We had visited the memorial garden at the former Pantglas Junior School before coming here to see the graves of the children who died in the disaster.
This recently restored area of the cemetery is beautiful, it’s visible from the village down in the valley and it creates a commonality between the graves whilst still giving the grieving family and friends the ability to personalise the graves.
The graves of Clive Mumford and Philip Mumford who were aged 11 and 9 respectively. Their parents Edward and Winnie are also buried here reunited once again.
The graves of brother and sister Bobby Minney and Barbara Minney who were aged 10 and 9 respectively. Under normal circumstances, these children would have still been alive today.
It’s all peaceful and dignified.
A list of all of the victims.
Sister and brother Marilyn Minett and Carl Minett, aged 10 and 7 respectively.
The graves with the photos on made it feel more emotional.
Eight year old Joseph Wilkshire. But, there were tens more graves here that I didn’t take photos of, so many stories.
It was all very poignant and I can’t begin to imagine the pain to the families, especially as the inquiry that followed showed huge levels of incompetence and failure at the National Coal Board who operated the coal mine. There’s a little more information about the inquiry at https://glamarchives.gov.uk/blood/Aberfan/. Perhaps it might have been a little easier to at least understand a natural disaster, but this was all man-made incompetence.
Today the views over the valley and the village are beautiful, it’s calm, peaceful and it feels like a different world from the tragedy. But the very visible memorial and the impact of the tragedy will never go away, the missing generation are unlikely to ever be forgotten.