Robert Stephens

I know I write about the royals, but this from Aberfan today just broke me. It’s from Diane Thomas, 78, a rescuer from the Red Cross who was only 18 at the time of the disaster, and spoke to Prince William. She said: ‘The chapel had been converted into a mortuary so I spent three nights in the mortuary, bathing the children, to try and get slurry off their little faces so their parents could recognise them. ‘I took the anorak off one little boy, put my hand in his pocket and came out [with a note that] he’d had eight out of 10 for spelling. I’ve been trying all these years to think about how I can trace his mum. I can’t but I want to tell her because I was the last person to hold him and bathe him.’ This is why today is so important.