The winters of 1947 and 1963

[ChrisJB]

Dear Folks,

Does anyone have any memories or tales from these two severe winters? My dear old grandad would recount tales of winter hardship here in SE Lancashire, from these two years, when I was a kid and they have stayed with me ever since. With our miserable winters today, I would love to experience one like them!

I have pretty decent memories of 1979 and it seemed a hard one to me, but my grandad said it was 'nowt compared to a 47er'.

Regards, Chris

[Paul mabbott]

That would be 1946-47 ... don't know if it was colder than more recent winters but it would certainly have felt colder because people didn't have central heating, double-glazing or even so many clothes at that time!

[ChrisJB]

From what I was told, 1947 had terrible blizzards, with colossal amounts of snow. 1963 was more infamous for it's bone -chillingly sub zero temperatures for weeks.

Both sound magic! In reality, I'd probably be snivelling after a week and crying for my mam!

Regards, Chris

[eeyore]

my old dear always claims that there was so much snow in lincolnshire that year that it burried a train - but i have always been a bit sceptical about that - tho as i wasnt born til '73 i'm not really qualified to comment.

[Garden Carpet]

I remember pictures on television (1963) of people cut off in the snow and food being dropped to them. I lived in scotland at the time and had a glorious time sledging etc... being only a gal at that time...
jaki

[Tursiops2]

I remember the winter of 62-63. I was nine. We lived at East Molesey, on the Thames near Hampton Court. For the first time in centuries, the Thames froze over, and our Dad took me and my little sister for a walk across the frozen river at Hampton Court Bridge. It was a magical experience and the memory is one of the most vivid of my childhood.

I also remember, that winter, going tobogganing down the side of the Hog's Back in Surrey. There were some local kids there, but rather than a wussy wooden toboggan like ours, they had this huge great sheet of corrugated iron, bent up at the end, which seated about four people at a time. We had a few goes on that . My cousin was with us, and one of my favourite memories of him was watching him come off the toboggan (ours) at the bottom of the hill, head first into a snow drift, and hang there, suspended upside down, head buried, for a good 30 seconds before falling over. I creased myself. He's now something substantial in the Foreign Office.

Tursiops2

[kathrynat]

I was born during the severe winter in 1963 and had to born at home as a result. When I was older my parents told me that in 1963, the estuary close to our home froze over. There were photos in the local paper of people standing on the frozen river close to a railway bridge.I still live in the area, and the estuary has never frozen since.

[John]

I remember the winter of 62 / 63 in a bit of a bad way. I was a steam engine fireman and had been firing a Black Five engine on a goods train to Sheffield. The weather started to close in badly and we were pulled into a siding whilst they let a few passenger trains through first. The trouble was that the snow was coming down that heavy that the tracks soon started to disappear under the snow. By the time the signals went up to let us out we were well under snow. We started to pull out of the sidings (we were well back from the points) and the snow started to impact to such an extent that we derailed before reaching the points onto the main line. I Had to walk quite a distance to get to a phone in atrocious conditions, dropping into deep snow drifts at times but I eventually I managed to get to a phone to alert the nearest signal box to our plight.

So bad was the weather that they could do nothing for us as by then a decision had been made to close that main line as a passenger train had derailed further back down the track.

They couldn't get to us and we couldn't get to them and we were stuck in that siding for over 24 hours before the derailment further down the track was cleared and the snow ploughs had cleared the line enough to allow a rescue attempt for us.

Even though we had a fire to keep going it was still bitterly cold as the cab was open to the elements, plus by the time we were rescued I was flippin hungry.

It certainly was something that I will never forget.

John

[smartie]

I wish you hadn't started this thread - I was 13 in the winter of 1963 but I can't remember anything unusual about it. Or anything about 1963 at all, really. It's worrying me no end - I knew I was losing brain cells but surely there should be something in the memory banks I've got my MiL staying with me. I'll ask her tomorrow morning what I should be remembering.

[Hornbeam]

I remember them both. Only a child in '47 but I still remember the snow drifts and blizzards. School milk was frozen in the bottles. We broke the glass and held the frozen milk in our hands like lollipops. No central heating of course and your breath froze on the inside glass of your bedroom widows. Getting out of bed was agony! Even at school we only had one coke burning stove in a classroom. The ink froze in the ink wells overnight! Vehicles were totally buried in snowdrifts and I'm pretty certain that trains got hopelessly stuck and buried too.

I962/3 lasted longer. I seem to remember that it started to snow in November and lasted until March. Snow came up to the bedroom windows of my parents' north London house. We just got on with life, but it was hard and even the kids got tired of the snow. It was deep and hard and permanent. Ponds and lakes froze hard and so did water pipes. Many houses had great bursts of spectacular icicles on the outside from burst pipes. I was in the Army and spent most of that winter digging people and vehicles out of enormous snowdrifts much higher than your head.