// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
We survived the Aberfan disaster but were told to never speak of it again
Janett was the only child on her street to return home from school on the day of the disaster
Janett Bickley almost stayed home from school on the morning of 21 October 1966.
The eight-year-old had recently recovered from pneumonia, but she was determined to go in for the last day before half-term.
Shortly after taking her seat at Pantglas Junior School, Janett was buried beneath tonnes of coal slurry from a collapsing tip. It engulfed the classrooms and killed 144 people, including 116 children.
Sixty years later, Janett is one of the many survivors of the Aberfan disaster whose lives were shaped by what they experienced.
"I've always wanted to do something to pay back to the community because I think I owed something to the community, because I lived," she said.
The sentiment is echoed by other Aberfan survivors, who went on to devote much of their lives to helping others through education, public service, community work and charity.
Janett (front row, second left) with her nursery classmates in 1964. Many of the children in this photograph died in the disaster, two years later
Janett has a clear memory of the aftermath of the disaster.
A classmate dug her out from the wreckage. She recalls climbing through broken rafters before joining a queue of children waiting to be pulled through a window to safety.