Aberfan Conference: Remembering, Forgetting & Moving On

On 21 October 1966 a massive spoil-heap slid onto the mining village of Aberfan near Merthyr Tydfil, burying Pantglas Junior School in the valley below and killing 116 children and 28 adults. This October will be the 50th Anniversary of the disaster.

This one-day conference at Cardiff University will look at the themes of remembering, forgetting and moving on in the media and in the community.

The day will be divided into three sections. The first will explore questions of how such a catastrophe was and is covered and remembered. The second section will look at the trauma and the importance of remembering such events – what the media remembers and what is, or should not be, forgotten. The third section will focus on how the media and community affected can move on, from a story dominated by disaster towards regeneration and renewal.

The conference will bring together survivors, media practitioners and academics.

Contributors include former journalists Elwyn Evans and Vincent Kane, who reported from Aberfan in 1966; Gaynor Madgwick and Jeff Edwards who both survived the burial of the school; Melanie Doel who wrote a book to mark the 25th anniversary of the disaster. There will also be an insight into the untold story of how the Press misreported from Aberfan in the wake of the disaster.