The Winter of 62/63 memories

Just posted on the Valentine's thread and realised lots of forum members will have memories of the extremely cold winter of 1962/63.

I was born in Feb 63 so no personal memories but my mum was taken into the maternity hospital 2 weeks before I was born because of the snow that winter, in case the roads were blocked when she went into labour. It was only 3 miles away and, because my Dad didn't have a car at the time, his friend too Mum in his removal van (no she wasn't that big)! Can you imagine the NHS inviting expectant mothers so early into hospital just in case!

Anyone over 50 have memories of that winter? My parents had moved from Yorkshire to the Lancashire coast before I was born and my older sister and brother had been really disappointed in the lack of snow at their new home the previous year, but they both remember that year, a local lake frozen solid and even ice in the sea.

Jude xx

Ooh Jude...had no idea you were sooooo much older than me
No memories, but I know how shocking it was.

Taking that as a complement Jayne...I think! My secret? Never staying with any brand of skincare to the end of any pot, I'm such a product ho! That and a daialy intake of creme eggs (at the mo).

Jude xx

I was nine and remember a friend's father building us an igloo in the cul de sac. I don't remember the schools being closed though, of course we all walked to school in those days anyway so no worries about school transport. I remember having coal fires in the classrooms, gawd I'm old. :sad:

Akimbo said:

Taking that as a complement Jayne...I think! My secret? Never staying with any brand of skincare to the end of any pot, I'm such a product ho! That and a daialy intake of creme eggs (at the mo).

Jude xx

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for the protein......of course........

My brother and sister were nearly 9 and 11 when I was born and they'd brought their wooden sledge with them in the move from Yorkshire (It was like the one in "It's a wonderful life"). Unfortunately the Fylde coast is completely flat so it stayed unused in the shed until I was old enough to leave home! They walked to school everyday during the 63 winter, but in those days most of the teachers lived within walking distance so our local schools were never closed for a snow day. We had another deep freeze in my teens, though it didn't last nearly as long, and I went skating on a nearby boating lake.
Our house got central heating in about 1970, I remember it being blummin cold upstairs, the bedroom I shared with big sis had lino on the floor.

Jude xx

I was 8 and due to travel back to my horrible boarding school in Belgium so was delayed. My parents said as a test that I wasn't going back again and unfortunately instead of being overjoyed I gave the impression I was upset so I ended up there for another 6 years.

Akimbo said:

Taking that as a complement Jayne...I think! My secret? Never staying with any brand of skincare to the end of any pot, I'm such a product ho! That and a daialy intake of creme eggs (at the mo).

Jude xx

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oh that is me to a tee! I think the only range I've actually finished and repurchased is the nspa we've been on about in another thread - but I do like to have a change and I think your skin likes to have a change too.

I would've been 14/15 in 1962 and leaving school/starting work, and odd as it seems I really can't remember anything of the bad weather!

My mum was pregnant thru the hot summer of '47 and I was born at the end of August - poor old mum!

I wasn't born, but want to wish Jude a very happy 50th xxx

I lived in Surrey and can remember staggering to school with the snow going over the top of my wellies. The snow was 2 feet plus deep. Dad was a consultant physician and was often called back to the hospital at night so he had to park his car on the main road and walk to the house because, with very little traffic along it, it was virtually impassable.

I don't know whether it's just me but the winters in those days were always 'winter' ............ snow, cold weather, pea souper fogs etc. The summers were always a dry heat where you got hot when outside, but you could go back into the house and it was cool. Nowadays, we seem to get any old weather that's flung our way during the winter (including thunder) and the summers (when we don't have monsoon conditions like last year) always seem to be muggy and humid.

Or has age fuddled my brain? :wink:

I was 14 so remember it well.

It started snowing on Boxing Day and it went for the next two months. I think at one stage there was over 30 consecutive days of frost. There were several feet of snow in places and people were skating on local lakes.

The hill in a nearby park had several bomb craters from the war, about 8-10 foot deep and they were level. We had lots of laughs walking along and suddenly disappearing! Plenty of tobogganing fun to be had for weeks and I certainly don't remember the schools closing.

I would hate it now, but being young at the time enjoyed it, despite no central heating!

Frazzled said:

I would hate it now, but being young at the time enjoyed it, despite no central heating!

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I'd forgotten the 'joys' of no central heating and the fun of 'huffing' on the windows to clear the ice off them INSIDE. I can also remember the coal fire we had and sitting there watching the sparks at the back of the fireplace and calling them 'fire fairies.' Sheeeshhhhhh ............. I'm old!

I was 8 at the time and remember my mum going to great lengths to get me to school which was on the other side of town (her fault for sending me to a school so far away).

I also remember terrible fogs when I was young.

I'd forgotten the smog. I remember going to London by train on a school trip when I was 7/8, to the circus I think. We were caught up in the smog and I remember several of us being very ill for a while after. Pea-soupers as they were called.

Now I feel old! In the fifth form at school and about to do O levels, we would have been doing the mock exams very early '63. My school was a good few miles from home and recall many occasions trudging there and back in feet of snow. Even once on March 1st, St David's Day, when we were allowed the afternoon off, after the school eisteddfod. Happy days!

Toril said:

I'd forgotten the 'joys' of no central heating and the fun of 'huffing' on the windows to clear the ice off them INSIDE. I can also remember the coal fire we had and sitting there watching the sparks at the back of the fireplace and calling them 'fire fairies.' Sheeeshhhhhh ............. I'm old!

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ooh..and making toast in front of the fire - no taste like it!

I've got a photo of me, aged 10, and my younger brother standing on the banks of the frozen Thames. I'm so sorry you won't get to see it but I'm wearing the most atrocious knitted bonnet thing with a boys oversized duffel coat!

I always had coats etc too big so I would grow into them and a lot of boys things so that aforementioned bro could have them afterwards :angry:

It was a very long cold winter but I don't recall schools ever closing....

Disenchanted said:

I've got a photo of me, aged 10, and my younger brother standing on the banks of the frozen Thames. I'm so sorry you won't get to see it but I'm wearing the most atrocious knitted bonnet thing with a boys oversized duffel coat!

I always had coats etc too big so I would grow into them and a lot of boys things so that aforementioned bro could have them afterwards :angry:

It was a very long cold winter but I don't recall schools ever closing....

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I'm sure they didn't, but nowadays they seem to close when the first snowflake falls. My school was closed one Monday in January, which was only the second time I remember that happening since I've been teaching, after 6 inches fell at the weekend. The reason given was 'site safety.' As far as I'm concerned it's Health and Safety gone mad! The snow hadn't melted at all by Tuesday, but we all went in, although local staff were asked to walk to work if possible. So if we went in on that day, then why were we off the day before when the snowy conditions were no better? Mind you, a day off was nice. :wink:

I can also remember that during one of the infamous smogs (before they introduced smokeless fuel,) we had our Carol service. Mum and I walked home afterwards and the fog was so thick that we completely lost our bearings (despite having lived in the area for years.) We ended up getting lost and we tromped about in virtually zero visibility for quite a while. Then mum realised that we'd turned left out of the church instead of right. So we backtracked and eventually found the church and had to start our journey home for the second time.

Those were the days ........eh?

What a lovely thread!
I remember the ice on the inside of the windows. I slept with my younger sister in a double bed normally, but when it was very cold my older sister used to join us - 3 in a bed with the youngest in the middle. My mother put so many blankets and eiderdowns on us that we could not turn over!
No one wanted to get out of bed in the morning. We dressed under the blankets vest, liberty bodice and two pairs of knickers. Porridge for breakfast and then putting on the clothes to walk to school. We looked like penguins. It was hard to keep your arms next to your body and there was no way you could just turn your head - you had to turn your whole body.
I remember the gas oven turned to 'low' in the kitchen, a paraffin heater on the landing, a roaring fire in the sitting room and the dread of needing to run upstairs to the loo.
People seemed to have a lot of chilblains in those days too along with interestingly coloured, mottled calves caused from standing in front of open fires.

I wasn't born until the following winter....It actually makes a lovely change NOT to be able to remember something as if it were yesterday - thanks Jude! If I ever mention the "great storm" we had, I get loads of blank looks, or they say my mum/nan told me about it!