Lynne Terrett, a survivor of the Aberfan tragedy, has shared her story for the first time on the 60th anniversary of the disaster, recounting the moment the coal waste tip collapsed onto Pantglas Junior School and the lasting impact on her life.
A Morning That Changed Everything
As a nine-year-old schoolgirl, Lynne Terrett was in her classroom on the mountain side of Pantglas Junior School. She and her classmates sat down, and when their teacher entered, he said "stand," which they did. As they did, the sound of thunder came.
Lynne said it was like being in a washing machine. "It's the only way I can describe it," she said. Sharing her story for the first time in a video with the Welsh Rugby Union, she explained how that fateful morning impacted her whole life.
Trapped and Rescued
"I was sitting in the second from the last row. We were actually on the mountain side, and then all I can remember is waking up into the hall.
"I was opposite a friend, but she could get out, but she wouldn't get out. So I asked her to get out and help me because I was trapped. How long I was trapped for, I don't know, but I think I was trapped for a while."
"They carried me out of the window, and there were people all there, police, everyone there, and all I could see was my dad. My dad then carried me down Moy Road into one of the houses, and that's where they laid on like a stretcher, and that's where I stayed for a while again till the ambulance took me. My father, unfortunately, had to come back [to the school]."
Remembering Her Sister
Her older sister Jillian was in the next classroom and didn't survive. "Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to speak about my sister when they told me she passed because my parents were grieving obviously."
"We hadn't talked about anything until when I got married, I had my daughter, and after that then she asked about the photo that we all had. We all had like a painted photo, and she asked who was it, and my mother for the first time in 20-odd years said 'Gillian'. We all just looked at my Mam. That's the only first time we ever heard my sister's name."
Her fourth child was named after her sister, a way to remember her. "My fourth youngest child now is Clara Gillian, so she's still being our minds."
"I have got memories of my sister. We argued a lot, which sisters do at that time, but yes, I do miss her big time," she says in the video.
A Solemn Anniversary
Speaking about the anniversary, she said: "It should be remembered because what happened, 116 children is a heck of a lot of children to lose in one little village. My age, I got just two friends I bother with. I bother with a lot of people a lot younger than me now because there's nobody my age around."
