Ron Davies got the chance to renew old acquaintances with Gaynor Madgwick, a survivor of the 1966 Aberfan Disaster, when he recently opened a jobs fair in Caerphilly.
The Caerphilly Council cabinet member for regeneration and Plaid Cymru Assembly candidate for Caerphilly, first met Gaynor in Aberfan 13 years ago.
Cllr Davies said: “I went to Aberfan as Secretary of State for Wales to return to the community the money taken from the Disaster Fund by a Labour Government back in 1968 to pay for the tips to be reclaimed.
“Gaynor was pulled from the school as an eight-year-old and we were both in tears when I presented the cheque back to her father, who was the treasurer of the fund. It was very emotional to see Gaynor again after all these years.”
Gaynor wrote a book about her experiences called Aberfan – Struggling Out of the Darkness.