Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Our cherished reminder of a hero dad
Aberfan rescuer helmet is Repair Shop marvel
Atreasured old fireman’s helmet is one of the few items Janet Bevans has by which to remember her late father. Battered after years of wear and tear and sat on top of her wardrobe gathering dust, this was the helmet David Evans wore when he attended the Aberfan disaster.
Now, thanks to the experts of the BBC’S Repair Shop, the helmet has been carefully restored.
“It was my dad’s fireman’s helmet when he served in the Mid Glamorgan fire service,” says Janet, 59.
David was one of the first firemen on the scene of the 1966 Aberfan disaster in South Wales, where a colliery spoil tip collapsed and plummeted onto Pantglas Junior School.
It claimed the lives of 116 children
My father loved being part of the fire service, it was such a big part of his life JANET BEVANS DAUGHTER OF ABERFAN RESCUER DAVID
and 28 adults. So David held his own three children close when he returned from the most traumatic shift of his life.
Janet, who was four at the time of the tragedy, remembers how her dad “cwtched” Welsh for cuddle - her and older brothers Paul, then 11, and Jeffrey, 14. “I remember him holding us tight and being really, distressed,” she says.
“Even though I was young, it’s a memory that comes back to me because he was always happy – I never saw him cry other than that.”
Like many who witnessed the horror, David never spoke about it except for one detail he told wife, Gwenith.
Rescuers would stop in silence to try and hear the muffled cries of survivors, before frantically digging.
Janet says: “Everybody would be silent while they tried to listen for a child. Digging with their hands. It was horrendous. “My brother said dad went very quiet and into
MEMENTO David’s old fire helmet before restoration himself and became very conscious of what we were doing and where we were after Aberfan. He wanted to make sure we were safe.”
David died at just 52 from liver cancer. And due to a flood, they don’t have many photographs or other belongings to remember him by.
At The Repair Shop, leather expert Suzie Fletcher made sure to keep David’s signature inside the helmet.
Janet, who lives in Rhondda, says: “He wrote it himself and the helmet
BIG DAY David walked Janet down aisle not long before he died inside was even the same shape as his head. That was important to me.
“He loved being in the fire service. It was such a big part of his life.”
One of NHS occupational therapist Janet’s most treasured memories is David walking her down the aisle, not long before he died.
“He was very ill but determined to walk me down the aisle,” she says.
Now his fireman’s helmet is in pride of place in Janet’s home, alongside a photograph of him and her mother
Gwenith, who sadly died two years ago aged 87. “I wish my mum was here now,” mother-of-two Janet says.
“She would’ve been so proud, and upset, crying like me now, but it’s not sad tears, it’s happy tears.
“She’d have been absolutely in awe of this – she loved the show as well.” ■ New episodes of The Repair Shop air Monday to Friday at 4.30pm on BBC One, or catch up on BBC iplayer.