Wales will fall silent today as the nation remembers one of the bleakest chapters in its history – the Aberfan disaster.
Fifty years after the tragic events of October 21, 1966, the community in the former mining village will come together to remember their loved ones while all of Wales will observe a minute’s silence at 9.15am.
That still moment of silence will mark the exact time when a waste tip slid down the mountain into the village of Aberfan, killing 116 children and 28 adults.
The slurry engulfed Pantglas Junior School and neighbouring homes after schoolchildren had returned from an assembly where they sung All Things Bright and Beautiful.
A generation of children in the village were wiped out in an instant.
We are heartbroken as a nation today.
In the dark Welsh valley
On the mountain side
Lay the little children
Close to where they died
Their little lives were ended
Before they reached their goal
Tender little children
Have payed the price for coal
We will never forget - ABERFAN 09.13am 21/10/1966
Paul