[Misc] BBC programme about the 1963 freeze

[Wardy's twin]

Above programme in is on now.

 

[Daddies_Sauce]

Remember that, it was a bit cold!

 

[Wardy's twin]

I was 6 at the time but don't remember it. Probably kept in sonoimpact. I lived near London then so maybe not as bad there.

 

[Miximate]

Probably explains why so many of us were born in September!

 

[Boys 9d]

I remember it well. I was doing my 12 weeks basic training as a firefighter in Reigate. I remember my cold hands suddenly feeling warm as blood rushed into them. in the last 2 weeks I discovered that roads in the town had grass verges.

 

[Super Steve Earle]

Remember that, it was a bit cold!

I was 9. Had a new bike for Christmas and couldn't take it out as the snow was too deep to ride it.

 

[Weststander]

What side was it on?

Completely missed it.

My Dad’s often mentioned 1947 (the snowiest) and 1962/63 (the coldest and most sustained) winters.

 

[Daddies_Sauce]

What side was it on?

It was on BBC 4. I was 5, and remember not being able to open our doors as they were blocked by the snow and ice. Thick ice on the inside of our windows (no double glazing them them days), running out of coal and logs for the fire (no central heating either), using an electric bar fire in the lounge to keep the family warm, parents searching for change to feed the electric meter, until the power cuts and then there was the frozen water pipes and plumbing.

 

[studio150]

What side was it on?

Completely missed it.

My Dad’s often mentioned 1947 (the snowiest) and 1962/63 (the coldest and most sustained) winters.

BBC4 its on again at 1.30am if you want to stay up or record

 

[Jack Straw]

I was 6 years' old and we had just moved to deepest South Woodingdean (Foxdown Road). We were cut off. My over riding memory is that my mum made me walk to Rottingdean to buy a loaf whilst she stayed in the warm house. The snow drifts along Falmer Road were twice as tall as me. I think mum was trying to kill me. It was good fun sledging down the hill behind the houses in Cowley Drive though.

 

[Beach Hut]

I Was born that year in December, I assume it was a bit warmer by then

 

[Wardy's twin]

I was 6 years' old and we had just moved to deepest South Woodingdean (Foxdown Road). We were cut off. My over riding memory is that my mum made me walk to Rottingdean to buy a loaf whilst she stayed in the warm house. The snow drifts along Falmer Road were twice as tall as me. I think mum was trying to kill me. It was good fun sledging down the hill behind the houses in Cowley Drive though.

It was 12 Feet in places so you must have been tall.

 

[Coldeanseagull]

My god, there's some reeeaaally old people on here
I was two/three, by the way and have no recollection of those events!

 

[portslade seagull]

I was 6 years' old and we had just moved to deepest South Woodingdean (Foxdown Road). We were cut off. My over riding memory is that my mum made me walk to Rottingdean to buy a loaf whilst she stayed in the warm house. The snow drifts along Falmer Road were twice as tall as me. I think mum was trying to kill me. It was good fun sledging down the hill behind the houses in Cowley Drive though.

Was born Jan 63, mum and dad lived in Cowley Drive in the dip b4 the shops. Two ambulances a fire engine and land rover were used to get my mum to the hospital as I was a twin and we were 12 weeks premature. Think the story made the argus at the time

 

[el punal]

I was 6 at the time but don't remember it. Probably kept in sonoimpact. I lived near London then so maybe not as bad there.

Oh yes it was! There was a ploughed field at the back of our garden. The snow basically levelled the furrows and then froze solid for weeks creating a flat as a pancake surface. If memory serves me right it got exceptionally cold around the 16th December 1962 and stayed like that for weeks, and of course with a huge dumping of snow. Brrr!

 

[el punal]

I Was born that year in December, I assume it was a bit warmer by then

1963/64 winter was for pussies.

 

[LamieRobertson]

I remember it well. I was doing my 12 weeks basic training as a firefighter in Reigate. I remember my cold hands suddenly feeling warm as blood rushed into them. in the last 2 weeks I discovered that roads in the town had grass verges.

Were you encouraging people to light fires rather than put them out

 

[taz]

As a 5 year old Sent down the hill daily to get a bucket of water from the stand pipe, frozen blue having to put it down every few yards coming back up, and getting the frozen solid bottles of milk off the door step with the foil lids pushed up an inch above the bottle with expansion, hated the cold ever since ��

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

It started on 22nd December 1962, so I would have been 20 days old.
Also, on my birthday London was experiencing its last smog.

 

[sully]

It was my first winter, having been born the previous June. No surprise that I don’t remember it, but it seems that more winters were snowy back in my youth (or I just had more time to play in it).

The programme was really interesting. Great to see trains running with loads of snow everywhere. Puts Southern to shame!