Photographs of the Winter of 1963 - Britain's " Big Freeze".
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- Photographs of the Winter of 1963 - Britain's " Big Freeze".
The winter of 1962-1963 (also known as the Big Freeze of 1963) was one of the coldest winters on record in the United Kingdom. Temperatures plummeted and lakes and rivers began to freeze over.
I have a vivid memory of this climatic event. Our family had been to a pantomime on the 26th December 1962 and we came out after the show, to a heavy snowstorm. This storm lasted fully two days and was followed by a great blizzard resulting in great snow drifts and blocking several roads and railway lines.
In January 1963, the sea froze for one mile out from the shore in northern Kent and parts of the northern reaches of the River Thames froze over. Temperatures plummeted with more snow coming in February together with gale force winds.....
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Thanks for posting. I wish i could go back. No internet, NO social media, no computers, no i phones. Less selfishness, less greed, less mental health issues.
My lovely Grandfather died that winter and I still miss him. The cold water supply failed so we got water from the farm next door. On the plus side we were snowed in so no school for three weeks. WONDERFUL. Who else hated Primary School?!
Stephen Smith Me!
@@sallymander7863 There was a teacher who was so cruel and violent that I am still angry about her. Not angry, furious!
I suppose you get unhinged people in the teaching profession just like any other, hopefully wouldn't be allowed now with restrictions on teachers so tight. Am worried that you still seem to be suffering though, if you don't mind me saying. Don't let her spoil your life now though. All the best. 👍🏻🍀
@@sallymander7863 Strangely her weirdness led me to question what was going on in her head and why she was allowed to do bad stuff. We worked out that she loathed the children of the poor and of outsiders from England (or anywhere). This led me into a career in Sociology which would not have occurred to me otherwise LOL. The beatings happened almost daily. Worst case was a poor child force fed in front of the whole school until she was violently sick. She had a mental breakdown and was sent away to a school for the 'Educationally Subnormal' (ESN). There was nothing wrong with her except that her dad was an unemployed lorry driver. Furious hardly covers it. A school near Aberystwyth in West Wales. I don't have to name the pervert as anybody who went there will know who I'm talking about. 'Pillar of the Community' of course... Piss on her grave for me y'all.
I was eight years old trudging through really deep snow with my mam and older sister. We were carrying the shopping home. The afternoon was so dark and the wind was howling as the blizzard covered us from head to toe in snow. I'll never forget as I struggled to keep up my mam turning and calling "come on it's not far now". Don't u yearn for those days though. The freedoms we enjoyed as kids the warm fires in wintertime the christmas's where mam and dad would wait up so they could see your faces as u open presents in the early hours. You were loved back then but you were not mollycoddled...that's a difference most kids today wouldn't understand. I for one am more than happy to have been born in the 50's.
I was 14 and I don’t think that winter snow disappeared until some time in late March. We still went to school . I used to walk a mile and half to my school. I don’t remember everything coming to a standstill. People pulled together and worked hard to keep everything going in those difficult days. I do remember the extreme cold and the frost covering my bedroom window inside day and night for a long time.
Where I lived, the snow refused to melt until early May. Our igloo in the back garden only fell down on the sixth, the day before my tenth birthday. I don't remember either I or my younger brother missed a day's school all winter.
I was 4 at the time , dont remember much about it but I do remember going to school in '69 , i was 10 then , lots of snow ! I was in bed at night , listening to the huge overhangs of snow on the roofs of houses , periodicaly thuding to the ground , through the night , great fun for my sister and i, magical times , Christmas coming up , Carol singers, hymns , the building excitement of Santa soon on his way, great stuff , simpler, fun times, great toys , FANTASTIC ! The magic of the times halloween 🎃, guy fawkes bonfire night , fireworks(sparklers), penny for the guy🧨🎆 , then christmas coming -GREAT DAYS , MAGICAL ! 🎄🎉⛄🎅🙂👍
This winter was a particularly harrowing time for us. We were the last family in a five-storey property destined for iminent sale. I was in my late teens, there were six of us in the top flat, Mum, Dad, me and my three sisters. We had frozen pipes and our water had to be brought up - usually by me - by the bucket-full from the basement. Our heating was inadequate to say the least and my father was quite ill at home. My poor mother struggled on to keep things going ... and the winter went on ... and on ... and on. Hard times !
I remember the winter in so much that it just never seem to end. I was only nine at the time. My father had recently installed central heating in the house and a coal fire boiler with radiators around the main rooms of the house. Still, the warmest place was the kitchen as this is where the boiler was located. I do remember still going to school,wrapped in layers of clothing until one day the headmaster closed the school, but only for a few days, I think.... Cheers! Nigel
Plenty of community spirit!!!???
🇬🇧 I learned to drive during 62/63 and on practice drives into North Wales the snow in some places was as high as our second Morris Oxford. A comfortable car but no heating and the windows would freeze up on the insìde overnight.
I was 15 yoa just started work as an apprentice painter and decorator im 72yoa now i never had one single day out of work, ever, they where happy days.
I was 10 years old, living in a little village on top of the Pennines. The roads were blocked for weeks and the village completely cut off.
It was brilliant! No school for weeks, out digging snow with the men of the village, listening to all their "adult" banter, lunch-time warming up in the pub, where I was allowed a Cherry B and felt part of the group.
My dad was a travelling salesman, paid commission only, so it was obviously a hard time for the family, but I didn't care as long as I had my sledge and some gloves.
Could you imagine the weans doing that now ? No, i can`t either.
I was 10 also and remember this so well, childhood as it should be.
I was 9, and also lived in a village, but the school stayed open. The snow had drifted so high that we could not tell where the hedges were on the side of a main road. Great times.
@@dirkbruere We had no time off school either.
TheLordinSplendour ‘gloves’ you must of been a posh kid🤣 it was a pair of old socks of me dads with holes but fun to think back now
Just started secondary school. Our games master,Mr Jones, had us out playing Rugby football in the snow that practicly came up to my kinees. We were dressed in normal Rugby kit. He had 3(?) track suits on. Never forget that day.
We lived in South Norwood, London. As an eight year old, I remember the wind had blown the snow eight to ten feet high against our front door. So high was it, I could touch the snow from my bedroom window. I recall my father digging a hole through to the front path as the snow continued to fall. Amazingly, apart from the style of the front door, the image at 2:34 is identical to our old house...and I mean, identical! The tiles, the bricks the house style, completely the same...even the window I refer to above the door. Thank you for posting.
I lived in West Norwood - loved that winter. In other winters a friend and I would go swimming in the channel amongst the floating ice. The police would try to drag us out thinking we were going to die but as they weren't coming in and we were not coming out we had a good time: mind you, the police had the advantage, they just stood next to our clothes till we can out but it always ended well. The Bobbie back then knew that boys were just being boys - those days are gone forever.
Never got a single day off school during this winter of '63, I feel fiddled!
steve taylor A lot of kids got fiddled in those days.
Andy Moran. That’s not why schools close ffs. It in case someone sues for their kid falling in the yard or down the steps. Or getting injured on the way to/from school when it “didn’t need to be open”. It’s purely financial.
I saw you walking to school with your wellies on and , plimsoles in your bag lol... it was a cold one though, wasn't it.
We went to school every day, heating was always on, remember falling on my arse on the ice constantly !!
@@johnfellows2867 Good days though, John.
I was 8 yrs old when this happened. I still went to school on a bus and if my memory serves me well people were all mucking in to keep the wheels turning. Brilliant snowball fights and running fast then sliding along the ice! It was cold but we had fun.
...... and I was also 8 years old at the time. I still have vivid memories of the high snowdrifts in out street and playing with friends, and mum still took me to school - I so wished for the school to be closed!!
Paul Sheridan I was 12 (1st year seniors) and we never lost a single day of schooling, due to tough teachers who probably served the country during WW2. Nowadays the teachers won't venture out and school closures are the norm.
I too was 8yrs old back in 63 remember that winter very well me and my mate trudging through the snow drifts on the way to school bitter cold we didn't have our parents driving us in 4x4 back in those days
I was born that winter and I remember my dad telling me how he had to carry me home from the hospital and how scared he was of dropping me.
Oh I remember this well, off school, cold but enjoying the snow.
The river Severn was frozen solid. I remember watching a Land Rover being driven on the ice down the river
Ah memories! I was 7 and remember walking on the frozen sea with my dad. Back then it was fun and I didn’t feel cold at all. And just a hot water bottle to keep warm at night, no central heating 🥶 Now I’m glad winters are milder, I can’t hack freezing temperatures these days!
I was 7 at the time but this will always be the most memorable event of my young life, never seen so much snow.
Hazel Brooks Back of the net, i was the same age, we lived in a bungalow, when we opened the front door it was just a wall of solid snow top too bottom, an open fire and a paraffin heater, oh and ice on the inside of the single glazed windows, the snow drifts looked fantastic, memories 😀
I remember it very well. Both at home in Hampshire (the sea froze!) and in London, where I worked. Started snowing on Boxing Night and continued through to Easter. Which was when my widowed mother announced that after two World Wars and the Depression, she had had enough, and went off to live in California! 1947 was very bad too.
I was 6 years old and can remember going up the colliery slag heap with a group of friends to do some sledging, one of older boys threw a huge boulder onto the frozen slime pond and it just skidded over it. He then dug down into the ice to see how thick it was and 6" down it was still frozen. We gingerly stepped onto the ice and then started playing football with a tennis ball I never saw so many slide tackles in one game. Happy times.
I love these photos so beautiful. I remember when I was a child in winter we had frost on the inside of our bedroom windows mum used to say Jack Frost has been. The ice made amazing, swirly, leafy patterns.
I was 9 years old at the time. I remember our school in a hilltop village in the Pennines looking as if it were a gigantic ice carving. The roof, the walls, and the windows - everything - was coated with thick ice, to which the snow stuck. The boiler had broken down under the strain so there was no school until it was fixed. 😁
I remember my mother getting me ready for infants school and when she opened the front door the snow had drifted and blocked the whole doorway. You didn't get off school in those days !
Now 2 flakes on the school ground?
Yes, I remember walking to school in deep snow that year, 6 yrs old.
I well remember aged 6 that the snowdrifts were higher than I was. The "big kids" thought it great fun to pick up little ones like me and drop us into the drifts. Rather better was making "snow angels" on the front lawn at home.
we don't really get snow like this anymore
keith rose-i was 6 yrs old in '63 and to this day can clearly recall an image of about 10-15 little birds frozen solid where they perched (overnight presumably) on a bridge parapet over the grand union canal near leighton buzzard-still upsets me even now-ah, childhood memories!
I remember 1963 was heavy snow in Manchester is beautiful snow ❄️. I was 5 years old and never forget it.
Michael Mohammed . I was just 4 at the time so similar age to you .i just loved it then . I think every boy of our age then wore the same type coat . A black or beige duffel coat with wooden toggles for buttons with a hood of course . I think the girls had a little more variety in the form of coats then but many of them wore the duffel coats too. Nowadays you can see about two or three hundred different varieties of coats that the kids wear in the winter . How times have changed .
In January '63 our school took us on a day trip to Malham Tarn in Yorkshire. I was 12 and wore long trousers but the kids in shorts were crying from the freezing weather, and some were piggybacked by 5th and 6th formers on a long trek. I sat down behind a rock, for a rest, and began to feel euphoric; then a sense of urgency prompted me to get going and catch up. It was a miserable day, due to a foolish decision, and we returned in the summer.
I remember that winter i was 11 yrs old at Hastings High School on the Ridge .We never had a day off school Dear Miss Perfect our games teacher used to read to us i stead of hockey .If i remember correctly it was Heidi that was read to us .Often wonder if she is still alive
My dad was born in Edinburgh and bought up in Inverness, so when he met my mum and moved to Warwickshire, he was at home with the snow. He used to tell me, he was born in 1928, that he used to ski to school, over the snow drifts, 6 miles each way...
I experienced this Winter from being stationed at RAF Lakenheath....just after the Cuban Missile Crisis and our base shut down because of the ice and snow, and having to be up and operational as soon as possible....we had no snow plows or ice removal equipment. We used jet aircraft to thaw the ice off the taxi and runways....
It was very remarkable.
I remember the waterfall, one mile along a tiny country lane, up above our village, froze solid. That was in Glamorgan, S.Wales. I was 12 years old and still in short trouser but I don't remember my legs being cold. But then our house, even though it was a good modern one, didn't have any central heating so we were tougher than we are now.
Thanks for the memory. This was the winter I joined many others at the Merchant Navy training ship "Vindicatrix". A winter that I have never forgotten. I treasure the memories of every day that I spent there - yes it was tough , but it was fun !!
I was eight years old when this winter struck. I remember endless evenings sledging down the road with all of the other kids who lived in the street. The snow did not begin to go until the middle of March and there were still piles of it slowly melting at the beginning of April. I remember being surprised by how high the garden walls were once the snow had gone. There had been that much of it we had been walking on ice almost eighteen inches thick for months so they had gradually got lower and lower as it had built up. Strange the things that you remember....
One thing i remember people had a large igloo outside their houses and come teatime they would reverse their cars back in they seemed quite large and lasted for ages . Ive never seen that since.
@Ken Shabby Unless the government decides to 'restructure' the pensions scheme (again!).
That's when I was born. January 1963. My mum said it started November 1962, until March 1963.. probably why I like snow, I'm used to the cold!
Mark I was born Dec 62 in Essex mum said it was bad
I am really glad you said that ,about the dates because my late mother told about this time ,and she remark that when she was collecting me from my child minder I held up my hand in a gesture in a dulcet tone that my hands were cold , I would have been three in sixty two ,and I remember that I would have been able to talk properly by the time I was four , so thank you for the precise dates ,it's a little emotional remember her recount my first reaction to the cold and snow ,from an Afro Caribbean perspective ,born in England East London ,but lived in the South at the time !!
I was 8 and remember frost inside the bedroom windows, then decided to de-ice the yard with a log splitter! Happy days when things were not complicated by B+++SH+T!
You had windows?!!
@@lesleydavis3283
Eee-by-gumm.., life were 'ard, but did we complain? Like hell we did. A pint down Rover's and
home t' wife for steak&kidney pud for supper. Young people t'day...
Bloody luxury! Had doughboys with Bisto.
Did you have ice on the gold fish bowl and in the inside toilet?
I was 8 during the big freeze, living in a timber house with an empty void into asbestos sheeting, the other side of which was the living room/bedroom wallpaper.
To say the house was cold is an understatement.
Frost on the inside of the windows was commonplace every time the temperature dropped below zero in that house but '63 was quite different as the frost was permanently on the inside, day and night, for weeks on end.
I recall the ice on the River Ayr at Failford being 18 inches thick and walking down the middle of the River for miles, rapids and all.
School, never missed a day and my brothers and sisters had a 2 and a half mile trek every morning and evening to make.
Kids nowadays don't know the half of it.
I was 14 years old and lived in Leicester. School never closed; nothing closed as far as I remember. The nights were silent. The roads an pavements would freeze and people wouldn’t or couldn’t drive or walk or cycle. When the snow fell it muffled everything. At home there was no central heating. We sat close to the fire. It was the only warm place. We had an outside toilet and I remember so well covering the tank with blankets and the smell of an oil heater keeping the frost from the pipes and the pan. Bedrooms were freezing. Ice on the inside of windows. The hot water bottle felt so good. Outside the world was breathtakingly beautiful. The orange street lights reflected off the snow and made nights light as well as quiet. Go a 14 year old this was an unforgettable time, as you can see 57 years later.
I remember it well; my wife and i with our two children returned from Singapore mid December 62 into that freezing winter. We had been 3 years in S'pore with the RAF where we lived almost naked and suddenly found ourselves wearing winter survival clothing 24/7. Central heating hadn't been invented yet.
Actually, central heating has used by the Romans and more recently you will find some Victorian and Edwardian public buildings and houses with lovely ornate radiators . It was more that central heating was not installed or at all usual in general houses until well after the 1960's. When I bought my 1970's house it had a working heating boiler that was almost 50 years old and the only reason I had to replace it was because the parts were no longer available!
I was 15 months old. When my parents decided to visit relatives in Lancaster they put me in a bedroom on my own was apparently Blue and not moving when they came in, in the morning. They said they give me a Good dose of Brandy and Milk and within 5 minutes I was kicking away merrily.
Nice one Mum And Dad. 🤔
We lived in the North East, with nothing between us, the North Sea and the Russian Stepps. The snow flew horizontal and the wind howled up the drain pipes. Now living in Australia, Melbourne. Our Spring, two days ago it was blue sky and 30degs, today 12degs and drenching rain in the forecast. We can get four seasons in a morning. Remember as a baby having Brandy rubbed on my gums, not only helped with cutting teeth but gave a sound sleep. Stay Safe.
@Jerry Donohue My brother was a professional soldier, did at least three tours in Northern Island, during “The Troubles”. He was shot at more than once, worked undercover and had a Molotov bomb throw his way. He said the worst part was when his mates dowsed the flames with a fire extinguisher. My mum told me that on one of his leaves he walked upto Spennymoor High Street, came home, then walked the same path. He told my Mum that he could not believe how dilapidated and run down the place looked. This after spending time in Belfast. Remember The Animals song, We gotta get out of this place, I did at the first opportunity. Spent most of my working life overseas hardly ever went back. We are so lucky to be living in this Great Land, we call home. Stay Safe.
@Kani Fuker Don’t knock the Hot Milk and Brandy. Nothing like it, sitting in front of a roaring coal fire sipping on the nectar, warming the chilled bones. Another really good use of the Brandy, was to have Mum rub it on your gums when cutting teeth 🦷 , also made for a good nights sleep. Kicked the habit by the time I had lost all my Baby Teeth. Stay Safe
I was four coming on five. We lived in a village in Kent. The snow if I remember started on Boxing day as we had family with us for Christmas. My dad could not go to work the next day.
One of our neighbours parents lived in a small hamlet a mile and a half across the fields. He was concerned for their well being, so my dad and two neighbours decided to go and see how they were.
They took me and we went off across the fields, however it snowed whilst we were out and the snow became too deep for me to walk in, so I had to be carried. They were fine.
The crazy thing was that in the village that we lived in we had no power yet the small hamlet the electricity was on.
As a small kid that winter seemed to go on forever.
My Dad who commuted to London for work. He had several times to stay with his family in Kentish Town because the trains were up the creek and he could not get home..
I am exactly the same age and also lived in Kent.
I vaguely remember it but luckily have cine film to prove to the incredulous youngsters that I really did walk on ice floes at Seasalter.
My sister was born on the 27th December. There was snow on the ground in Norwich.
When I was about five years old living in Brighton the winter of 1946-1947 was freezing, and the snow was still there until March. We had to sit around a gas oven to keep warm.
I could show you photographs of winter '47 in the North Pennines. 10 foot snow drifts and the roads had to be cut through them. Thank God I wasn't born then (quite)!
I was 9...thanks for the memories
Thanks for these pictures, Nigel. I took my 11 - plus in 1963, and I am certain that sitting in a freezing-cold classroom with no heating, only out-door toilets that were frozen and no way to dry our wet clothes was the reason I, and all but 2 of my class-mates, failed. The lovely new, warm , centrally-heated school 2 miles away, got half their pupils into Grammar School. It profoundly altered my life, as I was expected to pass. Of course, if or when we have another winter like that, all the schools will close.
Graham Harding Oh Graham, how awful. So sad to hear about this. You would think the local authority’s education department would have cottoned on and rectified this but, sadly, ‘the powers that be’ are often not all that bright in my experience.
Best slide ever, we use to feed it water every night so it got on get and more slippery, what a great way to spend a day not at school...
I remember this winter. It seamed to go on from November to March....I was riding my Lambretta 8 miles each way from Ickenham to Stanmore, 6 days a week to my stable job. I absolutely loved my job and the snow didn't seam to matter too much!.
I was 12 years old and clearly remember that winter. Waking up in the Morning to go to School and scratching your name on the inside of the bedroom window even though my Mother had a blazing coal fire on all night. Milk bottles with the milk frozen solid, crates stacked up against the Radiators in the classroom to be handed out to the pupils. BRRRRR !
I had my 12th birthday during the big freeze, so we must be around the same age. I don't think there was actually ice inside the bedroom window (we had radiators, heated from the boiler behind the fire in the living room), but I do remember the rest. There was a six-feet high snow drift in our back garden, and even by the beginning of March the snow was still so deep that, instead of playing football during games at school, we just had a snowball fight.
@@davidw1518 We too had a back boiler but, only for heating hot water and that was located behind the fire in the living room. No radiators in our houses. It was 2 fires and parafin heaters in the hall and bathroom ( which was worse than a freezer in winter time. Yes, there was ice on the inside of our bedroom windows because you could scrape your name on the windows.
Happy days lol. My grandkids wonder why I don't have my central heating on unless it's really really cold. Well, most colds come today because of central heating. We were made of sterner stuff because we had no choice.
@@pamt7740 Oh, i do agree. Right now, my central heating is off, i`ll only put it on sparingly for an hour in the evenings cause i simply can`t get used to it and, i`ve had the Gas heating since the mid 90`s. In fact, i`ll only put it on if the temp outside is 5C or below. I don`t feel the cold at all. I`ll be 69yrs old next week so, i`m no spring chicken either. I also have the Kitchen window open all night, even in winter when the heating is off. If you don`t build up an immunity to colds ect., you`re destined to suffer poor health later on in life.
@@andyhughes5885 So true. I've been in Spain and heard people complaining about the cold and walking around in jumpers and coats when the outside temperature was between 20 and 25 degrees (centigrade)! They use central heating in winter too, but many winter days there are better than we would get in high summer!
I was 14 living in Redcar. A park keeper at Locke Park drove his Renault Dauphine onto the small lake to show how thick the ice was. The football season was decimated. One Saturday only 1 match was not postponed - Plymouth Argyle vs Middlesbrough, which the Boro won 5.4. We didn't have much snow in the seaside town but the ice never seemed to go away.
Was too young to experience this winter, so was shocked when my father described the end of 2010 as the worst start to winter he could remember. Thoughts turned to 1963 and 1947 straightaway, those have gone down in legend.
I loved that winter - I missed 6 weeks of school. Not because the school was closed, but because we lived 15 miles away and much higher up, and the school bus couldn't make it :-) That was in rural Northumberland. The pony we had lived out all winter with the cattle. No chance of grazing, so he had hay during the day and a bucket of oats at night, and he grew a coat as long as a polar bear's.
Wonderful, pretty and ever so cold. I was only little then but l do remember that winter. 😊😊😊😊🐱🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
We lived outside Stockport, I was 4 years old during this and it is one of my first memories. Me and my brother played outside and kept coming in to warm up in front of the fire. Mum told us we would get chilblains. First time I had heard that word and no idea what she meant.
At that time, we lived in Nonington 48 Southampton Road. Many water supplies were frozen solid. My father and I used a 500amp low voltage Transformer to pass electricity between immediate neighbours along the iron underground water pipes to warm them. In many cases, 12 hours treatment was enough to work.
And we had a flu outbreak, over 50,000 people died! Did we lock down? We had no TV or social media dictating how to live our lives, we just carried on.
David Donoghue Since we have had over 40,000 deaths with a lockdown it is inevitable that the number of deaths would be much higher if we had not had a lockdown. Yes, the lockdown has been very difficult financially but would you rather that those people who have lost their jobs due to the lockdown were dead ? It is very likely that a large number of those who lost their jobs due to the lockdown would be dead if we had not had a lockdown. We could have easily been in a similar situation to USA where the number of deaths is over 200,000.
Yes it was called the Hong Kong flu which went from 1956 to 1967 hundreds of thousands of people died from it which for some reason the medical fraternity have forgotten about ( probable no vested interests in that one)
@@ginajones1003 rubbish, wakey wakey,
@@gwrdriver1660 Yes wakey wakey hands off snakey
Thanks for the memories.
I was 13 that April. Went pavement sliding. Snow drifts six feet high. Opens the door to a white cold wall, the coal man could not get through and a grip to the shops for mum and I was a 3 mile round trip on foot and took 3 hours. Just to find Perks had little on their shelves.
I do remember mum got some liver from the butcher. I loathed liver but dad said use butter bacon and onoin. Loved it and still do. The mash was a bit grainy as the harvest had been hit too.
Fond memories of ice on the inside of the Windows.
I was 12 at the time and cycled to school every day. The cleared snow at the side of the road and along the pavements turned to solid ice and seemed to last forever.
And you did not get your bike nicked ??
I was in Essex at boarding school. We walked to the village with difficulty and collected loads of bread which we carried back on a stretcher from the sanitarium. I have often wondered if people imagined there was a dead body beneath the sheet we used to hold the loaves in place!
I remember it well. 6-foot high snow drift in the back garden, our cat wondering what on earth was going on when she couldn't go around the garden, a brand new bike for Christmas, which had to wait to be used. But school didn't close, not even for a single day. I also remember the Summer of 1976 - Britain's "Big Drought", when reservoirs dried up and (so we were told) the Thames even flowed backwards in Oxfordshire because the chalk river bed there was sucking in the water faster than it could flow down from its source: are there photos of that season waiting for me to find on RUclips?
Summer of '76 was magical, finish work at midday, straight in the pub ! Met the wife in the July, married now for 42 years !
I remember that winter, I was at primary school. We lived in the London suburbs but the road outside our house which was a major A road was blocked for a couple of days, we still went to school though, wellingtons on, trudging through the snow for only about 1/2 mile. There was never any thought about not going to school. After school fantastic snow ball fights in the park nearby. We built snowmen ad igloos
I remember it well, I was working in the RN Dockyard, Portsmouth at the time. Cycling to and from work was extremely dangerous on the frozen and rutted roads. Our council house inside toilet and wash basin froze solid and we had to use buckets. And my bedroom window had frost on the inside for days. Sod that, I thought, so I rejoined the merchant navy in April 1964 and went to warmer places. Now I'm 80 years old and have an electric blanket and I luxuriate in as much warmth as possible while thinking back to those times. ⛄️💨❄️
I wasn't born till 65 but still loved the photos. The train made me laugh nowadays they can't run because a leaf is on the line. Back then life was hard but the people were harder and nothing could stop them.
Going to school in weather like this was special, playtime in the yard was the best. Health and safety wasn't invented then.
Slides! Lethal.
It was the winter of 63, we thought world would freeze...with John F Kennedy and the Beatles....yeahhhhhhhhhh
and the Salvation band began to play.... but alas it didn't thaw... . but I was just a 13 year old ... so I wanted even more
Dave O ....a Hey-yah nah-nah-nah
Life in a Northern Town. Apparently written about Nick Drake.
Can't beat a bit of Dream Academy! 😊👍
I also was 12 years old, towing a sledge a mile up the road to the fetch the weekly groceries. It was so weird walking along the tops of the hedges, snow solid with an ice crust. So many other memories, but thank you, this has got to be the best comments section I have ever read, .......stay strong, they haven't killed us all off yet !
And they all still went to work, school etc......... so different now, a harsh frost, shuts the country down.
i did not go to school, school bus did not run
I started school that winter. We had a thick peasoup fog in London as well as the snow. My mum would wrap a massive scarf across my mouth when she took me to school. All we could see was yellow because of the street lights. I'll never forget it.
I remember that Winter 1962/3 as if it where yesterday, All these comments as struck a cord a trip down memory lane, For us old boys,One friend of mine with his Dad built an igloo in his garden, Weekends we slept in it, We had lino and old carpet on the floor,loads of candles, Army Sleeping bags, It lasted two months, It was quite sad when the chaw came!! And when I grew up!!Remember the sliding on ice in the play grounds,
I was only 6 but I remember it. Extraordinary.
My parents had just moved out of Portsmouth UK to a nearby town in November '62. I was 7yrs old. It seemed like a winter wonderland with the remaining old 4' brussel sprout plants barely showing about ground. I had no idea this was an exception to the norm.
I was 17 and lived in a Crawley council house with my parents. No central heating, single glazing. By Canadian, I live there now) standards there wasn't all that much snow but it was certainly cold.
I remember this so vividly even now. I was living in Leeds and had just started my Articles with a firm of Chartered Surveyors, I was just 17. There were no buses and I had to walk 5 miles to work and back again at night in the dark. In May 1964 Council workmen were having to remove compacted ice from pavements with pneumatic drills! Those were the days 😱
It was bloody cold and my mum still sent me to school in short trousers because that was the junior school uniform.
As a 71 year old i remember this the snow in mid Bedfordshire was waste deep amazing for kids
Yeah ..what a year!...I was 14yrs old , and a mad Evertonian...I had a season ticket for the Gwladys street end ...and Everton won the English 1st Division Championship for the 5th time..(4more times since)....we beat Fulham 4-1 at Goodison park...Roy Vernon scored a hatrick!....the season was put on hold ....but it didn't stop the Blues!.....wonderful memories....💙👍🏻
I remember this well, frost on the inside of the windows, no central heating. Sledging every day, we still went to school, nothing closed down. We coped!
I remember it well as a 13 yr old, living in Lancashire, lace curtains frozen to the windows in the bedroom, paraffin oil lamps to keep warm, bloody freezing. But great for sledging.
I remember this i was 9 and lived by the grand Union canal at great Linford and still do ,all the coal boats were frozen solid on the canal for weeks i used to play in the snow with the boys off the boats ,I wonder where they are now would be about the same age as me
Walked to junior school that winter. I recall falling into the road because I was so short, and the snow leveling the dips made everything the same height.
I remember it well! It was great being a kid then. No time off school, but wonderful ice slides in the playground; snowballs, sledging, and a coal fire when you went home. Bread on toasting forks in the fire, and the golden warm aroma it created., and a tiny screened b/w telly which seemed magical. I think I'm regarding it all with rose tinted glasses now, but oh it was fun!
I was 10. My mam got up in the morning and we could not get out of the house because the steel windows had frozen. My dad was a long distance lorry driver and was trapped for days in the North. BRS sent a lorry out with his wages and to let my Mam know he was safe. She walked with our neighbours wife a mile to get food from the shop..I have not seen snow like it in the last 58 years.
I remember 63/64 well, I got my girlfriend (then) married 64 late her Dad was absolutely livid as i was told to be home by 10.30 arrived 11.30, stuck in snow nr Herne bay. How times have changed? One good thing the trains kept running.
I remember my Dad taking me for a walk in the park. I climbed drifted snow/ice and looked down on his head as we walked together.
I was 9 living in North Wales - My big brother rode a BSA bantam on the frozen River Dee - we had one open fire with a little back boiler that took half a day to heat water and we all shared the bath - a smelly paraffin heater took the chill off the hall and the 3 bedrooms with there single glazed windows- we watched the steam trains at the edge of the village smash through the snow - my mum made me a coat out of my dads herringbone de mob coat on her peddle powered singer - it was well warm but itched
My sister was born during this time,, loved it when me dad would tell us the story about digging out a path for the midwife,,,
I remember that. I had to run round at 5am to find a plumber because our pipes froze and burst. I was at senior school. Rarely did we get sent home due to lack of heat. We had to put our coats on!! By the time the teachers had enough (we could see our own breath) and complain, then, and only then were we allowed home! Shucks I can feel it now lol and I'm in my 70's!
My dad and other council workers were constantly out clearing the snow from main thoroughfares. I recall temperatures just below -20C being recorded in parts of the UK.
I remember it so well I was 10....we lived in Valley Anglesey Wales, my father was in the RAF
I remember it well, I was just 15 years old, still at school, we had too walk there. Think about 2 miles, we still had to go. Happy days.
I was 5 years old & I remember the winter seemed to go on forever. My mates & I were frustrated because there was no space or level ground to play football, it was all ice & snow. I recall the excitement when the great thaw began in March. Slowly but surely we got glimpses of tarmac & pavements with each passing day. It's funny how you take such things for granted.
I was 11 years old it was fantastic thoroughly enjoyed it .Still love snow now when we get it.
I’ll always remember it because I was a marine engineer in the RN serving on board HMS Whitby in South Africa, their summer! Read about the freeze laying on a beach and realising that we wouldn’t have been able to get alongside because Portsmouth harbour was frozen.
I was less than a year old and lived with my Mom and Dad in a rented room with shared bathroom and toilet. Of course I don't remember any of it but it's amazing to think that living like that was normal for many people. I hear today's youngsters complaining of hardship.......they haven't got a clue.
We were living in Amersham on the Hill in Bucks at the time. The first I knew was opening the door to find it fully blocked with snow and having to push it away to get outside. We'd had 3 foot of snow on Boxing Day and it didn't thaw until the middle of March. Soon after the original fall, it was followed by freezing rain which made walking on the slippery surface hazardous. The temperature never rose above freezing for the whole time and plunged down a long way during the nights. We kept a fire going the whole time, but the insides of the windows were caked with ice. Each morning we would pick up dead birds who'd huddled round the chimney for some warmth, but didn't survive. As the weeks dragged on, the sparrows etc. got so tame when being fed, they almost took it out of our hands. At first my children enjoyed the novelty, but as the snow got grubby and icy and they still had to go to school, they lost their enthusiasm. I had to traipse down the hill to catch a bus to work, because we couldn't get our cars out to the main Road. They didn't snowplough the suburbs. It was certainly an experience I wouldn't like to go through again. However,. we got through it O.K. except I slipped over and cracked my ankle just before the thaw and spent 6 weeks in plaster, but it could have been worse.
I was living in Windsor at the time, delivering paraffin door to door. We had to light fires under the crankcase of the vehicles to get them started. My friend drove an austin 7 across the frozen Thames above Windsor bridge for a dare!
It started snowing on Boxing day 1962 and snow still lay on the ground in March 1963.
I remember it well, got married in 1963, still snow on the ground.
@@patriciasilverton9218 I ges that was a great day for a white wedding ha x
Yes..! Proper winter weather. Once we have left the EU we will be able to have our British weather back, none of this whishy washy European weather. Balacavas, knitted gloves and proper boots and coats. Ah the good ol' days...Ha ha!!!
@Niran Ogunlana Er, a sense of ironic British humour helps here...!
You are aware that the rest of Europe has way colder winters than the UK, even parts of Spain get way colder than the UK in the winter
@@bobbymills7186 HI there Bobby, I was being ironic.. A Joke about the weather and Brexit.. British Humour Please do not take my comment as an actual climate comment. Its a political joke... OK no harm or offence meant..
@@bobbymills7186 Roseline's post is British Humour , have you forgotten what that is?
Well remembered as the last time our family ( I was 9 ) spent a Xmas together and this was in Kent. My father suffered a stroke a short time after and later died after nearly two years in hospital. The snow was deeper than i was tall I remember and going out to feed the cows and ducks ( on my uncles farm ) was a military operation.
The snow brought almost everything in the area to a halt. My dad had to dig the family out of the house because the snow was above the front and back doors. There wasn't much to do and a lot of people were confined to their houses, so I'm told anyway, and since I was conceived during this period I should say my life depended on it!
I remember my parents talking about it. My dad said it was so cold the birds froze to death and fell out of the trees.
Will we ever see weather like it again in the UK? I was 8 years old, walked with my mum to get paraffin for heating. We walked over a double-decker bus caught in drifting snow, only the roof showing. (and we lived in a cardboard box and worked 25 hours a day!!)
Started work August 1962 aged 15 in Reddish Stockport, the winter seemed never ending the garage had a pot belly stove and we had one dustbin of coke
to last the week helped out burning oil filters . Marple canal had 1000s of fish dead under the ice.
I remember it well had to get up at 5.00am to do my paper round. I was 12 life was much simpler then. Nice bit of nostalgia although I did notice the Morris Van with the ladders on top wasn't registered until 1966 which goes to show that harsh winters were more common in those days. Thanks for the memories.
I was six and we were living in Doncaster, but I can't remember anything of this at all. I probably thought it was normal.
Marcomanseckisax I was 7 and also living in Doncaster, glad you said that as I have very little recall of it!
I was 18, and remember it well! My dad still went to work, and I managed to get to school. We lived in Essex, and travelled everywhere by public transport.
I remember it well - drifts above the hedge line and knee deep in other places. Great as a 14 year old - helping to dig out the post office van and the grocers delivery van stuck up impassable country lanes ! L
Very evocative for those of us who recall. I know our school stayed open and we lived by the seaside, and the sea froze over