WESTERN MAIL SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 2018  5

NEWS

Farewell to Aberfan
teacher who led
her class to safety
anna lewis
Reporter
anna.lewis@walesonline.co.uk

S
he was present at one of the
bleakest moments in Welsh histo-
ry.
Former teacher Hettie Williams
helped calmly lead her pupils to safety
as the Aberfan disaster unfolded
around them.
And now her brave actions that day
52 years ago have been recalled follow-
ing her death this month at the age of
75.
This week, more than 500 people –
including pupils from that very class –
turned out to pay their respects to their
former teacher at her funeral.
She died on August 3, aged 75, after
suffering from a heart attack just days
before she was due to celebrate her
50th wedding anniversary with hus-
band Ralph.
On Thursday, August 16, hundreds of
Mrs Williams’ family, friends and for-
mer pupils packed into Saint David’s
Church in Rhymney for her funeral.
During the service, the Rhymney
Silurian Male Choir – conducted by
>> Hettie Taylor in 1966
Webster
>>Local men and the emergency services
hastily dig through the mud for survivors
Ralph – performed a heartfelt rendition
of Ar Lan Y Mor, marking the mother of
two’s lifelong love of the sea.
Julie Hickman, Mrs Williams’ daugh-
ter, said: “There were quite a number of
children from Aberfan at the funeral.
“We had a card from someone who
came to the service and said they had
not spoken to her since that day. They
said they remembered how profession-
al she was and how safe they felt when
she was getting them out of the school.”
Mrs Williams – then known by her
maiden name, Miss Taylor – was teach-
ing at Pantglas Junior School when dis-
aster struck on October 21, 1966.
The 23-year-old managed to lead her
class to safety after a waste tip from a
nearby colliery slid down the moun-
tainside in the mining village of Aber-
fan, and engulfed the school and sur-
rounding homes, killing 144 people,
116 of them children.
That morning, Hettie Taylor had
been teaching her class of pupils aged
seven and eight.
After the walls of her classroom
began to bulge and crack as the waste
tip covered the school, the then-
23-year-old teacher guided her pupils
Burton, Ron
from the classroom to safety.
No sooner had the class stepped
onto the playground, the Rhym-
ney teacher was asked to help
identify the body of a colleague
who had been killed in the disas-
ter.
After the disaster in 1966, Hettie
went on to teach at primary
schools in Abertysswg, Phillips-
town and Bargoed in the Rhymney
Valley, taking hundreds of children
under her wing until her retire-
ment.
At that point, she took up volun-
teering at a cancer self-help group
called Helping Hands in Rhymney,
as well as looking after her three
grandchildren.
Daughter Julie said: “She was
just an incredibly caring person.
She was always happy and loved
everyone, children predominantly.
“She had her grandchildren and
they took the place of her teaching
when she retired. She was just an
unassuming, caring person.”
One of Mrs Williams’ pupils at
Pantglas, Ros Bastow, was seven
years old when the disaster
struck.
Speaking in 2016 to mark the
50th anniversary of the disaster,
Ros said: “I was sitting there at the
desk when the noise came. I think
it’s the noise that everybody
remembers.
“The building shook, a crack
appeared across the wall behind
Miss Taylor’s desk and little puffs
>>Aberfan teacher Hettie Williams,
who was in Pantglas School when
the coal tip engulfed the building
Patricia Griffiths
of dust came out of the crack as it
appeared.
“The lights were on very long
flexes with white shades on them,
they swung and jiggled from the
force of it hitting.
“Outside, we could see the
masonry and the debris falling.
Miss Taylor just said, ‘Get under
your desks, keep calm’.
“I’m not sure how long we were
there, it didn’t seem that long.
Miss Taylor said we were all right
but the door was blocked.
“She could see a gap that we
could get through.
“She said, ‘Right, now line up, I
want you to leave the classroom, I
want you to walk straight out to the
yard, don’t look back’.”

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