[Misc] BBC programme about the 1963 freeze

Wardy's twin · Dec 23, 2021

Above programme in is on now.

Daddies_Sauce · Dec 23, 2021

Remember that, it was a bit cold!

Wardy's twin · Dec 23, 2021

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 · Dec 23, 2021

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

Boys 9d · Dec 23, 2021

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 · Dec 23, 2021

Daddies_Sauce said:
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. :rant:

Weststander · Dec 23, 2021

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 · Dec 23, 2021

Weststander said:
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 · Dec 23, 2021

Weststander said:
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 · Dec 23, 2021

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 · Dec 23, 2021

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

Wardy's twin · Dec 23, 2021

Jack Straw said:
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 · Dec 23, 2021

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 · Dec 23, 2021

Jack Straw said:
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 · Dec 23, 2021

Wardy's twin said:
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 · Dec 23, 2021

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

1963/64 winter was for pussies. :wink:

LamieRobertson · Dec 23, 2021

Boys 9d said:
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 · Dec 23, 2021

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 &#55358;&#56694;

Raleigh Chopper · Dec 23, 2021

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 · Dec 23, 2021

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!

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[Misc] BBC programme about the 1963 freeze

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Falmer WSL, not a JCL

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