A purple plaque honouring Nansi Williams, the dinner lady who died saving five children during the Aberfan disaster, will be unveiled in the village six decades after the tragedy.
Williams, who was collecting dinner money at Pantglas Junior School on the morning of October 21, 1966, heard a deep rumbling noise and, as the school began to shudder, told the five children queuing to pay to get on the ground and flung herself on top of them. When 150,000 tonnes of waste from a spoil tip on the mountainside engulfed the school, she was killed instantly. She was 44.
The five children she shielded all survived. One of those children later said Williams was the only reason she survived the tragedy.
Recognition after decades of campaigning
Williams's godson, David Powell, has long campaigned for recognition of her bravery. He said: "So many died that day but she was never really mentioned and she gave her life to save five children. Of course it was talked about in the family - my father was her first cousin - but not really outside that. That's why I'm so pleased she's getting some recognition in the community with the plaque."
The purple plaque, describing Williams as a "woman of courage", will be unveiled on the cemetery wall in Aberfan on Friday, October 30. Williams was born and lived at Cemetery House until her death in 1966.
Survivor's account
Karen Thomas, one of the children shielded by Williams, spoke to BBC Wales on the 50th anniversary of the disaster in 2016. She recalled how she and four other children had gone to pay their dinner money in a corridor. "At the other end of the hall glass started coming down the corridor from the head mistress's room and Nansi the dinner lady jumped on top of us," she said. "The wall I think more or less pushed us all together and she took the full impact."
Thomas added: "We were shouting at the dinner lady and I was trying to pull her hair, to see if we could have a response from her because she wasn't saying anything to us. I just thought to keep trying to pull her hair to wake her up, we just didn't know what was happening because we couldn't hear anyone else. It was just our voice and our screams that we could hear."
She visits Williams's grave every year to place flowers and give thanks. "It's only down to Nansi that I'm here today. I'll never be able to thank her enough for saving us," she said.
Tribute from Purple Plaques Wales
Jane Hutt, of Purple Plaques Wales, said: "I am so pleased we are able to recognise a truly remarkable woman in Nansi Williams. We have celebrated women's remarkable achievements in areas such as sport, literature, the arts, politics and community activism - but we have never, until now, celebrated someone who made the ultimate sacrifice like Nansi did."
"Hers was a completely selfless act and her urge to protect the children must have been instinctive. We truly are so proud to help make sure this is marked with a fitting tribute in this Purple Plaque."
The disaster killed 116 children and 28 adults.
