Sheffield retro: Memories of the 'big freeze' of 1963 - reader's letter

Partly because spring is on its way, and we have more hours of daylight now it’s the end of February, we’re unlikely to endure another such event before next winter, so we can relax a bit.

What happened was that a huge fall of snow was followed by a couple of months of very cold but dry weather. The snow wouldn’t melt and didn’t get washed away by rain, because there wasn’t any. (It’s a question of heat exchange: no matter how cold rain is, it’s still warmer than snow and ice, so will melt it.)

I remember it well. The snow, which was delightful at first, became more packed and icy and grubby every day. It was a disheartening business, having to walk the long way round to school and back, and looking at the same piles of dog poo gradually dissolving into the ice and staining it.

Goodness only knows how the elderly and disabled coped with the ice.

Of course, around midday, the snow would melt a bit, only to freeze again overnight, making pavements treacherous. And the cold! It was horrible!!

I was complaining about the cold to my mum, and she said that the winter of ’47 had been worse, but that I wouldn’t know about that because I wasn’t born in 1947.

I said that I wouldn’t remember, she was right there: but that I WAS born in 1947. Early November 1947, actually.

I added: “I guess you and dad had to keep warm somehow.”

Fortunately, she wasn’t cross, but was amused by the joke. It won’t come as a surprise to readers that we loved jokes in our family!

Finally, after months of the cold dry conditions, rain came at last, and the tired old snow and ice just vanished. The nation breathed a huge sigh of relief!

*Letter submitted by Ruth Grimsley, of Oak Park, Sheffield, S10.