Why Aberfan means so much to BBC’s Jeremy
Listening to his father’s moving and empathetic radio report from the scene of the Aberfan disaster, BBC journalist Jeremy Bowen remarks on the professionalism and sympathy he showed in what was one of Wales’ biggest tragedies.
Almost 50 years have now passed since 144 lives were lost at Aberfan on the final day of the school term, in what was a global news story, covered by BBC reporter Gareth Bowen.
Jeremy, who himself has spent the last 30 years reporting on the front line from the world’s most dangerous conflicts – and has even been on the wrong end of a bullet, listened to the recording as part of research into his Welsh ancestry in the BBC programme Coming Home.
Remembering the devastation from a child’s perspective, at the time aged just six, Jeremy recalls his father coming home from the turmoil he had witnessed and reported on.
“I remember as a small kid, him coming back, the car covered in slurry, trousers caked in dry slurry from the tip, and I remember him going to bed in the middle of the day. He’d been up all night for a couple of nights.”
Jeremy’s father was reporting one of the most devastating moments in Welsh history, when half a million tonnes of coal waste in a tidal wave 40ft high hit the village of Aberfan on Friday, October 21, 1966.
It led to the death of 144 people, 116 of whom were children.
“He was 36, I was six years old,” said Jeremy
“In our house we always had the news on so I was quite interested in what was going on. I was aware of jamin Morgan, who was a mariner.
Jeremy was keen to find out why the family took the drastic step to move from rural Wales to the industrial Merthyr, where his father was to later become a reporter. His great-greatgrandfather was just a baby when his parents made the move.
Education may not have been important to every family in the 19th century and, for most, getting the children to work as soon as possible was the priority. Although his greatgreat-grandparents were illiterate they understood the value of education. At least six of their children went to school, including Jeremy’s greatgrandfather William at the young age of three.
“Knowing that only 100 years or so before I was born, my forebears couldn’t even write. Now I’m very pleased that I am a lot more knowledgeable about where the Bowens came from.”
Coming Home: Jeremy Bowen will be screen on Friday, BBC One Wales, at 8.30pm.