The Little Girl’s Belongings That Tell the Story of the Aberfan Disaster

This account includes harrowing details that might evoke strong emotions. In her school notebook, Marylyn Minett had scribbled about significant moments of the 1960s: a space mission, a volcanic eruption, and a visit to Merthyr Tydfil with her aunt Pam. Her teacher wrote in the margin, “This is not news.” Just weeks later, Marylyn and her teacher would become part of a global story—when a coal tip collapsed, cascading down a hillside and swallowing the primary school and nearby homes in Aberfan.

As the 60th anniversary of the 1966 disaster approaches, Marylyn’s family has entrusted her school books to Amgueddfa Cymru, Wales’s national museum. These items, along with others, are being preserved to honor the lives lost on October 21, 1966. “Each object reveals who they were,” said Gaynor Madgwick, Marylyn’s sister. The family is also donating belongings of their younger brother Carl, who was seven when he perished in the tragedy.

Gaynor emphasized the personal significance of the items: “They weren’t just names on a list; they were children with distinct personalities, memories, and passions.” Among Carl’s possessions are his football and a belt he wore with his jeans. A recently uncovered dress, believed to belong to Marylyn, was discovered in 2025, tucked inside the kitchen wall of their former home. Gaynor explained that their father, Cliff Minett, had buried the dress during construction, a gesture to “keep Marylyn close, as if preserving her forever.”

The items will first be stored at Amgueddfa Cymru’s Nantgarw collection centre, where they will be maintained, made available for research, and possibly displayed. “People want to see, people want to touch,” Gaynor said. “When you touch something a child owned, it makes their story tangible.”

A Welsh Bible Survives the Catastrophe

Among the recovered artifacts from Aberfan was a Welsh language Bible, once belonging to Cliff and Anne Bunford. The couple, who lived in Cardiff, had a home in Moy Road that was rented to a young family. On the day of the disaster, they arrived in the village, bearing witness to the devastation. Cliff, permitted by police, entered the rubble and found his home reduced to fragments.

“When he came back to the car, he was in tears,” Anne, now 92, recalled. “He told me, ‘the husband’s gone to work and when he comes back there’s nothing.'” The young mother and child who resided there were among the victims. Cliff later returned to the site, discovering splintered furniture and ruined documents, but one item remained untouched: the Bible, “whole and stuck at the top,” Anne described.

This Bible, passed down from Cliff’s father, had been a fixture in their Sunday routine. The patriarch had inscribed the family names in its pages and read a chapter aloud each week. Anne remembered her husband’s emotional reaction to finding it intact: “It sounds sentimental, but he said: ‘dad had the last word.'”

For years, the Bible rested in the family’s music room in Cardiff, seldom mentioned due to its association with painful memories. After Cliff’s passing in 2018, Anne donated it to the museum, hoping it would serve as a lasting tribute to the tragedy. “It should be somewhere for others to remember,” she said.

Preserving the Past in a New Light

Amgueddfa Cymru’s curator, Ceri Thompson, noted the collection’s growth over time. “Five or six years ago, there were no physical remnants from the disaster,” he explained. “We had reports and documents, but actual objects were scarce.” The addition of Marylyn’s belongings and the Bunfords’ Bible marks a turning point in preserving the disaster’s legacy for future generations.