Aberfan disaster items go on display at Cardiff museum

The aftermath of the landslide which engulfed Pantglas Junior School

A collection of objects telling the story of the Aberfan disaster has gone on display ahead of the 56th anniversary of the tragedy.

The collection is being held at St Fagan's National Museum of Wales in Cardiff.

Survivor Gareth Jones hopes they will be looked at for many years to come.

"We're not going to live forever. Once we're all gone that's it, there's no more survivors, so we can't tell the story," he said.

On 21 October 1966, 116 children and 28 adults were killed after a coal tip surged down the mountainside, engulfing a junior school.

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Mr Jones shared some of the artefacts - photographs and newspaper articles as well as objects - with the museum after finding them when his mother moved house.

"The stuff I've got, people haven't seen, or they haven't seen for years," he said.

Gareth Jones (pictured with his father at the time, left, and at the 50th anniversary) was six when the disaster happened

He has held on to the collection, which also includes a chest of drawers from the school, for decades, and does not want it to be lost after he dies.

Among his belongings were a copy of the News of the World which has a photo of him, his mother and brothers on the front page, as well as football match programmes from clubs including Cardiff City for matches which raised money for the community.

There is also information about a large donation to the Aberfan appeal made by London's notorious Kray twins.

Also on display is the clock that was recovered from the disaster which became one of the enduring images of the tragedy.

The clock recovered from the Aberfan disaster was used to help pinpoint the time of the disaster

It stopped as the tonnes of debris struck the village and, in the inquiry that followed, it was used to help pinpoint the precise time disaster struck.

"We are becoming veterans," Mr Jones said.

"I want them to be looked at for many many many years to come."

Football match programmes from charity games raising money for surviving Aberfan residents alongside a photo of Gareth and his father

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