Winter of 1947.

[Leper]

Does anyone remember the winter of 1947 when the only thing that moved on our avenue was an Anderson corrugated shelter tin fully of kids going down Deerlands Avenue. Not a vehicle in sight but then ther weren't many around at all. I remember the snow piled up outside the Capitol Cinema on Barnsley Road and there was still a mountain of it in June, great time for kids.

[Texas]

Yeah. I remember that mother alright. I can remember dragging a handcart of coke from Neepsend to Woodside Lane and seeing icicles hanging from the bombed out houses half way up. They must've been 12'' circumference at the broadest part. I've never been so cold.

[JOGI]

I remember it very well. Most of the RAF stations were closed down but we had to remain open for possible nuke retaliation. The snow was so bad that a bomber taking off hit a high snow-bank with his wheels and crashed. Most people reckon that '63 was worse than that but I dont agree. '47 will go down in history as 'Shimwell's folly' , he being the Minister of fuel. All Britain came to stop with no coal trains etc. running.

[carosio]

I don't remember the 47 winter but it would seem that it had more and deeper snow than the 63. Apparently in 47 the Derbyshire villages were cut off for weeks, some of the drifts there were nearly to the top of the telegraph poles. The 63 went on for weeks and weeks below zero, the paddling pools at Rivelin were frozen solid and people were skating on the small dams as you go up to Rivelin Post Office. I think there were reports of the sea freezing over in some parts.

[Greybeard]

'Shiver with Shinwell' was the catch-phrase

 

I was still in short trousers and my knees were usually a peculiar shade of orangey-purple outdoors.

[hutch]

Does anyone remember the winter of 1947 when the only thing that moved on our avenue was an Anderson corrugated shelter tin fully of kids going down Deerlands Avenue. Not a vehicle in sight but then ther weren't many around at all. I remember the snow piled up outside the Capitol Cinema on Barnsley Road and there was still a mountain of it in June, great time for kids.

 

We had a curved shelter tin from the top of Tunwell Knowle to the Jews cemetery traveling over the piles of house bricks for the new houses then being built.

 

And i had short trousers, wellingtons full of snow.

[chrishall]

I was born in '47 but I remember being told about the winter by my parents, felt I had missed out on the deep snow which was up to the bedroom window and a tunnel had to be dug through, sounded great to my young ears!

[rubydazzler]

I was born in '47 but I remember being told about the winter by my parents, felt I had missed out on the deep snow which was up to the bedroom window and a tunnel had to be dug through, sounded great to my young ears!

Me too, and my mother told me similar things about it.

 

She said that the snow started the day I was born and went on for months! She managed to extend her 'lying in' for another two weeks because of the snow, and her brother in law had to redig the tunnel across the road every morning so her sister could get across to 'see to her'. So she was lying in bed with a roaring fire in the grate which my father set every morning before trudging off like Nanuck of the North to work, and her sister braving the snow and 3 foot long icicles off the gutters in the freezing cold. Seemed like a lot of fun to me as a littlie.

 

She just said upto the windowsills, unless you lived in a bungalow? Shame we missed it all, though!

[Falls]

Yeah. I remember that mother alright. I can remember dragging a handcart of coke from Neepsend to Woodside Lane and seeing icicles hanging from the bombed out houses half way up. They must've been 12'' circumference at the broadest part. I've never been so cold.

 

Hi Texas,

 

In most winters, we used to sledge down Brunswick Road (better known to most of as Champs Hill). It was nice and steep but at the bottom you went under the multi -track railway bridge where there was no snow. This meant you came to a rapid stop in a shower of sparks from the stone sets.

 

In the winter of 47, it was so cold and windy and there was so much snow that the roadway under the railway bridge had snow as well. This meant you could go right through to Stanley Street, which was dangerous.

 

I also remember the snow lasted for weeks and weeks. So long that kids eventually got fed up with sledging. A situation thats difficult to believe now.

 

Regards

[rubydazzler]

In most winters, we used to sledge down Brunswick Road (better known to most of as Champs Hill).

Falls, re Champs Hill. My uncle always used to call it that, just wondered how it got the name, Any ideas?