grinder Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 I was 7 in 1947, as I remember it there was not only a shortage of coal, there was also a shortage of rubber, you couldn't buy wellington for love nor money, and the snow which kept coming was so bad they where having to dig trains out.. The thing I remember mostly of that time apart from always feeling cold, was that the road I lived in was a Culdesac so when they finaly cleared the road at the end, a 8ft wall of snow completely blocked off our road for about a month... In 63 we had an early snowfall and then the temperature never got above freezing at night so it stayed for about two months... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetdexter Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 47 was the first winter after we moved to a new house on Parson Cross If it was Jan/Feb/ of 47 I would just be turning 8 years old. I remember gleaning for coke on the power station tip ,walking both ways . Gleaning for coal on the tips near the mines at High Green. Walking along the railway tack looking for coal that had spilled out when the fireman was stoking the boiler Stealing Coke from the building compound at the site of the houses around where Colley school was to be built. I have visited my son in Ottawa in the middle of winter but I have never been as cold as I was when I was stealing the coke. When read Alexander Solzhenitsyn (sp) book about life in Siberian prison camps it reminded me of that winter of 47 Conditions I would not wish on anyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrishall Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 I would imagine there was also a change of underwear called for at that narrow-squeak!!! Goodness me!!! Learnt to drive on snow in a sit up and beg ford with a knackered engine and bald tyres, working on various building sites out in the country. Everyone should try it, best way to learn! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fareast Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 I was 5 years old at the end of 1946 and so have a few dim memories of that winter. We lived near the Intake end of Richmond Road and there was just a big field, then, where the top of Masefield Road is, now. It stretched across to Chadwick Road and down to Lowburn Road. [ I guess building in that area had got postponed in 1939.] To a 5 year old, the field just seemed like a massive, endless mountain of lovely snow ! I can 't remember much of the difficulties but I remember an incident. We had an Anderson 's air-raid shelter in the garden and I think we 'd stored some coal in there which we probably had bought on the black market. Anyway, someone heard a rumour that the authorities were either checking all the shelters.....or they were going to pull 'em down [ or dig 'em up ! ] so my parents and sister had to shift it all and they shoved it under the floorboards of one of our rooms. Seems a bit strange, but it did happen ! When we left that house in 1949, the shelter was still there so the rumour that they were getting rid of them was, just that-----a rumour ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DUFFEMS Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 I was 7 in 1947, as I remember it there was not only a shortage of coal, there was also a shortage of rubber, you couldn't buy wellington for love nor money, and the snow which kept coming was so bad they where having to dig trains out.. The thing I remember mostly of that time apart from always feeling cold, was that the road I lived in was a Culdesac so when they finaly cleared the road at the end, a 8ft wall of snow completely blocked off our road for about a month... In 63 we had an early snowfall and then the temperature never got above freezing at night so it stayed for about two months... I had a great uncle who was about to go to South Africa with one of the Sheffield steel firms, he'd disposed of all of his belongings so he had very little clothing and certainly no wellies. My mother had just given birth to my brother in Nether Edge Hospital in early January and her uncle went all over Sheffield to buy wellies to visit her in hospital before he departed for South Africa. Mum says that the snow stayed for months. Duffems Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeG Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 I was living in Huddersfield then where the snow had drifted so high in the back garden that it was up to my bedroom window. When the snow froze solid it was possible to walk(or slide) out of my bedroom window down into the garden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOGI Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 47 was the first winter after we moved to a new house on Parson Cross If it was Jan/Feb/ of 47 I would just be turning 8 years old. I remember gleaning for coke on the power station tip ,walking both ways . Gleaning for coal on the tips near the mines at High Green. Walking along the railway tack looking for coal that had spilled out when the fireman was stoking the boiler Stealing Coke from the building compound at the site of the houses around where Colley school was to be built. I have visited my son in Ottawa in the middle of winter but I have never been as cold as I was when I was stealing the coke. When read Alexander Solzhenitsyn (sp) book about life in Siberian prison camps it reminded me of that winter of 47 Conditions I would not wish on anyone Sorry to go off topic, but could you possibly tell me the name of this book please. Pm if necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
echo beach Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 Sorry to go off topic, but could you possibly tell me the name of this book please. Pm if necessary. The book referred to, I think, is " Gulag Archipelago." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOGI Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 Many thanks. Have just read a marvellous book 'The Long Walk' (escape from Siberian death camp entailing a walk of over 5,000 miles. ) Probably simillarities. Apologies again for going off topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetdexter Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 Sorry to go off topic, but could you possibly tell me the name of this book please. Pm if necessary. The book I was thinking of was"A day in the life of Ivan Denisovich" I think it was also made into a movie with Tom Courtney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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