The Winter of 62/63 memories

[sublime]

One of my earliest memories is seeing huge, high snow drifts which arced up in gleaming white mountains to blanket the lanes.
I can't figure out which year that would have been, because I'm of the group of people who insist that 'in those days' we had endless golden hot summers and crackling icy white winters.
Every. Single. Year.

 

[iloveshopping]

Another memory is sledging down a steep hill and falling off and cutting my lip - bright red blood on white snow.

 

[Calvin]

I was four in Jan 1963 and I remember my mum baking potatoes on the fire as we hadn't had electricity for days.

 

[Pick-a-Lily]

I was a toddler, and it is my first memory of snow. My mother remembers spending an age wrapping me in several dozen hefty layers to go out to build a snowman, only for me to reappear at the door minutes later, whimpering 'I'm cold ... let me in ....'

 

[Akimbo]

Thank you so much for everyone's replies, I think I really miss reminiscing since my mum passed away and my big sis went back to live in Canada, although we do natter on the phone (sis not mum obviously). It doesn't really matter that the memories aren't my own they still strike a chord.

Jude xx

 

[minim]

Thank you so much for everyone's replies, I think I really miss reminiscing since my mum passed away and my big sis went back to live in Canada, although we do natter on the phone (sis not mum obviously). It doesn't really matter that the memories aren't my own they still strike a chord.
Jude xx

I think "stories" are more prevalent in some families than others. We used to say to our parents,"Tell us about the old days" and both of them had some really funny stories to tell us. My mother in particular could make really serious situations sound funny, but she always had the rider, "Of course, it was a bad time." I've always admired the fact that however grim those days were she managed to find a spark of humour - a way of coping at the time I suppose. Some of her WW2 stories I've passed on to my own children.
About the weather .... it was always cold in winter and summers were just like they were in The Famous Five books ... honest!

 

[Akimbo]

Our family stories revolve around strong Northern women battling to keep the family going and strong silent blokes in the background.

Jude xx

 

[Vienna]

I remember it well and we lived in a house without central heating, just coal fires downstairs. The net curtains froze to the windows upstairs, they were the old fashioned sash window frames and when the wind howled they rattled so Dad used to pack them with bits of cardboard. I shared a bed with my older sister and there were no duvets, just sheets, blankets and eiderdowns and the bedding felt so heavy. I recall dad actually digging us out of the front door, the snow was piled high against it and the toilet block at school was outside and all the loos were frozen as was the school milk.
From our bedroom window we could see the canal and it looked as solid as a road but we were forbidden from going near it but we could see other kids sliding on it. I also remember freezing cold feet from the snow being taller than my wellies and my socks would be wet through and scrunched on my feet. We had one of the old fashioned range fireplaces with an open fire and an oven built into it. Mum didn`t use the oven for cooking because we had a separate kitchen so every morning we`d find our scholl clothes folded up and inside the oven so they`d be warm.
We only had carpet squares downstairs, upstairs it was lino on the floors and by golly you`d run across the bedroom floor and dive into bed because your feet were freezing !
That winter seemed to last forever and I can still smell wet duffle coats, soggy socks, drippy wellies, gloves or mittens on an idiot string through my coat sleeves, itchy knitted hats and wearing more layers than an onion but we were hardy creatures and unlike the kids of today we didn`t see it as hardship, it was simply life.

 

[Frazzled]

We lived with my grandparents and I'm just glad that, following the help of a government grant in 1960, we had an inside loo!!

 

[iloveshopping]

Itchy chilblains and glass vials in a box lined with velvet. The vials had ends that snapped off and I drank the liquid in them. I associate the 2 things so assume the glass vials were an attempt to cure the chilblains.

 

[minim]

The cure for chilblains was to soak feet in urine - I thought everyone knew that :mysmilie_513:

 

[Frazzled]

It certainly helped to keep them warm...

 

[SparklyBarbs]

I remember being about ten and my dad was in the RAF and we were liiving in Wales, and we had a lovely big house with wooden floors upstairs and my mum used to polish them, and then we weren't allowed to walk on it, so at the top of the stairs were two duster things which you had to walk on, to save marking the floor, very dangerous i think now. We also played outside a lot, hopscotch, loved it, and a game with elastic bands tied together and you put them round your legs , with someone else and jumped, cant remember the name of that game. Oh and skipping and also we put a rope round a lampost and swung round it. Happy days and about all i can remember

 

[minim]

I remember that elastic game. Lethal when you were learning how to do it.

We played loads of street games

* There was 'Mob' where everyone hid and the person 'on it' had to find you and shout out "Mob mob (name) 123"
* LONDON. The person 'on it' had to turn their back to a row of kids lined up on the other side of the pavement. They had the spell out London, turn around quickly and anyone on the other side who was still moving or wobbling was out. Last man won
* King Ball. One person had the ball & threw it and the fleeing hordes. If you were hit you became one of the hunting party. Last man won
* Juggling two balls against a wall and the floor
* home-made bogey, a go-cart made out of anything, usually pram wheels raced downhill. Could be lethal. If it snowed you pinched your mother's dustbin lid to ride downhill

 

[Mam]

I remember being about ten and my dad was in the RAF and we were liiving in Wales, and we had a lovely big house with wooden floors upstairs and my mum used to polish them, and then we weren't allowed to walk on it, so at the top of the stairs were two duster things which you had to walk on, to save marking the floor, very dangerous i think now. We also played outside a lot, hopscotch, loved it, and a game with elastic bands tied together and you put them round your legs , with someone else and jumped, cant remember the name of that game. Oh and skipping and also we put a rope round a lampost and swung round it. Happy days and about all i can remember

Oh yes, wasn't it called French skipping. Great fun Anyone remember those silly skipping songs we used to chant? She wears red feathers in her hula hula skirt, and Salvation Army, free from sin, sailing down the river in a sardine tin.

 

[SparklyBarbs]

Yeah i remember playing balls against a wall,and hide and seek. You don't see children playing these games nowadays,
more's the pity.

I remember when we came to Belfast to live with grandparents, we lived in a two up and down with an outside loo,
boy was that awful, until we got our new "posh" house with 4 bedrooms and we all moved in there.

I used to go swimming in a nearby pool and then came home and watched Robin Hood. I'd long curly hair and i also
remember screaming getting my hair done in the morning for school. My DM always used to put it up in a bun

 

[Toril]

Oh yes, wasn't it called French skipping. Great fun Anyone remember those silly skipping songs we used to chant? She wears red feathers in her hula hula skirt, and Salvation Army, free from sin, sailing down the river in a sardine tin.

They still play French skipping at my school, but use knicker elastic :wink: rather than elastic bands. They also have skipping games, as well as loads of others I can remember from my school days (hopscotch, what's the time, Mr. Wolf etc.) The dinner supervisors organise all the games, together with our playground monitors.

And the memories that this thread is evoking just make me wonder where the years have gone ............ because I still feel about five inside. :wink: