0:33:57 > 0:34:02that I like to think that instead, the children, more or less,
0:34:02 > 0:34:04it happened and they suffocated straightaway,
0:34:04 > 0:34:08rather than suffered and agonies, that sort of thing.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11I think that's a fair comment, too.
0:34:14 > 0:34:18The liquefied slurry made digging a difficult, slow job,
0:34:18 > 0:34:21even for experienced miners like Allan Lewis.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25He was put to work in one of the classrooms.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29I was there two hours or more before I first saw the desks.
0:34:29 > 0:34:31I was clearing mud. Every time you cleared mud,
0:34:31 > 0:34:35because it was 30 feet of mud sliding down all the time.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38There was people up the top, they were doing a bucket brigade,
0:34:38 > 0:34:41taking the top layer off. But as we were advancing in the class,
0:34:41 > 0:34:44it was sliding down and sliding down, so every time we advanced two-foot,
0:34:44 > 0:34:47it would be buried, and we advanced two-foot-six, type of thing, buried -
0:34:47 > 0:34:49it was advancing quietly like that.
0:34:49 > 0:34:50As a desk come in front,
0:34:50 > 0:34:54clear a bit more, and then we could see the little girls
0:34:54 > 0:34:56crumped over their desks, two little girls.
0:34:58 > 0:35:02We dug this one little girl and she had a ponytail and, at that time,
0:35:02 > 0:35:05my daughter was four years old and she had a ponytail.
0:35:05 > 0:35:07So the resemblance was there and, well,
0:35:07 > 0:35:13I couldn't help it but filling up and the overman who was behind me,
0:35:13 > 0:35:18he could see that there was sobbing and tears were rolling down my cheeks, to be honest with you,
0:35:18 > 0:35:20but he said, "Do you want to be relieved?"
0:35:20 > 0:35:23And I said, "No, no, no. I'll carry on."
0:35:23 > 0:35:26But it was an awful feeling.
0:35:26 > 0:35:30But we carried on and we got that little girl out to the side of her desk.
0:35:31 > 0:35:34Put her in a blanket. As soon as we got the body out,
0:35:34 > 0:35:38we'd shout for a blanket and someone would come with a blanket and we'd put her in,
0:35:38 > 0:35:40and they'd take her out on a stretcher.
0:35:42 > 0:35:43We was there for ten hours
0:35:43 > 0:35:47and, in that ten hours, we dug four little girls out,
0:35:47 > 0:35:51or helped to dig four little girls out, and the schoolteacher.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54It's an experience I'll never, ever forget.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12With the lives of so many children at stake,
0:36:12 > 0:36:15the rescue operation became worldwide news.
0:36:16 > 0:36:20Earlier in the day, hopes were high of finding many survivors.
0:36:21 > 0:36:25But the mood changed with each passing hour,
0:36:25 > 0:36:27as more bodies were brought out.
0:36:29 > 0:36:31Waiting parents were in agony.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37We were waiting, thinking, "Yes, we're going to have news any minute
0:36:37 > 0:36:39"now of the children, where they are."
0:36:39 > 0:36:42And kept asking questions all the time but you could see,
0:36:42 > 0:36:45as time was going on, there were more people coming,
0:36:45 > 0:36:47more people coming to dig.
0:36:49 > 0:36:53Marilyn's husband Bernard had been digging since the morning,
0:36:53 > 0:36:57hoping to find their daughter, Janette.
0:36:57 > 0:37:02I can remember my husband sitting on the wall, absolutely exhausted.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05He said, "I don't know what to do, Marilyn." He said, "I don't know what to do."
0:37:05 > 0:37:08And I said, "Well, sit there for a while."
0:37:08 > 0:37:11But, eventually, news came through
0:37:11 > 0:37:14that quite a few of the children had been buried.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16This time, you didn't want any more news.
0:37:16 > 0:37:19You didn't want any more news cos you're still thinking,
0:37:19 > 0:37:22"Yes, she'll be all right. She'll be fine."
0:37:30 > 0:37:35The dead were taken to a makeshift mortuary set up in Bethania Chapel in the village.
0:37:37 > 0:37:39For many waiting parents,
0:37:39 > 0:37:43the moment they dreaded came when they were asked to go to the chapel
0:37:43 > 0:37:44to identify their child.
0:37:49 > 0:37:54Marilyn's husband and her father returned from the temporary mortuary
0:37:54 > 0:37:55to tell her their news.
0:37:57 > 0:38:02My father started to cry and I said, "Is she all right?"
0:38:02 > 0:38:04And he said, "No."
0:38:04 > 0:38:09"Janet had died," he said. We just identified her.
0:38:09 > 0:38:11"Oh," I said, "I want to go. I want to go and see her."
0:38:11 > 0:38:15"No, no," he said. "You don't go and see her. She's fine," he said.
0:38:15 > 0:38:16I said, "What does she look like?"
0:38:16 > 0:38:19He said, "She's got a tiny mark on her head."
0:38:19 > 0:38:21And he said, "She's sleeping."
0:38:23 > 0:38:27And that was that. Well, I just give in to it then.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32My father, he was crying and I think it was because he was crying
0:38:32 > 0:38:33I was crying as well.
0:38:34 > 0:38:39But it sort of comes over you, then, "Yes, she's gone."
0:38:52 > 0:38:53At the end of the day,
0:38:53 > 0:38:5760 bodies had been recovered from the disaster area.
0:38:59 > 0:39:02Eventually, the death toll reached 144 -
0:39:02 > 0:39:07116 children and 28 adults.
0:39:09 > 0:39:15One of the adults to lose his life was 21-year-old teacher Michael Davies.
0:39:15 > 0:39:18His friend Hettie Williams was asked to identify him.
0:39:20 > 0:39:22Michael didn't have a mark on him.
0:39:22 > 0:39:25His suit was fine.
0:39:27 > 0:39:29But he was...he had died straightaway.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34I think it was on the second day that they found Miss Jennings.
0:39:34 > 0:39:36Miss Jennings was one of the last.
0:39:42 > 0:39:46I realised, it's never going to be the same again, you know?
0:39:46 > 0:39:50And thinking of people like Michael and Madge,
0:39:50 > 0:39:54they'd only just started teaching and their lives had gone.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58Madge had got married in the summer and had her, you know,
0:39:58 > 0:40:02her future in front of her and having children and things like that, you know?
0:40:02 > 0:40:06And it was all wiped out because of the slurry.
0:40:12 > 0:40:17Nine months later, a tribunal found the National Coal Board was to blame for the disaster...
0:40:19 > 0:40:21..but there were no prosecutions.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26The tips were removed only after a bitter campaign
0:40:26 > 0:40:28by the community of Aberfan.
0:40:35 > 0:40:41The memorial garden laid out over the site of Pantglas School is lovingly maintained.
0:40:41 > 0:40:47It is a fitting reminder for those who perished there now 50 years ago.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50But, since then, survivors of the disaster
0:40:50 > 0:40:54have faced a struggle to overcome injury and trauma.
0:40:59 > 0:41:04When Phil Thomas was rescued, one ear was hanging almost off.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07He had two head wounds and a badly injured hand.
0:41:08 > 0:41:12The doctors managed to save his ear but not his three crushed fingers.
0:41:14 > 0:41:15After the operation,
0:41:15 > 0:41:20Phil first saw his hand when nurses came to change his bandages.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24They said, "We're going to change your dressing on your hand now."
0:41:24 > 0:41:25I just cried.
0:41:30 > 0:41:31I just cried.
0:41:31 > 0:41:35That broke my heart, but I knew, so...
0:41:38 > 0:41:41But then you just get on and get on with it, like.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51Alan Thomas was finally reunited with his brother Phil
0:41:51 > 0:41:53when he visited him in hospital.
0:41:55 > 0:41:57It was the first time they had seen one another
0:41:57 > 0:42:00since early on the morning of the disaster.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05When, upon meeting him,
0:42:05 > 0:42:09the first words he said to me was, "Look at my boxing glove!"
0:42:10 > 0:42:14And I said, "That's all right. That's not a problem."
0:42:15 > 0:42:17And that was it.
0:42:17 > 0:42:20We were reunited...
0:42:21 > 0:42:24..and we're still the same today.
0:42:24 > 0:42:26Look at the size of that dummy!
0:42:26 > 0:42:28Always said you was a gutsy bugger!
0:42:31 > 0:42:36When the nurses took me and they said, "You have lost your fingers,"
0:42:36 > 0:42:40I think THAT was the shock.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45Now, I don't miss them.
0:42:45 > 0:42:47I'd rather be without them than with them...
0:42:48 > 0:42:52..and that's the truth, that is.
0:42:52 > 0:42:56You know, I wouldn't know what to do if I had bloody ten fingers.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00I wouldn't! I would not know what to do.
0:43:02 > 0:43:04And again! Right.
0:43:06 > 0:43:10During the avalanche, Gerald Tarr suffered a broken pelvis,
0:43:10 > 0:43:13a crushed shoulder and lacerations across his head.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18His wife Shirley cried when she first saw him in hospital.
0:43:19 > 0:43:22I said to her, "Stop crying. Don't cry. I'm OK."
0:43:22 > 0:43:25I said, "I'll be OK," you know. "I'm only happy to be alive," I said.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30"I'm happy," I said, "just to be living.
0:43:30 > 0:43:32I said, "Look at all them people around me, dead, like,"
0:43:32 > 0:43:33you know what I mean?
0:43:33 > 0:43:35"All my neighbours are gone, everything," I said.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38"All of them kids."
0:43:38 > 0:43:40It took years for his injuries to heal,
0:43:40 > 0:43:43then Gerald and Shirley had a child of their own.
0:43:45 > 0:43:50But his feelings for the children lost in the disaster remain as strong as ever.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52I can remember like it was yesterday...
0:43:53 > 0:43:55..still in my mind now.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00And, do you know? If I could have saved one of them kids,
0:44:00 > 0:44:02I'd go through it a dozen times...
0:44:03 > 0:44:05..if I could just save one.
0:44:05 > 0:44:07That's the truth.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13- Yes, 40.- 40.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16In 1967, a temporary school and play centre
0:44:16 > 0:44:19was set up in Aberfan in a village club.
0:44:20 > 0:44:25Here, the children of Pantglas School who survived the disaster
0:44:25 > 0:44:28were supervised by the four teachers who also survived.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35When they started to come back, the ones that survived,
0:44:35 > 0:44:37they were so frightened to begin with,
0:44:37 > 0:44:40but seeing us and knowing that we'd been there as well,
0:44:40 > 0:44:44they knew they could talk to somebody.
0:44:44 > 0:44:47Robert, are you going to see Sound Of Music tomorrow? Are you?
0:44:47 > 0:44:51We knew what they had gone through and what we had gone through,
0:44:51 > 0:44:54and we just needed to see one another,
0:44:54 > 0:44:57and to see the children smile at you and say,
0:44:57 > 0:45:00"Oh, Miss, what do you think of that?" - you know.
0:45:05 > 0:45:09The new junior school for Aberfan was opened three years later,
0:45:09 > 0:45:11next to the colliery.
0:45:12 > 0:45:17Our aim was to make that school as good as it had been and to remember
0:45:17 > 0:45:21the people who had worked there and, for us,
0:45:21 > 0:45:24it was to continue that with the children and to make sure that those
0:45:24 > 0:45:30children were happy, that they were in the same school...
0:45:30 > 0:45:33in a different place, but it was still Pantglas School.
0:45:40 > 0:45:45Today, Ynysowen Community Primary School stands near the site
0:45:45 > 0:45:48of the colliery that closed in 1989.
0:45:51 > 0:45:55Jeff Edwards is visiting the school to talk to some of the children
0:45:55 > 0:45:57about the disaster that happened 50 years ago.
0:46:03 > 0:46:09He feels it's important to make a link between their generation in the village and his own.
0:46:09 > 0:46:13So, really, you're talking to somebody who's a bit of history,
0:46:13 > 0:46:15really, me sitting here.
0:46:15 > 0:46:17Because, at the time of the disaster,
0:46:17 > 0:46:20I was eight years of age and I was very lucky,
0:46:20 > 0:46:25because, out of my class of 34, only four of us survived -
0:46:25 > 0:46:27me being one of them.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30So I'm able to tell on behalf of all those people
0:46:30 > 0:46:34who lost their lives on that day what happened and so that people
0:46:34 > 0:46:38never forget what happened in the village. See?
0:46:38 > 0:46:39How were you involved?
0:46:39 > 0:46:43How was I involved? Well, in the morning of the disaster,
0:46:43 > 0:46:45I lived on Aberfan Road.
0:46:47 > 0:46:50Most of my friends perished in that disaster,
0:46:50 > 0:46:55so my childhood ended on that day, really,
0:46:55 > 0:47:01and I had to become a different person after,
0:47:01 > 0:47:04and you definitely are different person
0:47:04 > 0:47:07from the person that you...were.
0:47:09 > 0:47:11We were very emotional.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15We could get upset very easily.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18We would still think about our friends who had gone
0:47:18 > 0:47:20and it was really...
0:47:20 > 0:47:21life was difficult, really,
0:47:21 > 0:47:25in the village in terms of growing up without friends.
0:47:28 > 0:47:32The majority of children who died in the disaster were laid to rest
0:47:32 > 0:47:34in a special part of the cemetery in Aberfan.
0:47:36 > 0:47:38Among the survivors,
0:47:38 > 0:47:42the 29 children buried alive suffered deep psychological scars.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46In the years that followed,
0:47:46 > 0:47:50they relived their traumatic experiences in nightmares
0:47:50 > 0:47:53and, for some, they continue to this day.
0:47:55 > 0:47:58Jeff Edwards was trapped with his face against the head of a dead girl
0:47:58 > 0:48:00for nearly two hours.
0:48:02 > 0:48:07The most distressing thing was this girl's head on my shoulder
0:48:07 > 0:48:11and the inability, really, to get away from that.
0:48:11 > 0:48:15And subsequently, you know, I used to have terrible nightmares
0:48:15 > 0:48:17for many, many years after...
0:48:19 > 0:48:23..having sight of that girl in my memory all the time.
0:48:23 > 0:48:25It was so upsetting.
0:48:25 > 0:48:30And I still have those nightmares on occasions.
0:48:30 > 0:48:34I still suffer from deep bouts of depression...
0:48:35 > 0:48:41..and I've found that talking about these things helped tremendously
0:48:41 > 0:48:44because it releases from your subconscious those things
0:48:44 > 0:48:47that many people have hidden away.
0:48:49 > 0:48:53And these were huge things that our parents had to deal with, really,
0:48:53 > 0:48:56and all the parents of those children had to deal with,
0:48:56 > 0:49:01because we all suffered the same symptoms in many respects.
0:49:04 > 0:49:07Karen Thomas suffered internal bleeding
0:49:07 > 0:49:09and lost a kidney during the disaster.
0:49:11 > 0:49:14She likes to visit the cemetery to pay her respects
0:49:14 > 0:49:16at the grave of Nansi Williams,
0:49:16 > 0:49:18the school dinner lady who died
0:49:18 > 0:49:22shielding Karen and four classmates as rubble came crashing over them.
0:49:26 > 0:49:30It's only down to Nansi that I am here today.
0:49:32 > 0:49:36And the only way that I can thank her is to go and put flowers
0:49:36 > 0:49:39on her grave and I go up every year.
0:49:39 > 0:49:41Nobody knows that I do it,
0:49:41 > 0:49:45but I do go up there and I do put flowers up there every year...
0:49:47 > 0:49:50..and it is the only way that I can thank her.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56I'll never be able to thank her enough for saving us.
0:49:57 > 0:49:59She took the full impact.
0:49:59 > 0:50:03She give her life to save the five of us.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12I was one of the lucky ones to come out
0:50:12 > 0:50:16and I do feel very lucky to be here today.
0:50:18 > 0:50:22It's something you'll never forget but, you know,
0:50:22 > 0:50:25you've got to keep...your life's got to go on.
0:50:29 > 0:50:31But I recognised the voice, then.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39Women are gathering for another meeting of Aberfan Wives.
0:50:41 > 0:50:44It is a group that originated in the early years after the disaster.
0:50:47 > 0:50:50Aberfan then was engulfed in sorrow,
0:50:50 > 0:50:53a whole community living with grief.
0:50:55 > 0:50:58There were streets with five or more bereaved families.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02Many fathers and mothers found it difficult to cope.
0:51:23 > 0:51:25Marilyn Brown was grieving for her daughter.
0:51:27 > 0:51:29You'd meet them in the street.
0:51:29 > 0:51:31You would just say, "Hello, you all right?"
0:51:31 > 0:51:35But just say, "Are you OK?" I'm OK. Yes, I'm fine."
0:51:35 > 0:51:36And that was that, you know.
0:51:36 > 0:51:41But you wouldn't talk about the child they'd lost or anything like that.
0:51:41 > 0:51:43You wouldn't say nothing about it.
0:51:43 > 0:51:47You were afraid of upsetting other people, I suppose.
0:51:47 > 0:51:49You knew how you felt and you kept it in,
0:51:49 > 0:51:52so you wouldn't say too much to them.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55But they were going through the same thing as you were going through, really.
0:52:03 > 0:52:06If you know of anybody, we were thinking of...
0:52:06 > 0:52:11Weekly meetings of bereaved mothers started up in the village
0:52:11 > 0:52:13and, from this, a young wives group was later formed
0:52:13 > 0:52:18with the idea of organising talks and social outings.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21Oh, no, no, no. Very, very interesting.
0:52:21 > 0:52:24It was a way for the women of the village to come together.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29That made us feel a lot better
0:52:29 > 0:52:32because we were all together doing things,
0:52:32 > 0:52:34you know, and helping one another that way.
0:52:36 > 0:52:38We must have been about 60 women
0:52:38 > 0:52:40and it was wonderful.
0:52:40 > 0:52:44We had trips to go and, you know, different things on,
0:52:44 > 0:52:47jumble sales to make money.
0:52:47 > 0:52:51We went out and entertained the old people in the old people's homes,
0:52:51 > 0:52:54we dressed up and did loads and loads of things.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59But we enjoyed ourselves and I think the camaraderie was there then.
0:52:59 > 0:53:03Mary Morse was a founding member of Young Wives.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06It was a marvellous group and it brought a lot of people out,
0:53:06 > 0:53:11including myself, and there were a lot of people there that had lost
0:53:11 > 0:53:15children in the disaster and some had lost their homes, also,
0:53:15 > 0:53:17in the disaster
0:53:17 > 0:53:22and we felt that, in the Wives, we could talk about it.
0:53:22 > 0:53:26We could cry about it and we could laugh, and no offence was taken,
0:53:26 > 0:53:32but not a day goes by that any of us ever forget this terrible disaster.
0:53:32 > 0:53:35It lives with you and it's as vivid as if it was yesterday.
0:53:38 > 0:53:42Nearly 50 years on, the group is still going strong.
0:53:43 > 0:53:45Like all bereaved parents,
0:53:45 > 0:53:48Marilyn Brown cherishes the memory of her last child.
0:53:49 > 0:53:53Janette had overcome two life-saving operations
0:53:53 > 0:53:56before she was killed in the disaster.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59The memories of her, I keep very safe.
0:53:59 > 0:54:01I keep them here.
0:54:03 > 0:54:06She went through a lot when she was a little baby
0:54:06 > 0:54:10and, to come through all that, then this happens.
0:54:10 > 0:54:11Why? Why does it happen?
0:54:12 > 0:54:14But it's no good thinking too much about that.
0:54:14 > 0:54:17You've got to get on with your life, which I have.
0:54:17 > 0:54:20I'm very happy now.
0:54:20 > 0:54:22And I have a lot of joy out of my children
0:54:22 > 0:54:25and I have a lot of joy out of my friends as well,
0:54:25 > 0:54:26who've helped me over the...
0:54:26 > 0:54:29Well, we've helped all helped one another, really,
0:54:29 > 0:54:32over the years and we always will do. Always will do.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37CHATTER
0:54:40 > 0:54:42- Phil! - HE LAUGHS
0:54:42 > 0:54:44For the first time since the disaster,
0:54:44 > 0:54:48Phil Thomas is meeting two his rescuers from the fire brigade,
0:54:48 > 0:54:50Dave Thomas and Len Haggett.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56Everybody helped and everything that they could have...
0:54:57 > 0:55:02..and I don't know what more could have been done in that disaster.
0:55:02 > 0:55:07It wasn't one which you were given a lot of time
0:55:07 > 0:55:12to prepare for, or even to be able to effect rescues.
0:55:12 > 0:55:13It happened so quickly.
0:55:13 > 0:55:16Mainly hidden, to be honest.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19It was only a fair bit of your head and shoulders sticking out.
0:55:19 > 0:55:20Yeah.
0:55:20 > 0:55:28And till this day and this meeting, I never knew who'd dug me out.
0:55:28 > 0:55:30Well, there was about six or seven people.
0:55:30 > 0:55:31I would like to thank both of you.
0:55:31 > 0:55:34- You're more than welcome. More than welcome.- Thank you very much.
0:55:34 > 0:55:38We're only sorry we couldn't get more out but I'm glad to see you're looking the way you are now.
0:55:38 > 0:55:41- Yeah. Yeah.- You're looking good now anyway.- Yes, yes.
0:55:45 > 0:55:51The Ynysowen Choir came out of the companionship formed in the village after the disaster.
0:56:07 > 0:56:11Over the years, the activities initiated by the community
0:56:11 > 0:56:14have given comfort to survivors and bereaved families.
0:57:04 > 0:57:08The Community Centre in Aberfan was built on the part of Moy Road
0:57:08 > 0:57:10destroyed by the avalanche.
0:57:15 > 0:57:17As mayor of Merthyr Tydfil,
0:57:17 > 0:57:21Jeff Edwards strove to improve the quality of life in Aberfan
0:57:21 > 0:57:26but he was always reminded of those denied that opportunity.
0:57:26 > 0:57:29I'm proud of what we've done in the community.
0:57:29 > 0:57:34I hope that those contributions have made a difference to people's lives,
0:57:34 > 0:57:35which I think they have.
0:57:36 > 0:57:39I think they still have a contribution to make...
0:57:41 > 0:57:45..but I always remember those people who lost their lives
0:57:45 > 0:57:47at such an early age,
0:57:47 > 0:57:51and weren't able to fulfil their role in society
0:57:51 > 0:57:56and contribute to making a difference to the community as a whole.
0:57:56 > 0:58:00I think that is the tragic loss of Aberfan, really,
0:58:00 > 0:58:01a generation that was wiped out.
0:58:15 > 0:58:21Aberfan remains the worst disaster involving children in modern British history.
0:58:21 > 0:58:25It should be remembered not only for the generation that was lost
0:58:25 > 0:58:30but also for the courage and determination of the survivors.