Worst winter
1947, it started late January and went into March, I had joined the Army and it turned out to be a good thing, at least we got fed and had some warmth many in the Towns and Cities did not. Rail and Road communications came to a halt, Coal and Food could not be transported, Farms and Country Villages were totally cut off and to make things worse the Austerity was at its deepest with things rationed that had not been in wartime.
Pathe News showed pictures of snow up to the roof tops of houses with people digging themselves out of their houses, I have no memory of seeing a glimmer of sunshine whilst digging trains out in the wilds of west Durham, then came the floods in March snow melted but the ice did not give so water stood on the ice causing more mayhem, we had tracked vehicles that slid around on the ice, the unit had several wounded with broken bones from falling over.
Some say 1963 which was bad though those of us who saw the winters of 1940 and 1944 will also remember how bad it was, the Battle of the Bulge happened in December of that year.
What are your own memories of bad winters, last years floods will be lasting memories for some. At a time when we did not have Central Heating my memories are all of much earlier times, what are yours.
Frank.
Posts
I grew up in Gt Yarmouth and in 1963 would have been 6 years old. I don't really remember the snow etc but I do remember being taken to the river mouth and watching great chunks of ice flowing down the river and in the sea.
Presumably much of the ice came down from the Broads which have restricted water flow - but I think that was the year when some rivers and areas of sea froze over.
I was at work for the big snow of Feb 1979. Yarmouth was completely cut off and the snow drifts were up to the roof of our bungalow. No question of me getting to work as it was 15 miles away and all the roads were blocked. My mother tried to walk the 3 miles to her work but gave up when she sank up to her waist in one drift.
It only lasted for a few days so nothing like the 1947 / 1963 winters but fairly exciting at the time.
The town was also badly affected by the 1953 storm surge and my grandparents' cottage was flooded to the ground floor ceiling. My grandmother never quite recovered from that experience.
I remember the winter of '63 Topbird. I was 11 years old in the January and we lived on a farm in a tiny hamlet in Mid Suffolk - we were cut off for what seemed like weeks - no snow ploughs or bulldozers - my Pa and the farm workers and the men who lived in the cottages around us used their garden spades, grain shovels and whatever there was to dig a single track into the next village 3 miles away. It took ages as Pa was a good six feet tall and couldn't see over the snowdrifts. The pond at the edge of the farmyard was frozen absolutely solid and we children were allowed to play on the ice without supervision!
It was fun for children, but so hard for my parents on the farm - tractors wouldn't work as the diesel in the engines had frozen, and of course all the farm animals and poultry needed their water troughs filled up at least twice a day - that had to be done by getting buckets full of water from the kitchen sink as all the pipes and taps in the farm buildings were frozen. No one had freezers full of food in those days, so we lived off of whatever there was in the cupboards, lots of soda bread was made, and soups from dried pulses, tinned peas and beans, and carrots and potatoes etc in stores and whatever could be salvaged from vegetable gardens. Pa would take his shotgun and go out for pigeons, pheasants, rabbits etc that were lurking around woodland and the thick hedges where the snow wasn't so deep, and Ma made sure that villagers had eggs. The other farm in the village had dairy cows, so they made sure everyone had milk to drink. Several chickens met their Maker a bit earlier than planned and provided meals for a few families.
The snow on the fields wasn't as deep in some places as on the roadways, as it had drifted in the wind, and a girl of 17 who worked at the bakery 8 miles away walked across the fields to get to work as she couldn't get there on her Lambretta scooter, and then stayed there until the thaw.
Eventually the roads were clear enough for the milk tankers to get through and collect the milk from the dairy farms - that was the most important thing - then the regular deliveries from butchers, bakers etc began to be resumed and life began to return to normal ............... oh, and eventually the headmistress of the village school was able to get through in her Morris Minor from her home 10 miles away, and the freedom and fun ended and we went back to school ............
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Dove you gave me a shock, I read it as "Several children met their maker a bit earlier than planned providing meals" should have gone to spec savers.
Frank.
I remember the winter of 63 when the snow came up over the tops of our wellies. Every family in the streets in the town was out at the crack of dawn shifting snow so we could all get to school. There were little narrow paths snaking everywhere. No traffic moved for days. Not sure now if we had snowploughs back then or not.
I think if it had gone on much longer Frank ....................... I'm sure there were some people eyeing up the more sturdily built of us ................
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Dove, I would never dare say "sturdily built" in the presence of a Lady. Juanesque, Ruebens type but never what some of the uncouth would say such as " Brick toilet" square with a leg each side, children can be cruel.
Us from farms and smallholdings did tend to be better fed, I have memory of some of the very poor families in our village where children had Rickets. We had active Toc H, mother was in it, Church volunteers and others handing out food parcels during hard winters, some could not afford fuel for a fire often the only way of heating water or food. Dad would fill a sand bag with coal, take that to Mrs so and so, her husband was in jail for raiding a market garden for some roots, times were hard for some when the weather was warm, winter was hell.
Frank.
I remember the winter of '63 but was 10 years old so, apart from being very cold getting dressed for school and being expected to drink frozen school milk, it was fun.
The worst for me was Jan 6th 2009. Winter had already been cold for a couple of months but that night I got back from dancing and the temperature was -25C at 10:30pm on the sheltered south side. During the night it went to -32C on the exposed north side with frost rolling down from the fields behind. It stayed at -25C for several days but then warmed up to -20 or so for a couple of weeks.
Huge losses in the garden - roses, clematis, evergreen shrubs, conifers, assorted perennials and aquatic marginals.
We had long winters there. In 2007 it was still all frozen at Easter but -15C was the norm for a few weeks in Jan/Feb. -20C was exceptional and usually accompanied by insulating snow. Deep cold without snow is just devastating for plants.
'Brick toilet' is very refined Frank. In Suffolk it's a Brick sh**house, and a sturdily built girl would be called 'a whool mawther'.
Whool to rhyme with wool.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Dove, you hit it, very refined, that is me, the girls in York next to Cavalry Barracks called me a proper Gentleman, I took my spurs of in bed.
My Granddad used to tell me to marry a well built country lass, she would know how to feed me and have babies without stopping the potato picking? I think he meant it.
Frank.
'63 is the worst I remember. We were living in Gloucester and travelling up to my Gran in Scotland on Boxing Day. Taxi couldn't even get into our road so we had to drag cases down to the main road. No fancy wheels on cases then and I was 12 years old.
Travelling back on the train and the snow was higher than the carriages. Got home to discover the decorator's in the house (RAF so told, not asked, about decorating). The decorator had on-going work in all but one of the rooms so we all had to bed down in there. Mum complained to the Clerk of Works and the decorator was sacked on the spot!
What really upset me though, was to discover later that the snow had collapsed onto the line shortly after we passed through and the line was closed for nearly a fortnight. If it had happened earlier I'd have had 2 weeks off school and been able to stay with my Gran longer.