I have been talking with Edna about the two big freeze-ups in the U.K. of the last 50 years besides the one we are experiencing, now. I was in Bristol on both of these occasions. The first occasion, I remember very well as the snow started on the Boxing Day of 1962. My Dad drilled a hole through the living room wall for the television aerial so that I could watch the film 'Frenchman's Creek', in the next room, as there was going to be a party that night in the living room. Understandably, the guests didn't turn up for the party so my parents joined me in watching the film. I am less sure of the second occasion. I know that it was in the early 1980s, but can't be sure if it was December 1981 to January 1982 or December 1982 to January 1983. Perhaps one of our listers knows. -- Josephine Jeremiah www.ianandjo.dsl.pipex.com

I am sure I remarked on this last year. In 1962 I had just completed my second year at Traing College In Bucks, but we lived in rural Hampshire. My parents had arranged for me to babysit with some friends of theirs on Salisbury plain. Dad took me there, probably on his motor bike, on Christmas Day but I was trapped on Boxing Day and stayed an extra day or two or ten. I was not bothered at first, because, unlike us, John and Eunice had TV and I watched with fascination as food parcels were dropped over the West Country, especially in Devon. Once into January, it was more worrying as important work was due to start back at college. John wored for Westlands, and it was decided that if the weather did not ease off, he would arrange for me to go to college in a helicopter. To my eternal sorrow, it thawed just enough for me to be got out! End of dramatic dream. That year it was late March before the cold spell lifted and the ground even then was like stone. My mother had horses and grew vegetables. This weather delayed everything that year. We lived in a hollow, 1/2 a mile from the main road down a chalk track and bad weather often trapped us. Another year, I do not remember which, my father spent his birthday digging away the snow to restore access - his birthday - 1st April. My daughter, birthday also 1st April was born as the snow fell in front of the window as I laboured away - inside! - in 1970. Later I lived in the northwest, in Wigan. And I remember learning that in 1947 funerals were put on hold. I am not sure exactly how or where they stored the bodies, but several bodies were brought out of their houses by first floor windows as they could not open front doors blocked by snow, and burials were delayed some weeks. Jean > Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2010 15:46:14 +0000 > To: bristol_and_somerset@rootsweb.com > From: jojeremiah@dsl.pipex.com > Subject: [B&S] Frozen Britain in the early 1960s and early 1980s > > I have been talking with Edna about the two big freeze-ups in the U.K. of > the last 50 years besides the one we are experiencing, now. I was in > Bristol on both of these occasions. The first occasion, I remember very > well as the snow started on the Boxing Day of 1962. My Dad drilled a hole > through the living room wall for the television aerial so that I could > watch the film 'Frenchman's Creek', in the next room, as there was going > to be a party that night in the living room. Understandably, the guests > didn't turn up for the party so my parents joined me in watching the film. > I am less sure of the second occasion. I know that it was in the early > 1980s, but can't be sure if it was December 1981 to January 1982 or > December 1982 to January 1983. Perhaps one of our listers knows. > > -- > Josephine Jeremiah > www.ianandjo.dsl.pipex.com > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BRISTOL_AND_SOMERSET-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

----- Original Message ----- From: "Josephine Jeremiah" <jojeremiah@dsl.pipex.com> To: <bristol_and_somerset@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, December 20, 2010 3:46 PM Subject: [B&S] Frozen Britain in the early 1960s and early 1980s > December 1981 to January 1982 or > December 1982 to January 1983. Perhaps one of our listers knows. I would imagine it would be the former. December 1981 was my first month at work, and also happened to be only time I recall my home village being "cut off". Regards Peter