The Big Freeze

[Newportnobby]

Sorry for the short notice but Channel 5 tonight 24.2.22 at 21.00 there is a 1½ hour prog about the winter of 1963 (which many of us old farts will remember well)
Whether there's any railways featured I know not, but it will be quite interesting especially to the 'youngsters' on the forum

[Malc]

I was at secondary school in 63 and we didn't miss a day of schooling. We had to sit in our overcoats one day when the heating packed up.

[guest311]

was that when they tried lashing RAF jet engines to a flat wagon to clear the snow ?

[joe cassidy]

I spent the week before Christmas in the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading with pneumonia.

[port perran]

I was at secondary school in 63 and we didn't miss a day of schooling. We had to sit in our overcoats one day when the heating packed up.

I was at Junior School which opened every day. We wore coats and hats in class and walked to school in snow and ice.
No one froze to death and no one broke any bones.Oh and we had great fun wizzing snowballs at each other and generally skating about the playground.
Great fun and wonderful days.

[joe cassidy]

Were you allowed to wear long trousers or did you have to go to school in shorts ?

[guest311]

I was at secondary school in 63 and we didn't miss a day of schooling. We had to sit in our overcoats one day when the heating packed up.

I was at Junior School which opened every day. We wore coats and hats in class and walked to school in snow and ice.
No one froze to death and no one broke any bones.Oh and we had great fun wizzing snowballs at each other and generally skating about the playground.
Great fun and wonderful days.

obviously pre 'elf 'n safety, or you'd have had to wear goggles, gloves, and heavens knows what else.

of course, those were the days when you looked after yourself, had common sense, and didn't need so me 'specialist with a university degree' to tell you not to fall over.

HAPPY DAYS !!

[Dorsetmike]

was that when they tried lashing RAF jet engines to a flat wagon to clear the snow ?

Scroll down a bit on this link
https://www.merthyr-history.com/?p=2170

[Trainfish]

There's a very good reason I don't remember this 

[port perran]

Were you allowed to wear long trousers or did you have to go to school in shorts ?

Shorts. No long trousers till senior school

[Papyrus]

Despite the fact that I was 14 at the time, I actually have very little memory of it. I can only assume that life continued much as usual. I remember my Dad going into the centre of Cambridge and taking photos, including this one:

As far as I can remember we all went to school as usual, so the buses must have been running. Anyway, I recorded the programme so I will be interested to see what I apparently slept through!

Cheers,

Chris

[guest311]

and before someone complains I USED to have great respect for those who had been to uni and had gained degrees, nowadays it seems every one is shoveled into uni [ and of course debt ] which will probably never be repaid so becomes a burden on the tax payer, ie the rest of us, while gaining degrees that have absolutely no point, other than of course to earn unis money.

graduates of unis have made some amazing differences to all our lives, but it seems TO ME that there is a culture of demanding uni degrees, rather than the old style training that used to work.
ie
student nurse, state enroled nurse, state registered nurse, etc.

now you need a uni course.

[Bigmac]

i remember the winter of 63..i had been allowed to leave school--for good-----

[Newportnobby]

I remember drifts so tall you had to be careful when opening the front door lest it all just fell into the hallway. We had to dig a virtual tunnel out to the pavement before we could walk anywhere.
Much to the disgust of the few car owners on the road we created long ice slides whereby with a good run up you could 'skate' for maybe 10 yards or more. On some hills just outside the town we'd build a snow wall at the bottom of the hill and then sled into it to see if we could get right through it rather than be stuck in it.

[Graham]

my memory of winter 63, building an igloo on the road outside our house with my mates, in a street of 100+ houses there were possibly 5 cars, so no worry about blocking the traffic.