THE WINTER OF 1962 63 video Colin C

I was only about 3 at the time so I cant remember it happening. But growing up family always mentioned it. Whatever the winter had been after they always said it has not been as bad as the 62-63 winter. So in doing this video I have learned a lot more about this realy bad winter. And how people coped. It seems today if we have a couple of inches of snow the country comes to a standstill. I think they were prepared back in the day. And they were a generation that took it all in there stride and coped whatever hit them. This included my family who kept me safe from any Harm.

[@Dibley8899]

I remember it as months of snow and ice, walking on the frozen river, sledging, ice slides at school, and hot water bottles in bed. Always remember the good times, and Britain was a far happier place even though money was scarce compared to the rot of today. I look back and feel glad that I have lived in a free society, where people thought the same and were free of diversity crap, corrupt police, and spineless politicians.

[@sicr7373]

How right you are, society was much better in Britain back then.

[@nevillemason6791]

@@sicr7373 Ah yes, the wonderful utopian society when women did as they were told and you had informative notices on guest houses: 'No blacks, no Irish, no dogs.'

[@KathysFlog]

🤣@@nevillemason6791

[@sicr7373]

@@nevillemason6791 There's always one!

[@ken9660]

Yes when women knew their place utopia indeed 😂

[@onthemove301]

Message to all teachers in 2023. Schools did not close. We just got on with life without too many complaints.

[@nevillemason6791]

The difference in 1963 was nearly every child walked to their local school (usually on their own) and schools had full time caretakers who could clear paths and playgrounds of snow. I was 10 in 1963 and I walked home (to an empty house) from the age of 8. My mother returned from work an hour later. It would be illegal to do that now.

[@solentbum]

On day one of the snowfall a small group of us from our village got to school, in Town 3 miles away, crammed in the front of a passing LandRover driving by a local farmer. Most of the teachers didn't make it to school nor did most of the other kids.

[@ruebencover5795]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@MrJinxmaster1]

Get on with life? Okay gramps, let's see who can go upstairs to take a shit and be back downstairs in less than an hour.

[@howareyou857]

​@@nevillemason6791it's not illegal

[@anthonywilliams6764]

At one minute and thirty seconds of your lovely film, there is a photograph of a road sign marked " BLAENAVON" which is the town where I was born in 1945. At the time this photograph was taken, I rode my motorbike from Rochester in Kent to Blaenavon, in order to visit my grandmother who lived there. The journey went from Rochester, to London, and then via the A40 road to Oxford, and at the town of Witney, around midnight, my motorbike lights failed, and a kind police sergeant allowed me and my mate who was riding on the pillion seat of my old BSA, to sleep in the prison cells of the old police station in Witney. At 0600hrs. he chucked us out where we continued our journey to Burford, Gloucester, Monmouth, Abergavenny, and finally in late afternoon we arrived in Blaenavon, to a bowl of lamb stew made by Grandmother. At Monmouth we had two punctures in the tyres, by riding over an exposed manhole cover which was covered in snow, and this made life interesting, to take off the wheels, tyres, and inner tubes and to warm up the glue for the patches on the exhaust pipe in order to get the patches to stick to the inner tube. Our return journey was slow, cold, and found us crossing Rochester Bridge at midnight , where a lovely policeman stopped me and fined me two pounds for riding without lights on my bike, because the snow had filled up the dynamo. The next morning, at 0730 am. I was back at my work, where I was an apprentice engineer, at the now defunct Shorts Aircraft factory on Rochester Esplanade by the river Medway. Tough times in those days, but you know what they say about Men of Kent !!!.

[@lizholmes2730]

I was 5, first winter going to school. No school closures in those days. They did keep us in at break times as it was warmer. Wrapped up in wool coats, hats, scarves, gloves etc jumpers and cardigans on in class, wee cold wet feet. Sensible teachers told us to bring dry socks and sandshoes... Left sandshoe's at school. I went home for lunch every day as I lived 5 mins away... Home into a warm kitchen, big bowl of soup and a hot pudding and back to school with dry socks in pocket... No central heating, coal fire in kitchen electric one bar in bedroom. Bathroom was absolutely baltic.... Bedroom had a carpet but hall and bathroom were linoleum... Oh cold feet. Ice inside windows . My sister and I shared a room.... During this time we shared a bed she was a few years older than me and she had a hot water bottle and I was usually warm... So she was happy... She called me her wee hot pie!!!! As we cuddled together. I am now shivering at the memory of the cold....

[@johgrant]

Liz, this comment made me smile. I was 5 too, first winter going to school (in Scotland). I had to walk to the primary school, nearly a mile outside the village, wrapped up like an Eskimo. On arrival at school we were allowed into the cloakroom between the two primary-one huts where there was an huge, piping-hot radiator. In the house we had a black cast iron Rayburn range in the kitchen and an open coal fire in the living room. There was no central heating. Upstairs was, as you say, utterly Baltic. Getting ready for bed was like preparing for an Antarctic expedition: hot water bottles were obligatory, I wore a woolly sweater on top of my pajamas, two pairs of thick woolly socks and a balaclava to bed. We had a huge old cat, called ‘Darky Joe the sad old Padre’ (named, I think after a character in a Graeme Green novel, before political correctness was even a concept) who sneaked into my bed and slept at my feet, purring throughout the night. I loved that old cat. He continued to sleep at my feet after the great freeze and lived to be 23 years old. The drainage pipe from the upstairs bathroom froze, and we could not flush the toilet for days. My gran made a makeshift brazier and lit a fire round the cast iron drainage pipe. That eventually melted the blockage, but we were all terrified that the pipe would shatter. One morning my grandfather opened the back door to find a complete wall of snow, up past door height. I had that day off school because it took him hours to dig us out with a tiny shovel. He needed to dig us out so that he could get to the coal bunker where he found that the coal had frozen solid and he then had to dig it out with a pick. Magical memories.

[@caroltweedie9729]

I remember it as a child aged 9 years. It was cold but we were fine with 1 coal fire going.Would love to travel back to those days again with great community spirit and strong families.

[@VMM34]

I was born 1960, Lancashire, and when I read all the "community spirit" comments I get really sad, my family didn't experience any of that. Why? Because my mum was a German war bride and that did not go down well at all, especially in northern England!

[@vincentl.9469]

@@VMM34 👏

[@followthefocusofficial]

It will never be the same again. To many woke and/or corrupt parasites out there now. Shame but never going to go back to life life that unfortunately.

[@Zionist-Created-Migrant-Crisis]

Aye the coal fire is something I really miss.. only trouble was the chilblains you got when you went in to get warmed up after playing in the snow. My old uncle used to cook all of his meals in a pan that was put on the fire, I remember him showing me how to skin and gut rabbits.. then he would cook rabbit stew for us. My first job was a Coal man and I loved it, even though it was donkey work.. Everyone talked to each other back then and we used to be made to go around shovelling the snow off the old folks paths when we were kids, which is a rare sight these days.

[@solentbum]

My wifes cousin was moaning that 'Christmas isn't like it was when we were little', she was forgetting that you get out of life what you put into it. Christmas was great because of the effort that her parents put into making it so, not because it was a 'special' time. Community Spirit and strong families comes from you and me, not some mythical times past. As for one coal fire, give me a well insulated house anytime.

[@silgen]

I was four at the time. Imagine going through all that in a house with no insulation, double glazing or central heating, with only a single coal fire in the living room for heating. We had to dig a tunnel in the snow from the back door to the coal bunker, and be careful with the coal as well as you didn't know when another delivery would be made. I'm glad I was just a kid, it all seemed great fun and a big adventure, but it must have been a nightmare for the adults.

[@user-yl1xy5eg7b]

We lived in the middle of the country, and used to chop wood which we left to dry for months at a time. So it was a bit easier for us than city folk. I hate to sound like the Hovis ad, but school was a couple of miles away. I had to walk up a small, single track road. Every time a car appeared, I scrambled up the snow covered banks to let them through. "Our dad used to love that bread"!

[@keithwright4921]

Remember,it well,

[@keithwright4921]

We still walked to school,as well, 🤠 Keith Wright, now 77 🍻

[@vincentl.9469]

If we had a winter like that now.. I doubt the solar panels and heat pumps, wind turbines would keep the lights on

[@Cymruohyd]

Our parents looked after us well, throughout.

[@OldhamSteve52]

My wife was born 1st Jan 63. Her mother pushed her in a pram 2 mile to hospital as her husband cut half his finger off at work. What character people had in those days. Few had cars and telephones. Did my mother in law complain no. She had a disabled son as well at home. What a woman. RIP. Always in my thoughts.❤

[@beano3868]

A generation were we got on with it ,I was born in 63 sept and remember writing my name on the window when it was frozen on the inside ,I wrote it backwards so when I looked up on the way to school I could see mt name imagine that now .

[@amandaduggan9051]

I was seven in 1963 and lived in a village in the West Country that was hit really bad. The snow drifted above the top of our back door and the windows. We went sledging every day as the local school was closed because there was no coal for the big cast iron heaters in the classrooms. The headteacher brought homework to us most days! Our house did not have central heating but we did have a Rayburn and my dad used his digger to dig his way out of the village and collect coal from the coal merchants on the main road, so we and the neighbours could keep our fires going. We made sure we fed the birds and the wildlife as so many animals were suffering and unable to find food. When the big thaw came there were floods. Hard times for some, especially the elderly but communities helped each other in those days.

[@tmac160]

I was 11 at the time living in Co Durham. It was hard but not even a day off school. People then were a different breed. They had a "can do" attitude, unlike today. Benefit culture has cost us dearly.

[@graemestarkey7524]

No different to today. But don't let that stop your rose tinted myths.

[@sayitlikeitis8759]

@@graemestarkey7524truth hurts eh?

[@tomdavidson5719]

"Must Do" attitude!

[@janethoughton4387]

​@@graemestarkey7524😂😂😂😂

[@domsumner7307]

Its not that, theres nothing wrong with helping people who are in need. Dont talk like that or you might find yourself in a wheelchair one day as a lesson. The issue now is people have depression and all sorts of dopamine depletion due to technology and drugs (alcohol/coffee) etc. They dont have the same desire that people used to

[@Caskchap]

2 worse winters since the war are allegedly 1947 and 1963, but I can name two worse ones Mike & Bernie. People of a certain age will agree.

[@colinthegeordiehistorian10]

Lol

[@davidmoore1477]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 They were f.... terrible! You're right! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@ernestinehemingway7799]

I found them inane! but of the dominant persuasion prevalent at the time in light entertainment, a talentless twosome.

[@davidmoore1477]

@@ernestinehemingway7799 any body that found them funny, is a complete idiot! Shnorbitz, really??? 😉😆😆😆😆

[@davemarriott]

They were about as funny as treading in cat sh*t.

[@woodyspooner]

I was 7 years old in 1962, l remember living in a house, in Kent with ice on the outside and inside of the windows, water pipes freezing up and bursting, no central heating no insulation, but some how we managed to carry on. I noticed in the video that a postman was still delivering the mail. People back in 1962/ 63 were made stronger stuff. These days, if more than a few millimetres of snow were to fall on the ground in the U.K., everything grinds to halt. 🌨☃️

[@jase6709]

Everything grinds to a halt because councils don't grit the roads.

[@woodyspooner]

@jase6709 That's right, councils don't grit the side streets, the railways get the wrong type of snow on the tracks, people panic buy bread, and milk, shcools close, airport's cancle flights, etc etc ❄️❄️❄️

[@paulgriffin2872]

Although I mostly agree, the main reason everything grinds to a halt now is mainly due to the volume of traffic on the roads (so much more than in 1963) and peoples inability to drive in snow and icy conditions. Health and safety is another issue as well in the modern world, if a 1963 winter happened now you probably wouldn't see a postman for 3 months😂

[@bobthebinbag5949]

I was also 7 years old and we lived in West Sussex, a little village called Sompting just a 10 minute walk to the sea front at Lancing, I remember this winter so vividly because I had to go into Worthing hospital just 3 days after Christmas 1962 for my tonsils taking out and we travelled to the hospital by bus along the sea front from Lancing to Worthing and the sea along the shore line was actually frozen , I came home from hospital in the New Year, snow still very much in evidence. My Dad bless him had saved me the chocolates off of the Christmas tree but sadly and much to my annoyance my throat hurt to much for me to eat them lol I so cherish the memories from my childhood, so special. 🥰

[@user-mu8ot2fn9p]

I was born New Years Eve 1962, my mother had to walk through snowdrifts for several miles in labour before the ambulance could get to her, thank you for the montage, her words never truly described what she went through to ensure I was safely delivered in the local hospital.

[@brokenspellinnit8999]

i was born 'new years day' 1963 at home downstairs in front of the fire coz' it was so cold,,,

[@maddog8621]

Wow!!! I was born in the Summer that year. In an attic. I had it really easy by comparison!

[@davidhorn6008]

They don't breed Women like that anymore!

[@tonyhanson1439]

January 24 1963.downstairs in the front room.😮

[@kevinclark2856]

New Years Eve 1962 same but 1961 good old times

[@robwilde855]

Very nice video, compact but containing a lot of information in the pictures. I'll just say, though, having been a teenager working on a farm in Derbyshire at the time, that although farmers lost livestock, a certain amount of that was accepted every winter, so it's truer to say that they lost more than usual - not quite such a shocking thing. Other trades and professions didn't suffer unduly, because no one thought of staying at home off work. If it was too far to walk to work, normally you cycled or went by bus, and if the snow had temporarily prevented that you just set off earlier and tried some other route or got a lift with a lorry or something that could get through. Only frail or ill people stayed in. Most old folk were hale and hearty and did their part in the snow-clearing most days. Similarly I never heard of any school closing. We all walked to school anyway; snow, no matter how deep or drifted, was no great obstacle for an active scrambling child. We were more likely to be late from spending too much time on the way snowballing or tunnelling in the drifts. Drivers of the far fewer cars that were about then, knew perfectly well how to drive through snow and over ice, because in most winters there was a week or two of that at the very least. If you got your vehicle stuck people just helped to push it or someone would come with an old Series 1 or 2 landrover, or a tractor, and pull you out. We didn't suffer particularly from the cold, apart from achingly cold and wet fingers and toes [sent out to play in the snow with knitted woollen gloves!], and again, this was accepted as a part of every winter, as was admiring and then scraping off Jack Frost's fantastic patterns from the inside of your window panes when you got up every morning [having taken rather longer than usual to get to sleep because of the sheer weight of blankets over you]. Bothersome draughts in the evening when the wind was up also normal; anyway we all sat round the fire - coal or logs - lovely! - and made toast and told stories or occasionally listened to the wireless [radio]. Hardly anyone had a television, not so much because they couldn't afford one, more often because they were considered to be vulgar nasty intrusions taking too much of people's attention away from the harmony of the family. On the whole people just carried on in whatever way they found they could, and stayed cheerful. Having made an allowance for the bias of nostalgia [and being a philosopher and psychologist I think I've done that fairly adequately], I would very happily return to a world where people related to one another in the way they did then. A world that was free and vigorous of speech with no fear of political-correctness zealots, and no absurd controlling of people and unwise manipulations of economies by edicts of stupid politicians in league with dishonest 'scientists' and globalist businessmen. Where possessions were much fewer, and there was a natural hardiness and native resourcefulness that seems to have dissipated now and almost disappeared. None of our super inventions [and I've also been an engineer] are worth the loss of all those qualties. Didn't mean to go on so much, but - such great times! Thank you for the video.

[@patricianathan4676]

Well said, I survived the 1947 winter. Many babies got gastroenteritis and most of those hospitalised sadly died. My mother kept me at home and saved my life by giving me boiled water, I was born September 46. We moved to Derbyshire when I was 10 and experienced a winter of walking on top of the hedges because the snow was so deep. The villagers had no bread, so a group walked to the next village where they had a Baker, bringing enough for us all. Life is so beyond all that now!! WCL

[@gtavmj-1852]

Bloody loved that post! And thoroughly agree ... and I'm 46,... my nan made me feel like a family member, as time has moved on I too look back with a kind of aching sorrow.... THOSE were the days I felt ALIVE. these days everything seems just .... false, insincere, and rushed. Thanks for your insight, very much enjoyed reading that.

[@Arty53]

Well said . I was 10 years old and remember being below the snow level . I have rich memories of saturated woollen gloves ,wet feet , and a coke stove in the kitchen , keeping the whole house warm . In the following year my dad bought a Landrover series 2 . 😂

[@stephenmiller8058]

Enjoyed the video and your thoughts. I was born in February 63. I was there but missed it so to speak

[@frankhornby6873]

robwilde...wow! I read War and Peace quicker than that..😬...(jokin')...yeah I was there 14yrs old in '63....playing out in that deep snow was absolutely brilliant!...and our school never had to close...like they do today if an icicle is seen on a window cill...

[@clivebennett7985]

I was 8 years old. I remember walking to school in wellies and short trousers with snow up to my knees, my bottle of free school milk was frozen and we stood it on the radiator in the class to thaw it out.! It my be just nostalgia but we seemed to have proper winters and summers back then

[@tonyjesshope6861]

I remember it so well. Boxing day 1962. I had a paper round that year and made the most money ever in a week delivering papers. I was the only paperboy who turned up at the newsagents that day and the following few days. Walking through snow drifts, delivering newspapers. It was magical.

[@loopyloo788]

What a lovely memory to have tony. ❤️

[@FrankE.Cromer]

I had a paper round to then. Had to walk my round, couldn’t ride my bike. Morning and evening rounds in those days.

[@peter7624]

I remember standing at a bus stop on the outskirts of Liverpool, holding my dear Mums hand at about 8pm, in the dark, during a blizzard, while the snow piled up around us. I must have been about 9 or 10 at the time. Happy days! Great video, thanks for posting.

[@johnjackson1658]

I was a sixteen year old apprentice walking to work at the colliery through this every day , we had worn a path through it every day which got filled in every night with drifting snow…our job was to keep braziers going next to large pumps to keep them working pumping water out of the mine to prevent flooding…it was an amazing time…John.

[@leslieham4550]

I was 15 at the time and lived in the East Midlands. Our Edwardian house was extremely large and we were fortunate enough to have had a new solid fuel boiler fitted in the cellar the previous autumn for the central heating. My father had chosen to leave his family a couple of years before and it was left to me to keep that boiler going 24/7 otherwise the house would have frozen - and so would we! I can recall seeing coke burning in the chamber. The noxious fumes were dreadful but it kept us alive. Cleaning out the residue was quite some task. Once we even managed to afford (somehow) to have anthracite - which burned almost white hot - and left hardly anything behind. Even with that heating going 24 hours a day the windows froze on the insides - the ice about a quarter of an inch thick. I still walked to school somehow every day - almost two miles - with some roads having drifts about 12 feet high. You often could not see the houses behind the snow. The schools never closed in my town. You battled on - and we lived.

[@metalmicky]

Wonderful memories , I can also recall not being able to go anywhere during that time , I was nine then and we lived in Sherwood , opening the door we were confronted with snow that had drifted to the top , we had to dig ourselves out using a small hand shovel , the garden an easy two feet deep in snow. Your mention of stoking the solid fuel boiler reminded me of watching my father raking out the clinker and refilling it. But we got through it, my lasting memory was that there was still ripples of crusty snow by a sheltered wall in June ! Gone but not forgotten.

[@leslieham4550]

@@metalmicky Thank you for your memories too, Micky. You obviously had very similar memories to myself. And I recall opening the back door to be faced with literally a wall of snow where it had drifted. It does make us wonder just how we did get through it when children these days are not allowed to even have an icy slide in the playground on which to have some fun. The school could be sued these days if dear little Jason fell over and grazed his knee. I thank you too for reminding me of the word ‘clinker’. I had totally forgotten it. It actually was fairly hard work trying to keep the house at some acceptable temperature as the boiler had to go out and cool down slightly to be able to clear out the debris completely. Anthracite was the answer - but at a considerable cost. It burned so cleanly and left hardly any ash behind. I still remember having to walk down the middle of the roads because that was the only area clear enough to get through (presumably caused by both drifting and any snow ploughs that the Council used). Folk these days would not believe that even with the heating blasting out condensation on the inside of those plate glass windows actually froze on the inside and the ice was, quite literally, a quarter of an inch thick. We live to relate the tale. Many people have suffered far worse. My Mother was pregnant with me in the dreadful winter of 1947. She then, prior to my being born in the August, had to suffer one of the hottest summers on record. I was three weeks overdue and entered this world weighing 10 lbs. 6 ozs. That must have been quite some year for her! (and me, come to think of it. No wonder I cannot bear very hot temperatures - I was probably roasting inside her!). I feel now I have a soul mate!

[@SupportMensMentalHealth]

Not sure what year it was but really bad snow some point in the late 70s, our school said if we can't get there safely don't come so my dad, old git, made a sledge and dragged me to bloody school, I was gutted. We were talking about this yesterday (2.1.24). We lived in Billingham, near Middlesbrough and stockton. Good Times really, kids these days haven't a clue what hardship and resilience really means.

[@TheSecurdisc]

It was a 'Kennedy' moment for me. It was 3pm Boxing Day and I was playing with my new train set. I was 9 years old. I shouted out 'its snowing'. It did not stop, on and off, for 2 months. The next morning the snow was to the top our house door. I was so excited. A few days later I walked to the seafront. Lying on the stony beach were dozens of dead sea birds, all types, some very big. Never seen that before or since. As a child it was all magical.

[@arto59s]

Thanks for this. I was 8 and with my two sisters, and with local kids who go to the same Primary School, we battled every day to go to school. Our mother tied us together with scarfs, put on our wellingtons and duffle coats, and off we would go to school. I cannot remember the school ever being closed. The teachers were all local and could walk into school. One teacher would sometimes join our scarf line. Worst day was when we found ourselves on the snow bound railway lines, over twelve feet above the road we normally walked along. Families on our estate helped each other to clear the piles of snow so we could get to the shops. My dad, and other workers, walked to work where/when possible. In those days, adults and children could battle hard times, people didn't rely on their cars, didn't travel log distances to school or work, and snuggled together if the coal ran out. One night I wore 3 pullover and socks with 4 in a bed.!

[@petergroverd6626]

Watching this film has brought tears to my eye as my Dad told me when I was born along with my twin sister in Feb 1963 he could not get to Sefton General hospital to visit 2 babies who where very weak and not supposed to survive. He was always sad that he could not get to our Mum either because it was neck high of snow in Liverpool. Myself and my twin did spend many a happy year with them both before they passed. on. Thanks for the post.

[@ianjthompson4715]

I was 12 years old in 1962-1963 Big Freeze and i can remember that winter. As an active birdwatcher since 1958. I do know that half of the UK wild bird population died in that winter! But every night after school all of my friends and myself enjoyed going out sledging after school which never closed and all day at weekends as well as snowball fights. Thanks for that film. 🌞🌞🌞

[@colincooper-gw7zf]

I was fourteen, our school never closed, it was an amazing time for us youngsters. But my mother who was frail died we think because of the weather. 😢

[@gazza2933]

Sorry to hear of your very sad loss at that time. Too right about the schools mate.

[@howardjones7370]

@@colincooper-gw7zf: I’d just turned 14, and yes, not a single day of school missed, that was a harsh winter!

[@colinsmall8170]

I remember dead birds under trees in snow,especially Pigeons,Dad said what they managed to find to eat had frozen in their crop and choked them.

[@lindaf7485]

I was 10 during this winter and clearly remember going to school with snow coming over the top of my wellies and making huge long ice slides in the playground. We ran out of coal as the coal lorry couldn't get up the hill so spent many hours in the kitchen with the gas oven on. We had a paraffin heater for the other room. The day mum went down to the shop and they had run out of paraffin was terrible. It's the only time I ever saw my mother cry. The next day the thaw started and the coal lorry arrived. Hallelujahs all round! I can't imagine how we would cope with such a winter in this day and age. Thank you for stirring some precious memories. 😊

[@stananders474]

I was 11 years old. Lived in North East England. I remember it well. I loved it lol.

[@carolineputus1482]

I was eight years old that winter, and lived in a Hertfordshire village. Our little primary school was a two mile walk away down country lanes and a river towpath. The school didnt close and I remember sitting in my classroom, wearing my navy blue gaberdine mac and red and white hat and mittens knitted by my mum. Trying to write while wearing mittens was fun (not)! I remember walking on top of the hard frozen snow, ice slides in the playground, making toast with toasting forks over the coal stove, ice on the insides of the bedroom windows (not unusual in winter), snow glittering in the moonlight. We were hardy, full of fun and adventure, and had a warm, loving family, and a warm (two downstairs rooms heated by a Parkray coal stove), happy, secure home. They were good times and I would go back there in a heartbeat. Thank you for the video ❤

[@misst.e.a.187]

You were a child then. Different being a mother trying to cook, wash and clean for a family, plus getting to another job through all that. No thanks.

[@mikeykany1973]

Lovely words.

[@petergates8570]

What part of Hertfordshire.? My mother and father were from Stevenage they were living in little static caravan down a lane in this winter.how it never killed them I'll never know.. people where much hardier back then.just got on with it.

[@carolineputus1482]

@@petergates8570 ​@petergates8570 We lived in Broxbourne. Yes, I think people were hardier and, in some ways, happier in those days! We just got on with it, didn't we?

[@petergates8570]

@@carolineputus1482 yes I think people were happier.my old nan and grandfather where old Romany people living horse drawn wagons.theyd say we could be down a country lane.we didn't know what day it was and didn't care either..they'd say hard life but good life..bought up ten kids lived till 90

[@senianns9522]

I lived in South London, went to school as a 10 year old everyday! Shoes always damp then frozen on the walk. Coat on in the classroom. Cold in my mothers house and bed was probably the best place to be! Seemed like the cold went on for ages! Thanks for the memory!

[@grigorisgirl]

Same here. The playground turned into a giant slide. Our classroom was a temporary building (at least twenty years old!😅) across the playground and our monstrous old teacher Mr.Cook would grab two boys by the shoulder and use them as a human walking frame to avoid falling over walking back to the class after break!🤣

[@hughhardy3357]

I was 22/13. I remember digging the drive out for dad coming home, driving through the snow of course. He still drove 30 miles to/from work.

[@HighWealder]

Me too. I remember the council workers shovelled the deep snow off the roads onto trucks and near me dumped on waste ground beside a railway. The mountains of snow remained until the summer and we kids played on them.

[@Isleofskye]

I was in the heart of S E London then, as a 9-year-old. We moved to The Outer London Suburbs 40 years ago. Are you still there, please?

[@johnthompson6059]

I was born January 25 1963. This is the first time I’ve ever here’d of this severe winter. We lived in Sheffield in an old terraced house and the toilet was down through the cellar and across a cobbled yard. My parents must have kept me nice and warm. Thanks mum and dad.

[@deniseharris1853]

Superb video, it brought back a lot of memories. My youngest brother was born in the December of 1962, and I was itching to take him out in his pram for a stroll. He was three months old before we could finally take him out. People struggled to get about back then, but there was a better sense of community than there is in todays world!

[@tonycamplin8607]

I drove my motorbike to work every day during that winter, through Kent a journey of 22 miles each day, everyone just carried on. The snow on the edges of the road was well over my head with only a single cleared track, it was very scary. What's often forgotten is that the pervious winter was also very bad. Over the new year period of 1961/1962 the whole of southern England came to a halt due to snow. I was in London that new year's eve and the roads around Trafalgar Square were covered with virgin snow, it was a unique sight. By the way we had to walk back home to Croydon Surrey because no transport was running.

[@fredblogs]

As a ex London person, that is quite a walk. Was born in Carshalton.

[@tonycamplin8607]

@@fredblogs At that time I lived in Purley but one of our party lived in Croydon so we only walked to his house.

[@fredblogs]

@@tonycamplin8607 Bet that kept you occupied for hours.

[@barrykemp1397]

I remember those days well, getting to work was the devil of a job but we did it. Experts of the day said we were in for a new ice age and we must reduce pollution to reverse the trend! Powers that be brought in 'clean air acts' and 'smokeless zones'. People had to change from coal fires to gas or electric. Factories and Mills had to only let chimneys smoke for so many minutes per hour, and it worked! Winters got better summers warmer, kids stopped asking santa for a sledge, nowhere to use it! No more 'smog', great. Then mount St Helens, I think it was, erupted, and the weather, certainty in this part of the world took a turn for the worse again. Oh dear, new Ice age on the way again, no, after 3 years, when all the dust fell out of the atmosphere, we started to warm up again and have been doing so ever since but they are still calling for reduced pollution, that's what started the warm up isn't it? Now it seems to me that if your greenhouse gets too hot and you need to cool it, you don't take a wash leather and clean the windows, you take a bucket of whitewash and paint the glass to reduce the effect of sunlight, or is that too simple. I'm no expert, never went to University, just spent 83 years so far, living on this planet watching so called experts messing nature up. What do I know?

[@johnr7769]

I was ten years old when the snow first came. The kids in our street were still on our Christmas break from school. I remember helping parents dig out a channel in the 3 to 4 foot of snow along the crescent road in which we lived to the main road. This allowed the milkman, the baker, the butcher, the grocer, the postman and most importantly the coal merchant to make their deliveries. The gas and electric were never cut off. The only hardship I remember was having to walk 3 miles to school (in shorts, knee stockings, shoes and duffle coats) when they re-opened as usual in the New Year.

[@michelles2299]

Duffle coats what happened to those we all wore them and I remember my gloves on a piece of elastic run through my coat sleeves so I wouldn't lose them

[@peter7624]

Yeah, I had a duffle coat too. If they were good enough for the Navy we couldn't complain.

[@seanrathmakedisciples1508]

We suffered in Ireland as well with this snow and frost. I was only 11 years old and helped out on farm . The birds came into our sitting room for shelter and warmth. We were not allowed catch or frighten the birds but to feed them daily. We had to keep our animals alive by feeding and giving drinking water. The 1947 snowfall was bigger and started in March 17th. Some snow still lasted until early June. Farmers couldn’t plough their headlands because of snow

[@seanrathmakedisciples1508]

Yes the world has changed since then. We never had locks on our doors. Neighbours came in nightly to have tea and chats .

[@colinmccarthy7921]

I remember the winter of 1962-1963.I was born in the Bonny city of Newcastle upon Tyne.I am proud to be a Geordie.Howay my Lads and Lasses.❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️.

[@colincooper-gw7zf]

I was 14 yrs old, it snowed from December to March, for boys my age it was continued fun as we were ignorant of the hardships others went through. Our school never closed and we all continued on in life. Looking back now I would say it’s the worst winter I have ever experienced, in fact my mother died in February and I believe it was the hard winter which helped in her demise.

[@colinthegeordiehistorian10]

Sorry to hear about your Mam passing away Colin. That winter was bad I was only 2 but was reminded of it a lot by Mam and Dad growing up. I loved the winters back then but hate the snow now lol.

[@mickowen3318]

lets do it again i was 12/ 13

[@Eric-jo8uh]

Now you would need counselling, and the WHO would be demanding you have a vaccine and a myriad of drugs…..for your good, and be content with their decision.

[@artfuldodger4850]

Like Colin I was 14, had two paper rounds in the morning and 1 in the evening. I was surprised, as living in Sheffield surrounded by hills, I never missed a day either at school which as far as I knew never shut, or my papers, because of the snow which I do remember. We also had a coal fire in the dining room with a back boiler for the hot water. Dad worked in the steel industry at the other side of Sheffield about 7 miles away and cycled 6 days a week. Life for elderly people must have been very difficult but people did work together to clear paths and roads but apart from frozen taps in the bathroom, I don’t remember people complaining, just got on with it, my parents who were the baby boomers parents, had all gone through the war, knew hardship.

[@joodznaturelives607]

@@Eric-jo8uh Well said 🙄👏👏👏

[@BJHolloway1]

You mention that it paralyzed the country. Unfortunately not enough. I was a teenager during that time in the London area on the Essex border and I can't remember that we lost any school days during this specific . Yes it was very cold, there was some snow and a lot of fog, but our school soldiered on.

[@olwens1368]

And ours- in the central belt of Scotland..

[@steveyewman]

My mother often recalls that winter, she has good reason to. She was 25 and pregnant with me and my twin brother ( although the doctors didn’t know about him until he was delivered 20 minutes after me!). Imagine being pregnant and trying to get to work, the shops, the hospital etc. They were a much tougher generation, they just got on with life with great stoicism. Thank you for showing me what I was protected from.

[@victorrowley7494]

In 1963, I was 17, and my brother was 22, we both rode motorbikes, but as mine was only a 200cc Triumph Tiger Cub, I was a pillion passenger on his 350cc Velocette Viper. On the second weekend in February of 1963, we rode from Coventry, in the midlands, to the Welsh Dragon Rally, held the other side of the Horse-shoe pass, in north Wales. The roads were treacherous, and at one point we were nearly wiped-out by the out of control trailer on a big articulated vehicle coming towards us. But we made it to the rally, and from what I can remember, we were one of just a thousand people who managed to get there. It was a very cold night, which we spent next to the massive bonfire; lying fully clothed in between the fire itself, and a tree-trunk log we’d rolled out from the fire.

[@markshrimpton3138]

I was born in 1958 and this was the first winter of which I have definite memories. I started school in February of ‘63 and recall trudging through the snow with my mother. Wee boys wore shorts back then; my little legs were freezing. Of course as was fairly normal, we had no central heating or double glazing, just a coal fire in the living room. I have a vague impression of my dad up in the loft dealing with frozen pipes; no lagging back then either. Our lives were less complex than now but it caused utter disruption and many deaths.

[@christinedavison7604]

That year I was 14 and can remember still having to trudge to school. Luckily my Dad was a miner so we had plenty of coal to keep us warm, at least in our living room and kitchen. Upstairs was like a blinking ice box, no central heating back then , it was a water bottle in bed and a quick dash to get into bed. In the morning it was a quick dash downstairs to get dressed in front of a roaring hot fire . But most of us survived.

[@daviddarrall9384]

I was born in '44 and remember '63 very well. Even the running Brook near our home froze solid. The sea froze at Eastbourne! It just went on until beginning of April. 😊

[@ghh712]

I was four in December 1962, living in South London, and can remember walking with my Mum and Dad across Blackheath in the snow on Boxing Day. I can also remember walking to the shops with my Mum and her telling me to be careful because it was so slippery before she inevitably slipped flat on her backside and also going sledging in Greenwich Park, where I came off my sledge and disappeared into a snowdrift. Life carried on though, we still got milk and post delivered and, obviously, there was no internet or social media and only two TV channels; how different to today's world!

[@davidoldboy5425]

I was nine, the things I remember are the windows in my bedroom frozen on the inside, my dad opening the front door to see a wall of snow that we had to dig through to get to school (Yes snowflakes, nothing closed). The other thing was chilblains as we all played outside in the snow, and boy were coal fires great to come home to and sit round at night (no tv in our house then)

[@junemcquaide9726]

Ours was the same ,he opened the front door and laughed as it was a wall of snow ,the drift was on ourside of the street.😂😂

[@jackmchammocklashing224]

I was 15 and just started work in a department store, no busses, I bought a pair of fur lined boots, and walked the two miles to work every day, to sell Ironmonegery Despite the weather we were still quite busy, Mainly people buying spades, shovels and salt plus home repair articles Got home much later every night, and believe me it was very cold

[@merlin1346]

I remember this vividly as a young boy of 8 in Leamore, Walsall. I actually went out to play in it, not unusual at the time as kids were far more adventurous up till the end of the 60's. It was difficult in those days but Lord how I miss them.

[@fertysurfer]

I was six and still remember it. Can't say i remember all the hardship it bought, only the great fun we kids had playing in it and endlessly building ever bigger snowmen.

[@onlyme972]

Back then most people had coal fires. Today with all electric homes you'd be in deep trouble

[@herrflick1244]

Grandad had a full fire blazing. He died 9f hypothermia and was well wrapped up as well. I was nearly 3 I still remember him. He was found dead by my uncleccom8ng h9me from work😢

[@davidlauder-qi5zv]

But what you are forgetting is that coal deliveries were frequently interrupted by coal lorries being unable to get through the drifts. We often had to drastically ration our use of coal for that very reason. And nobody could afford to keep electric fires on all night, remembering also that most electric fires were small and only had a couple of bars to heat a whole room. A vivid memory of many of us who live through 62/63 was that you would wake up to find that ice had formed on the INSIDE of bedroom windows. Nobody had central heating or double-glazing in those days.

[@michaelwilliams3232]

Remember walking with Mum to the local coal supplier, pushing the pram home loaded with 2 or 3 bags of coal (3 cwt), knee deep in snow and treacherous icy pavements, I was 8 years old and frozen. I developed a fear of icy surfaces and to this day walk with pigeon steps in winter. In 1970 I'd just started work and leaving home one January morning found the pavement was thick with sheet ice, to my horror. The journey involved a steep downhill route into town.

[@colinthegeordiehistorian10]

Memories Michael I know I am no good now on anything with ice on it. Loved it back in the day. Thank you for the comment much appreciated

[@studebaker4217]

Memories of this winter in the NEh of England aged 12. Amazing, but life certainly did not stop the way it would now for sure - think about that!!

[@niklar55]

I remember it too! I took my mother to Norwich, from Ipswich, on the rear of my motorcycle for some Christmas Shopping. When we arrived home again, she was blue in the face from cold! I'd told her to double up on everything she wore. Like TWO pullovers, TWO pairs of socks, etc. but she ignored me. She never did that again! RIP. Mum.

[@rabbit64sj91]

I was born the following winter (thankfully!), but my parents have always told me all about the winter of 1962-63. They had only been married 18 months at the time of the 'big freeze,' & were living in Norfolk, East Anglia. It caused all sorts of problems for them, frozen water pipes etc, but they carried on as best they could in the circumstances. They've just celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary, on 1st of July. Thank you for the video, very well put together. 😀⛄

[@colinthegeordiehistorian10]

Cheers Rabbit thank you for the comment. 62 years that is wonderful. People back then just got on with things and didn't moan about it great generation of people. Take care

[@rabbit64sj91]

@@colinthegeordiehistorian10 thank you for the lovely message, it's much appreciated. You are right about things, and people, being very different to nowadays! All the best, Tim ☺️

[@budbud2509]

I was very youg at this time , but back in those days when I look at the records there was a lot of talk of a coming ice age , unsurprisingly . Now we know that the climate never stops changing

[@cuhurun]

Hi rabbit. I was born in Norfolk during November '63. With such a long, protracted period of cold forcing people to stay indoors it's perhaps understandable there was a mini baby boom the following winter. Not many families had tellies back then to keep them occupied, eh ? Cheers !

[@rabbit64sj91]

@@cuhurun funnily enough I was conceived in Norwich in April '63, just a month after the big freeze ended, so you make a good point there, haha! 😂 🤣

[@toke7560]

Many thanks for rekindling my memories of those times. I was only 12 and to us kids it was a great time. I don't remember it being hard, just fun. I would return in a heartbeat.

[@colinthegeordiehistorian10]

Glad you enjoyed I was 3 at the time so I cant remember only what my Parents used to tell me

[@toke7560]

I do remember we never seem to get cold and we loved the snow.@@colinthegeordiehistorian10

[@TenCapQuesada]

I was 8 years old and my abiding memory is of my dad bringing in a frozen sparrow from the garden. We tried to warm it and nurture it in front of the fire, but of course it died. Never been a winter like that since. Of course, in those days before most houses had central heating we often had ice on the INSIDE of the windows at night. I sometimes wonder how we survived!

[@user-ze7hn2om4w]

Great pictures I was 7 years old and remember it well,Lived on a farm,still had to go to school .

[@166light6]

Ah the good old days! Yeah I'll always remember this winter.

[@andrewjohnalbrighton6140]

I can remember my father saying about this winter as he had just started on the old Brandon and Byshottle Council just before it was merged with the City of Durham Council . He was only on for a few days his manager came to see the lads on the sites . They were told they had two options either go home and get no wages as it far too cold to work on the building sites as they couldn't get the water or go out and help shovel around the streets to clear the paths and roads. My father being the grafter he was took to the shovel to keep the money coming in to the house as my grandfather had been laid for the time as the injuries he received during WW1 reopened and my grandmother had to look after him again. My grandfather had to retire from work all together during that period of bad weather. My father enjoyed his break from plastering without losing his job or wages. Cracking and informative video Mate.

[@colinthegeordiehistorian10]

Cheers Mate loved reading the post. Men were men in those days.

[@Puzzoozoo]

My Dad was also a Plasterer. Just saying.

[@user-TonyUK]

Just a few years older than you (born in 1957) But I remember that Winter of 1963 with fond memories of walking a few miles over the fields and local hills in Grimsby, with my brothers and sister enjoy the peace and quiet until my youngest sister fell into a ditch easily 3 or 4 times as deep as she was tall. DID NOT like the constant cold, no central heating in those days.

[@glynluff2595]

I remember it well in Norfolk. In Norwich the main water supply froze in the roads. This was relieved by hooking up electric welding generators to the pipes, metal then, and then from road to private houses. Cars were driven down the river Ant and we walked across Barton Broad, not without terror when the ice ‘spoke’. Old locals laughed saying ‘When she groan she bear and when she bend she break’! In the county you could walk across the tops of hedges the snow was so deep. When the thaw came I was taught to drive on ice in an ancient Austin Se7en. Great days!

[@robg521]

I was born just after Xmas this year in Norwich, while my older brothers and sister played outside in the snow as a new born I wasn’t taken outside for 3 months,

[@rosiew1952]

Another amazing video Colin, I wasnt even born then , but the pictures and Information say it all. love the music in your video,s

[@colinthegeordiehistorian10]

Hi Rosie thank you so much glad you enjoyed. Hope you are well take care

[@sarahstrong7174]

Hi, I was also born in 1960. I was born in London. I remember the food shortages in London due to the lorries being unable to deliver. I remember the local supermarket. I remember the shock.The only food they had left was a few cans of very expensive things such as artichoke hearts. There was plenty of washing up liquid & scouring powder & wire wool. We had to stand in a long queue slowly edging forward to the counter to be allowed to buy half a loaf of bread per family, wrapped in a bit of torn tissue paper.

[@chasidahl8563]

Superb video, Colin. Informative, emotional, respectful and pitch perfect music. I was 3 years old at the time of this incredible winter, but have many clear memories of walking through the snow passages, the biting wind and the overwhelming relief of relief of reaching home with my Mother. You are correct- what a resilient generation! Somehow we kept going. Our families kept us safe & warm. An important episode in our individual & collective history. Thanks for the post 👍

[@colinthegeordiehistorian10]

Hi Chasidah I was very young so I always remember being told how bad it was. I remember some bad ones in the 70's growing up but when your young you love the snow. I like it now but just looking at it through a window lol

[@Mr356boy]

This will happen again I'm sure, Imagine with all the crazy health and safety nowadays, we'll be in a right mess.

[@davidkennedy8929]

And all the climate change zealots will be saying, “we told you”

[@user-yl1xy5eg7b]

One winter after the war my brother turned blue in the cold. My mum went and begged the coal merchant for coal. She'd already lost twin girls during the war, and I think that she feared losing another child.

[@vincentl.9469]

@@user-yl1xy5eg7b the Winter of '47 was also very harsh. I think these things are cyclical...the world was going through a cold phase perhaps

[@user-yl1xy5eg7b]

@@vincentl.9469 Yes, it was. We are emerging from a cold period. See Prof Jørgen Peder Steffensen's work on ice cores, going back 10,000 years. The average global temperature for that period is 2 to 2.5 degrees warmer than currently is the case. "We live in the coldest period of the last 10,000 years", Danish climatologist and glaciologist, Prof Jørgen Peder Steffensen.

[@procta2343]

the country goes on a panic for a sake of small dusting now, Christ knows what will happen, if we had another bad winter like this.

[@professorfromyorkshire]

I was 15 and we went up the dales sledging. A rattle under the metal runners meant the top rail of a farm gate was below us. We dug caves into massive drifts and felt relief from the bitter cold. It was hard having no water and we were a family of 7. Our back yard was full of snow around 7 foot deep. Many sheep died and I helped a local farmer Mr Parker deal with them. They were frozen almost solid. I’ll never forget that year, oddly any photos our family had were from around 1947.

[@billybatson2149]

As a young twenty year old living in Central London I remember it well especially as I worked in a job with lots of walking involved. The big problem was all the icy streets that had been partially cleared had lots of rock salt on them which caused constant wear on shoes, often I put cardboard in the soles because of holes in my shoe soles. Oh to be twenty again, even with that weather.

[@birdlover7690]

I remember 1962 only too well. I was 5 at the time and tried to keep my brother off the sledge we shared and we had some heated arguments about who was going to use the sledge next. Those were the days of innocence

[@tonyb83]

Thanks for a lovely film with such nice captions. I was 16 and remember it well. Its sad to see the not so nice comments people are making, ah well thats life now, 60 years on. What a pity.

[@jacquibown9648]

I was 10 and I remember my dad having to walk a couple of miles home from work. He was like a giant icicle when he walk in through the door, took him hours to thaw out, no central heating and ice on the inside of the windows in those days!

[@frenchsteam7356]

I was 15 in 1962 and remember standing on the top of a telegraph pole and the snowdrifts were the same height! Walked to school some days, and watched a class N10 clearing the local branch with a 16t mineral with its brakes pinned down acting as a snow plough. [it worked!]

[@John2E0GTU]

At our school, around the end of Feb the snow melted on its top surface and then froze leaving an ice rink on top of the snow. The children had the task of stamping on the ice to break it in to small pieces.

[@melvynnixon2374]

Couldn’t agree more with nor add to Dibley 8899 ‘s comment. So I’m not the only one with this view. Thank you for the video and the brilliant postings especially you Dibley 8899!

[@terencemeikle534]

Beautiful video. Way better than having someone talking over moving footage. The still pictures, captions, and haunting music capture the very essence of that extraordinary time. Perfect. 👌

[@McConnachy]

I live in the north east of Scotland and its still prone to bad winters. I wasnt born at this time, but in 2010/11 we had a winter like this, snow lasted from October will into February, we often got below -20 every night for weeks on end and not above freezing. The river nearby froze with up to 40cm of ice and the sea started to freeze in places. I have seen -27 in 1977, that was also a brutal winter. A few years back, Cairngorm mountain ski slop had to stop because the snow depth was 9 meters. Skiing last till June that year

[@pshearduk]

I remember the 2010/2011 winter.. I was in Fort Augustus and it was -20. I also remember growing up in Yorkshire and it being a bad winter when I must have been 7 or 8yrs old.. that must be the 77 winter you mention. I remember one morning opening the back door and being snow blind for a few seconds 😊

[@McConnachy]

@@pshearduk Aye, I heard you can get bad winters in Yorkshire. We had a lot of bad winters in the 1990s. One Christmas morning I walked out of the second floor window into a snow drift, that’s how bad it was 😂 A neighbour, lost his new car, a BMW under a drift. When we got the thaw, we found we had walked the cattle home over the roof, it was written off.

[@paull8726]

I remember it well, I was 6 years old. The horrible smog early in December then the snow falling on Boxing day. Two things stood out to me living in London, the snow piled up between the road and the pavement so we could try to walk to school (our school never closing), and the milk bottles that had been delivered with the frozen milk rising out of the bottle with the foil sitting on top of a finger of frozen milk.... Everyone helped each other, wth neighbours knocking to check peopple were OK.

[@susannefitzpatrick9955]

Remember it well. Scary, isolating but to a young kid - Heaven on a Stick!!!

[@rogercook6360]

I was born in January 1947 which my mother told me was a far worse winter than 62/63. My birth was in the local hospital in Middlesex and she along with me were not allowed home for two months due to the snow and extremely low temperatures. So at 1963 I was 16 years old I do vividly remember this snowy cold period with only one room having any heating with an open fire as there was no such thing as central heating then. Ice on the inside of the bedroom windows and the Friday night bath in front of the fire shared by me first, then Dad followed by Mum ! I was in my final year at school in 63, my school didn't close so it was a cold walk or cycle ride there and back. Thanks for these iconic memories and photographs of a bygone era !

[@kevinbridle1831]

I was 5 years old and can still remember seeing the snow drifted up over my mums front windows, not as deep as some but as we lived by the sea it was amazing, the snow lasted well into April.

[@davidmoore1477]

Hello Colin Nice video I was born Christmas Day at 8:30 pm 1962 and was kept in an incubator for a week, due to being born with yellow jaundice. I can only imagine what my mum , dad and all of the hospital staff must have gone through to keep me and the other babies ok! No need to get into what I can remember, people would think I'm nuts! I do remember my dad holding me up at the front door and showing me the tunnels the local kids had built between each other's houses. That memory could not be fabricated!

[@colinthegeordiehistorian10]

Hi David thank you for the comment much appreciated I love hearing peoples stories. I can only imagine what it was like that winter. Mam and Dad often spoke about how hard it was. But that generation were tough and just got on with it. Thanks again Take care

[@angelawatson7740]

Thank you this montage was beautifully put together. I would have been in heaven with all that snow. I despair every time we only get an inch of snow and the UK comes to a halt. I love the snow and have fabulous memories of walking to school with snow piled either side of the pavement , making snowmen and snowballing , with the coal man stopping and telling us to separate the snow ball and make sure that there were no stones, coke or glass in the middle. As that is how he lost his eye . His brother bombarded him with snowballs only for one to have a piece of coal in it. I will save this video so that I can show my Nieves and nephews as they don't believe we used to get snow.

[@davidspion9548]

I was born in November 1962. My parents often told me about that winter. I grew up loving the snow and I still do to this day. Imagine today's society dealing with what they endured back then. It would grind to a complete stop. People were made of tougher stuff back then.

[@robertwalker1742]

I was born in 56, and remember going to school every day in wellies with plastic bags on your feet.

[@debrarawle6603]

I remember walking over hedges, as a small child, the snow drifts were so high that only a slight undulation in the landscape denoted where they lay. I also remember my fatherpouring away gallons of milk which could not be collected. The cows still had to be milked but it was a slim paycheck at the end of the month.

[@markthomas5914]

This makes me so sad , as the community spirit we had back then will never be seen again

[@deeharper2482]

Just seen this beautifully put together production. I was born in November 1962 so I was completely ignorant of how bad it was. My mother had only been in the country for a year. She was from Singapore, so you can imagine how difficult it was for her to comprehend the British weather. I remember her telling me that all the squaddie women - my father was in the Royal Air Force, got together and supported each other throughout this time. Thank you Colin for showing us this beautiful presentation. The images were a fascinating glimpse of a hopefully bygone weather.

[@drend182]

I was 6 and living in Sheffield. I remember queuing with my mum with a bucket, to get water from a tanker that had driven down our street. I also remember mum being realy determined to get me to school, dragging me through snow piled taller than I was, but here was a blanket of snow covering everything and after a while we realised that we couldn`t tell where we were going, so we had to go home. Such fun !

[@rosieclarkson4064]

Also 6 and living in Sheffield. Everything froze and there were many burst pipes, our houses were so cold. Best bit was no school for many weeks, I detested school with a passion, so happy days!

[@macca8562]

I can remember it as if it was yesterday even though i was only 6, we lived in a ground floor flat and i opened the curtains and the snow was above the top of the window and pitch black without the light on.

[@sandrahilton3239]

I was 10 yrs old that winter. It snowed on Christmas eve in Folkestone Kent and i remember it was on the ground till Easter. There were burst pipes all over our hotel, which my parents had just decorated and it was all ruined. Us kids built an igloo on the beach and yes, the sea did freeze. Us kids thought it was great, but i can only imagine the distress of the poor, elderly, homeless and especially the farmers. People who were sick had to be airlifted from remote areas. No one screamed climate change back then, it was mother nature and we knew it was unusual. Everything was uncomplicated back then, but i guess thats partly due to being a child. This video bought back long forgotten memories. Thank you!

[@truethought369]

Yes I remember that winter, I was 10 years old & the snow came up to be my bedroom window sill. We had to dig our way out of the back door! Then my friend & I went a mile to the shops for my mother. This was in Windscombe on the Mendip hill's. UK.

[@joodznaturelives607]

What an Excellent video 👏👏👏👏 I was 10 years old and I remember walking the mile to school Every Day and loving it! Life was fun back then and I am SO glad I am the age I am now. Imagine the pathetic response there will be when it happens again 🙄 Mind you, wokery would be suffocated under Huge snowdrifts 🤣🤣🤣 Thanks for the memories 😊

[@lilbullet158]

I too was born in 1960 so I cannot remember that winter, or if I do have any memories of it they have melted into memories of other childhood winters. Though I have clear memories of a particularly Bitter, sustained cold winter in the 1980's but I don't know which specific year it was. I actually watched someone take a shortcut home by literally walking across a Frozen Rutland Water Reservoir in Rutland, from one side to the other and (if you look on google images), that is quite a Large lake). A braver man than me.... :)

[@daviddarrall9384]

Amazing photos, thank you. UK.

[@GBPaddling]

Brilliant video, I was only born in '66 but remember Dad telling me all about this as they had just moved into to my first home. He said it was so cold all the paving flags lifted due being frozen beneath.

[@robertlangley1664]

We never had a day off from school, that’s when the country was a tough place and so were the people how things change

[@graemestarkey7524]

Yawn......

[@robertlangley1664]

@@graemestarkey7524 yes you are yawn

[@andyfenton1510]

I don’t think we were necessarily different, we were just living in the time. We didn’t know any different, so that’s why we got on with it.

[@peterhunt2723]

I was 20 in that winter, getting to work from my village to Nottingham was not easy but the busses somehow managed and we just got on with it, there were some days that were definitely “indoor play” though, the following summer was grand.

[@snapdragon2441]

Loved watching this and reading all the comments. I didn’t arrive in this world till 1969 but my husband was born in 1962 so would have been an infant at this time. I think we have lost something in this country over the years, there seems to be very little community spirit left.

[@victorseal9047]

I was in the British Merchant Navy and sailed out of Liverpool on the 20th of October for Australia as light snow started to fall…I thought "that’s early"! A couple of months later when in Brisbane I went to a cinema with a temperature of 38c /100f outside to see on the Pathé News the devastation in the UK thinking..I am lucky. 😮 On returning to Falmouth in April and taking a train journey up to Manchester I noticed that everyone on the train looked grey and weary in tune with the countryside where there seemed to be nothing growing. 😢

[@suziejames7510]

I was born in 1950 and I remember that winter having to walk 4 miles home from school one night as they stopped the buses. However where I lived in Co. Durham the November and December of 1965 was far worse. Our school was closed for two weeks, pensioners could've get out of their homes. I was 15 at the time and myself and other teenagers from the village helped dig people out of their homes and we would do their shopping for them. There were 8 foot snow drifts in the fields near my home and a local factory (Black and Decker) had to have parts helicoptered in. There were pictures of it in The Northern Echo I remember.

[@Peter-ix1ym]

Fascinating, I’m from that area to its great to hear about what happened back then as I wasn’t born until 1981

[@lindab8397]

Wow COLIN amazing video, and bought back a few memories, I do remember living in HENDON london , and to a kid it was brilliant. We had no central heating back then, and mum had net curtains up at the windows, that froze and were solid by morning. As kids it was hilarious 😆 . Dads pants dried like stiff board like our socks 🩲🧦. The garden was so deep, but not as deep as the north of England. I do remember it coming over the top of our wellington boots 👢. I also remember walking to school in such thick fog , you could not see the pavement or the road. So dangerous , I dont know why we even went to school, I think today it would not be allowed as would be to dangerous . But back then you were a lot tougher than people today . I never even gave it a thought as a kid how hard it must of been for my parents. Kids never do….. BUT they were the good old innocent days. I do wish I could go back in time , there are MANY things I would do differently now. One being ……. Appreciate my parents more . Seriously . As a kid you just know they are there to sort everything for you. And I think I was extra specially lucky , as I had the most loving parents , and I would not change that for the world. I WAS ADOPTED, and so glad I was . A brilliant life due to them no question about it. Both gone now , but if only I could turn back the clock and tell them both that .😑😑😑.

[@lindaandersson8980]

You don need to turn back the clock, just say how thankful you are out loud and they will hear you. They are not as far away as you think. Sending love

[@end-days]

My mum was only 19 when she had me then, so grateful she kept me warm

[@maureenjiggens3988]

I was born in 1947, my mum said the snow was up past her knees as my dad and grandma helped her up the hill from Prince Rock Plymouth to freedom field’s hospital, then in 1963 when I was 16, we got a call at work to say head home as soon as possible, but I was then living in Crafthole in Cornwall, just managed to get a bus to Torpoint ferry, but no bus the other side, met up with 8 others and we walked the 5miles home we walked along the hedge’s following the telegraph poles as the snow was too deep on the road, oh boy were we glad to get home, frozen to the bone, our mums sat us down by the fire with a cup of cocoa. But do you know what I wouldn’t change those memories for anything. Kids today have no idea what hardship is.

[@hirundine44]

Weather extremes always been around... Personally These days prefer winter and find it easier to warm up. than cool down. That one, was a doozy though... As an early teenager 1962 63. It was winkle-picker shoes and italian style thin nylon socks, skinny ties and once the early snow was done, by end of January in N. London was an endless dreeryness of frost and grey skies from the coal fires all around. The park across the road from my house saw toboggans on the hill. On the road a friend and I would push cars up the hill. If we were lucky? Earned a half a crown or two bob, for the push. !963, saw us go on a school journey to Austria for the skiing. Winter that year seemed endless and on the way home from Austria. Seeing grass for the first time in months, was heaven on the eyes..!

[@mickcardiff3044]

My brother was born on the 26th, boxing day 1962, the day it stated snowing in Shaw..❤ Great pics and lovely haunting music, well done..

[@colinthegeordiehistorian10]

Cheers Mick much appreciated I was 2 and a bit when it was going on. Pleased I cant remember it lol

[@mickcardiff3044]

@@colinthegeordiehistorian10 my mam and dad bought us, what I thought, was the biggest sledge in the world, well it was to a 3 year old..

[@mickcardiff3044]

@@colinthegeordiehistorian10 any more vids like this ?

[@colinthegeordiehistorian10]

@@mickcardiff3044 I have done the winter of 1947

[@rafthejaf8789]

I was 8/9 during that winter and I lived in Streatham Hill south London. Me and a friend built a sort of igloo under the snow and it lasted until April 63 when I remember us jumping on it to make it collapse. I also remember a neighbour who created a path through the deep snow across the road to his sister's flat and that also lasted for months. The snow was so deep that I couldn't see over the top when I used that path.During that winter the road was completely covered in deep snow and there was no traffic movement at all. Our houses were heated by coal and there were no deliveries but I don't remember how my parents managed to get hold of it but I do remember how cold it was that winter. All in all I loved it because being a child I found it fun but it must have been so difficult for people trying to work and make money. Thanks for this video, it is amazing to remember that cold cold winter and how we all struggled to survive!