BBC Wales reporter Jordan Davies is in Aberfan today and says people are waiting in anticipation for King Charles and Queen Camilla to arrive.

The late Queen Elizabeth waited eight days before visiting Aberfan to comfort the community.

"We told her to stay away until the preliminary shock had worn off," said her former private secretary, the late Lord Charteris.

He added this was the biggest regret of her reign, and he believed he had given her poor advice.

When the Queen did eventually visit, she was described as being deeply moved, and greeted with love from residents who felt she had helped them in their darkest hour.

Her bond with the village endured throughout her reign and she visited a further three times.

Disaster survivor Jeff Edwards later said: "Aberfan is a small mining community, just 3,000 to 4,000 people... I think there's no place in the UK that can say it's had that close relationship with her in that way."

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People around the country are remembering the victims of Aberfan, including at St Mary's Church in Conwy, north Wales.

The bells rang 144 times during this morning's minute's silence - for the 116 children and 28 adults who died.

Jeanette Keane was at the nearby grammar school when word started to spread something had happened at the junior school and children had died.

She went running home but her parents weren't there, with her dad digging, looking for survivors.

"He found my sister Edwina and she was alive but he couldn't get her out because the roof would have fallen in," she said.

"My father laid by her side, held her hand and she suffocated."

Image source, family photo/BBC

Aberfan is a former mining village just like countless others across the south Wales coalfield area.

It is in the county of Merthyr Tydfil, and has towns such as Mountain Ash in Rhondda Cynon Taf on one side.

On the other is Caerphilly county, which includes Rhymney and other former mining areas.

BBC international editor Jeremy Bowen has been talking about his dad who was one of the first journalists to arrive in Aberfan following the disaster.

Gareth Bowen, who was from nearby Merthyr Tydfil, captured the shock and grief that had engulfed the community.

"It was very personal for him. And of course for me, having grown up in south Wales in that particular era, it was something that was always present," Jeremy told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

"It was something that connected with the history and the culture of the place, clearly in a totally undesirable manner.

"But it meant that that gave it extra resonance."

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Pantglas Junior School was Aberfan's local school when the disaster struck, claiming the lives of 116 children and 28 adults.

The building was destroyed and not rebuilt.

The Aberfan memorial garden was officially opened by the late Queen Elizabeth II in March 1973.

In 2019, the gardens were reopened after a £500,000 renovation.

The chairman of the Aberfan Memorial Charity David Davies told a crowd of 200 people at the time: "The world has not forgotten Aberfan.

"The memorial garden will continue to be a place to visit, a tranquil place to pause and reflect."

Mair Morgan was a 25-year-old teacher who had worked at Pantglas Junior School for a year when the disaster happened.

She recalls it as a misty morning with drizzly rain, as she rang the bell to start school at 08:50.

After hearing a "terrible noise", she got her pupils outside before the impact of the slurry, and remembers seeing the caretaker rushing to help other children.

Bethania Chapel was eventually opened as a place of rest for the victims of the disaster, but before that, the teachers were asked to identify the children.

"I found that very hard," said Mair.

"I remember one little girl, I can see her face now. She had beautiful black curly hair."

Image source, Getty Images/ BBC

Huw Thomas
BBC News, reporting from Aberfan

Image source, Getty Images

At the cemetery where victims are buried, events were private, away from the media and other visitors to Aberfan.

Survivors were joined by family members of those who died to mark the moment the disaster happened exactly 60 years ago.

A programme of events, shared with me, explained how wreaths were laid by representatives from the emergency services that responded that day.

There were also dignitaries at the cemetery, including Wales' first minister, members of parliament and local government.

Chaplain to the mayor of Merthyr Tydfil Rev David Powell led the prayers while the Bishop of Llandaff closed proceedings with a benediction.

The Ynysowen Male Voice Choir, formed to help men in Aberfan to cope in the years after the disaster, also performed for those who gathered in the misty rain.

Pupils at Ynysowen Community Primary School gathered to pay their respects.

They share a special connection with the 144 children and adults who lost their lives.

The school was built in the village to carry on the legacy of Pantglas Junior School which was destroyed in the Aberfan disaster.

Prince William will unveil an Aberfan Memorial Tree at the school later today.

Jordan Davies
BBC News, reporting from Aberfan

A line of people, some wearing black ties, gathered on Moy Road near where Pantglas Junior School once stood.

Some were visibly upset on what is an emotional day for this village and community.

People were seen consoling their family members as they shielded from the rain.

Huw Thomas
BBC News, reporting from Aberfan

The crowds are lining Moy Road in Aberfan as they prepare for a minute's silence at 09:15.

There are more and more people arriving, despite the weather being cold and wet, with plenty of umbrellas on display on the opposite side of the road to the memorial garden.

First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth is among them to pay his respects.

One of the most poignant artefacts associated with Aberfan is a clock which stopped at the moment coal spoil struck the village - approximately 09:13.

It was picked up by Mike Flynn, one of the rescuers, and has been used since to help illustrate the tragedy.

The clock had been stored in a box in his son's house, but in 2022 he donated it to the national museum at St Fagans to ensure it is preserved for the nation.

"Certainly the Aberfan community and the wider Welsh community really own the clock because of what it stands for and the significance of it," said Mike Flynn Junior.

King Charles III, Queen Camilla and Prince William are set to join survivors, bereaved parents and members of the community to pay tribute to those who died on this day in 1966.

Wales falls silent every year at around 09:13 to mark the approximate time the Aberfan disaster claimed the lives of 144 people, including 116 children.

On the 60th anniversary, the royals will visit the Aberfan Memorial Garden which stands on the site of Pantglas Junior School.

They will spend time with pupils who survived, siblings of those who died, and members of a support group for mothers who lost children.

The Village's Ynysowen Male Voice Choir - formed in the aftermath of the disaster - will also perform.

Image source, Getty Images

Jordan Davies
BBC News, reporting from Aberfan

It’s damp and dark in Aberfan and the air is heavy with the memory of what happened here 60 years ago today.

In the community centre, the heart of anniversary events, people are working hard to make sure today goes as smoothly as possible - as the world’s media lines up outside.

There’s a huge security operation, with roads cordoned off and police officers with search dogs.

At the top of Aberfan, you can see the gleaming white flagstones in the memorial for those who died - a poignant and permanent reminder of this tragedy.

It was the last day before half term, and pupils had just sat down to lessons at Pantglas Junior School in Aberfan.

Just after 09:00, a colliery spoil tip above the small mining community collapsed.

About 150,000 tonnes of slurry slid down the mountain and towards the village, engulfing the school and nearby houses.

The disaster claimed the lives of 144 people, including 116 children.

At the time, Aberfan, in Merthyr Tydfil county, was a village of a few thousand people, just like countless others dotted across the south Wales coalfield.

But its name is now ingrained on the national consciousness, and every year on 21 October, the nation pauses to remember those that were lost.

Stay with us as we bring you live coverage throughout the day as people gather in Aberfan to pay their respects.

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