Aberfan 50 years

On 21 October 1966 a massive spoil-heap slid onto the mining village of Aberfan near Merthyr Tydfil, burying Pantglas Junior School in the valley below and killing 116 children and 28 adults. This tragic event changed the lives of many and the way mines and quarries were managed for the future. 50 years on, Cardiff University's School of Medicine is joined by Professor Sir Mansel Aylward, one of the first medics on the scene, for a series of talks to help doctors and medical students in Wales understand the true impact of such an event on the communities they serve. The talks will explore the impact of such disasters on communities in the immediate and the long term, and highlight the importance of industry to the health and wellbeing of communities across the UK. Professor Sir Mansel Aylward, Chair of Public Health Wales and former Director of the Centre for Psychosocial and Disability Research at Cardiff University, will talk about his experience at arriving at the school and the effect it's had on him throughout his career. Professor Ewan Macdonald was the mines doctor in the Yorkshire coalfield and he too will describe how tragedies impact on the life of the workers and their families. Professor Sir Anthony Newman Taylor will take the audience through a journey of industrial medicine, as the chair of The Industrial Injuries Advisory Council from 1996 to 2008.