Snow Days

Lizzie I am a 50's kid and remember the snow blizzards of 1963 very much.

And my late parents of then spoke of the snow of 1947.

No the schools never closed and had to walk to school.

LOL Your grandfather's teeth :D I remember the inside of the windows freezing and having pretty patterns in the morning, and no water because the pipes had frozen.

We always used to get to school too - on the bus. It was never cancelled.
The playing fields were the other side of a river, and you had to cross a bridge to get there.
Lunch times, we used to roll a few huge snowballs on to the bridge, and when the bell rang, we were not able to get back to our lessons ;o) and the teachers were not able to come and get us ;o)
I've always hated snow though. It find it very depressing. I'm glad we haven't had as much here this time, as some other places.

I think it did help that there was a lot less traffic on the roads.

I was born in the early 50's too and remember 1963 and I think 1968 I remember walking from college in town as the buses had stopped, and met my Dad coming to meet me bless him x

It also helped that all cars had chains in the wheels, I remember the clanking noise, they worked well, I expect they are banned now as they would add to the damage on the roads!!

I think the difference is that in those days most teachers lived near the schools ~ where that is the case today [as it is in my local school] the schools stay open but so many live further away.

Also there is now the dreaded health and safety to consider!

I have a feeling that sometimes the decision to shut schools is partly to keep the roads clear for others going to work, for example Birmingham schools operate a 'blanket closure' quite often ~ to save confusion and to stop clogging up the roads with traffic taking children to school.

Love the snowballs on the bridge Hywel. Why didn't I think of something like that? :D

I also remember the winter of 63 and never seem to remeber being really cold. Do you think its partly due to the fact we wore sensible clothes. I noticed one of the teenage lads from over the road not wearing a coat just his sweatshirt whilst at the bus stop. He said he was cold and didnt have a winter coat. he usually gets driven everywhere.

You are right Sticki many teachers dont live in the schools catchment area any more due to unwelcome harrassment by pupils and parents. But if they are snowed out of their school they are meant to get to the nearest school to take the place of staff who cant get to there. In the rural area here that works really well as most villages have a primary school that then feeds to the larger comp.

I must admit I still love a snowball fight and making a snow man :o)

the lad was wearing other clothes too :o)))

I remember those cold knees! Apparently it's the wrong type of snow nowadays! lol

I just think children dont feel the cold as much and i doubt they remember feeling cold unless it was really bad??

My brother was born in February 1947 we lived in a terraced row of houses and the snow was up to the bedroom window ledge my mother give birth at home it was her 6 child a boy after 5 girls great joy but no water pipes frozen what water they had was reheated on the coal fire she would empty the hot water bottle and warm it back up to keep my brother warm ... But we all survived and neighbours were a great help , the toilet and sink were outdoors !! How would they cope today !! Or us for that matter glad things have moved on but as they say what won't kill you will make you stronger -:) just remembered we had a coal fire in our classroom with a guard around it and the teacher would dry our socks on it if we got wet walking to school and the tops froze on the bottles of milk and we couldn't get the straws in so that to would be put by the fire in the crates !! omg what would the politically correct brigade make of that LOL and I am showing my age !

My grand daughter said that if she lived locally and the children saw her in the street on Saturday she would never control the class on Monday morning !

They do have to be very strict. Suppose it was the same for us. I remember watching them, just trying to see if a wrinkle around the eyes showed they were actually human!

Kidsgran and Hywel: Your winter memories sound just like mine! I remember Jack Frost's patterns on the inside of my bedroom window on winter mornings; soggy cold slushy mittens and the resulting painful warm-up; a huge boiler with a guard surround in the classroom, hung over with dripping socks, gloves and scarves, leaving just enough room for the bottles of milk to be kept warming; my Dad bringing home a pair of leather boots with fur lining for me - horribly clumpy and difficult to walk in but I was so proud of them and had the warmest feet ...... :o)

The little silver top on the milk bottle stood high above the bottle on a tube of frozen cream........my first classroom in primary school had the huge stove, we used to break off the cream before it thawed......

I think as we get older, we need our home comforts more! My grandaughter wanted me to go and make a snowman with her, but I managed to get her interested in something else! When we first moved into this house in 1999, there was only a coal fire and we used to get icicles in the downstairs bathroom! It was a case of running out of the bathroom with your towel and getting dry in front of the fire! Now, with c.h. I couldn't do that now!

I also remember the frozen milk, but what about when it sat outside in crates in the hot summers we had then and it had gone sour by the time we had it Ugh, put me off drinking milk for life!

they used to put the whole crate of frozen milk next to the radiators to thaw out in my school ~ so then the milk separated ~ yuk ~ i used to give it to some hungry boy who would happily drink it ~ i hated it. still hate milk!

I remember that awful milk in the summer.Could cope with the frozen stuff, rather it wasn't thawed out.In the days of coal fires we used to get blotches all down the front of our legs where we sat in front of it. Our backs used to be cold tho'!

I was born in 1945, and my late mother said she pushed me in a pram through Broom village nr Alcester in the Middlands. and the snow was as deep as a single decker bus but they still got about none of this can't get there rubbish, those we the days :0)

I live near Alcester Sue! ~ its a lovely little town, wish I lived in it,

My neighbour once told me that the winter of 47 was so bad that in some country side areas there was so much snow that some was still in the ditches in June!

My Gran lived in Bidford on Avon and i went to scchool there , I also lived in Greatalne nr Studly My very first job was at the needle factory I only lasted a week. I didn't like it . :0)

Studley is also a nice little town, I really like both those places. They have a needle museum in Redditch ~ I dont think I would have liked working in the factory either.