I can still remember walking along Tottenham Court Road in central London on the day of the ‘Aberfan Disaster’ when a primary school and surrounding homes were engulfed by slurry from a collapsed coal tip.

I had just begun my new life as a student in London and I was making my way to the central library when I saw a billboard that seemed to say there had been a disaster in Abercarn. For a moment I thought it referred to the village close to my home in Gwent. It was not a silly assumption because coal tips were a regular feature of the landscape and Abercarn was well known for an explosion that had occurred at The Prince of Wales pit on September 11, 1878, killing at least 268 men and boys.

I knew nothing of Aberfan until that fateful day but all that soon changed. Some of my information came from senior pupils in my former school who had rushed to help in the desperate search for the children and adults who had been swamped by a tidal wave of slurry.

This month marks the 60th anniversary of that terrible tragedy and I am still discovering more details. One story in particular stands out. As we know 144 people including 116 children died that fateful morning but five survived thanks to the bravery of a dinner lady who died shielding them. One, who has spoken to the media for the first time, put it this way: "She gave everything to give us a future, and she lost everything” adding “Nansi Williams was a hero. A true hero. My hero.”.

As I have reflected on Nansi Williams’ sacrificial behaviour it has reminded me why it makes sense to say that men and women have been made in God’s image: it explains why we have a God-given instinct to care for others.

For when I read the New Testament, I see a man who perfectly embodied ‘the image of God’. His name was Jesus and He certainly highlighted the importance of children. On one occasion for example His disciples tried to turn parents away because they thought the children were ‘interfering’ with His busy routine. He would have none of it because He believed “the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like children”. In fact, He went so far as to say: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

He also warned those who were listening to Him that if they caused one of the little ones who trusted Him to fall into sin it would be better that they had a large millstone tied around their necks and drowned in the depths of the sea!

Now that’s pretty sobering.

Above all though Nansi Williams showed she had been created in God’s image by being willing to die in her attempt to save others. Echoes of Jesus there. Don’t you agree?