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Weather : past adverse weather in Birmingham

thank you brummy wench,i am a friendley person as in those days of fog,you really had to depend on people to help,as i got lost a few times,one time instead of lister st where i lived i ended up in bloomsbury police station,there i stayed till my parents called to collect me and they was not happy at me being out.one telling of ,and to bed with out supper
 
Well all I can say is that you were brave to be out in the fog. It took me all my time to go up the yard. I think those smogs made me feel as though I was suffocating, especially when they came into the house. Bet your mum and dad were worried sick.
 
i need help to find a newspaper clipping of the time when i was a conductor on the midland red buses in
sutton coldfield.the day i left the parade on the 112 bus headed for derby.it was cold but the roads were
clear to drive on.when we got back to sutton there was fog thick fog snow the weather was really bad.
there were people trying to get home, we should have finished at the parade but we took passengers into
new street bus station it took hours to get through erdington down gravelly hill. through aston cross
into brum bus station.then we were asked to take passengers to four oaks then back to the depot in sutton.
would any body remember this maybe have a cutting from the newspaper?? or remember the date.
can you help me??? were you on my bus??? coming back from burton we had to stop very quick,i was
thrown quite heavily down the bus nearly strangling myself with the ticket machine.me and stan my
driver were mentioned in the newspaper i cannot remember which newspaper.please can you help.
roystonp123:rolleyes::confused:
 
I don't remember the date (or did I see the paper) but I remember a day very much like that, but after 1974. Heavy snow in Birmingham and Sutton, but once past Shenstone it was gone, and almost a nice day. The Digbeth-worked X12 (18:00 depart) was unusually very late into Derby, and the waiting passengers didn't believe the driver's story - until they got back to Shenstone, and there it was - thick snow.
David Oughton (formerly at Sutton garage) was the driver - he was an engineer and used to part-time drive after his garage duties, the 18:00 X12 on Fridays was regularly him, so it would have been a Friday.
 
I am not going to be any help regarding newspapers or exact dates,but 62/63 i clearly remember a day like you describe because my mom went to visit my aunt,we were expecting her home around 3pm she eventually got home about 9pm,and the conductor had walked part way in front of the bus with a white hanky,she was travelling from Weoly Castle,to B.ham city centre and then to Ballsall
Heath,but i do remember that week the Evening Mail or Despatch asked people to write in with interesting stories,about their journeys that day, and the best one would win a prize,so maybe it was one of those,good luck
 
Elizabeth it started Wednesday 26th December 1962, I remember the day because I was visiting my in-laws for Christmas and it was Boxing Day and we were due to travel home next day:)
 
dear Elizabeth
thank you for your reply. i can remember walking in front of the bus with my hanky so stan my driver could
see me .i remember stumbling but i was ok i think this was around perry barr . my memory not to good .
thank you
roystonp123
 
roystonp123 said:
dear Elizabeth
thank you for your reply. i can remember walking in front of the bus with my hanky so stan my driver could
see me .i remember stumbling but i was ok i think this was around perry barr . my memory not to good .
thank you
roystonp123
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Your welcome
 
Would it happen nowadays........?

Power steering, much better tyres, better 'qualified' drivers, better roads. Busses stop if theres a light dusting of snow, in fact most people wont even drive their cars - al least not to work !
 
roystonp123 said:
i need help to find a newspaper clipping of the time when i was a conductor on the midland red buses
Click to expand...
Perhaps you could contact the B'ham Mail who might have some archive copies.
I remember that our road had 2" of frozen snow on it and I didn't see the road surface for 6 weeks. Underground water pipes to houses froze and electrical welding equipment being used to unfreeze the pipes. Also I skated on a pool in Dartmouth park West Brom and the ice was 3ft thick.
Frost on the inside of windows in the house....yes it was rather cold...:)
 
oldMohawk said:
Perhaps you could contact the B'ham Mail who might have some archive copies.
I remember that our road had 2" of frozen snow on it and I didn't see the road surface for 6 weeks. Underground water pipes to houses froze and electrical welding equipment being used to unfreeze the pipes. Also I skated on a pool in Dartmouth park West Brom and the ice was 3ft thick.
Frost on the inside of windows in the house....yes it was rather cold...:)
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I went to see the skating on Dartmouth Park pool at that time; there was a young woman doing fancy turns and whathaveyous, I was entranced and immediately fell in love with her!
 
I remember the winter of 1962-63 very well.

As Christmas day 1962 drew to an end, once again without being a white one, I stood outside in our street, Leamington Road, Sparkbrook, with my cousin and fellow forum member Frederick. It was just gone midnight and it started gently snowing and I remember saying to Fred "couldn't it have started a day earlier?" Quite soon after that 26th of December 1962 many people wished that it had never started snowing as it never seemed to end!

I was 18 years old and looking forward to moving up a peg in my cycle racing as in January 1963 I would be 19 and riding with the seniors so weather or no weather I couldn't afford a day off from my training schedule. In December, along with my cycling mates, we had booked a January weekend at a youth hostel in the heart of Wales and we weren’t going to let a few feet of snow spoil our weekend so off we set. Most of the way we were riding in deep snow and ice or in some places on top of frozen snow making it very late and dark by the time we reached the youth hostel. When we arrived the warden was just locking the place up for the night and asked us how on earth we had got there; the village had been cut off for weeks! The hostel was a three story high building and the snow was level with the roof!

Another weekend in 1963 I cycled down to the youth hostel at Henley-on-Thames, no heating, and in the morning looking out of the window found the Thames frozen over! That Sunday was the coldest day ever recorded and during my ride back to Brum my left big toe froze solid and I lost my toe nail. To this day my nail has never grown back, a souvenir of the winter 1962-63.:( Is that were the saying "Brummies are as tough as (toe) nails" originated? lol

Graham.
 
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Cadeau said:
I remember the winter of 1962-63 very well.

As Christmas day 1962 drew to an end, once again without being a white one, I stood outside in our street, Leamington Road, Sparkbrook, with my cousin and fellow forum member Frederick. It was just gone midnight and it started gently snowing and I remember saying to Fred "couldn't it have started a day earlier?" Quite soon after that 26th of December 1962 many people wished that it had never started snowing as it never seemed to end!

Graham for a few hours there I thought no one would back my post up thanks

I was 18 years old and looking forward to moving up a peg in my cycle racing as in January 1963 I would be 19 and riding with the seniors so weather or no weather I couldn't afford a day off from my training schedule. In December, along with my cycling mates, we had booked a January weekend at a youth hostel in the heart of Wales and we weren’t going to let a few feet of snow spoil our weekend so off we set. Most of the way we were riding in deep snow and ice or in some places on top of frozen snow making it very late and dark by the time we reached the youth hostel. When we arrived the warden was just locking the place up for the night and asked us how on earth we had got there; the village had been cut off for weeks! The hostel was a three story high building and the snow was level with the roof!

Another weekend in 1963 I cycled down to the youth hostel at Henley-on-Thames, no heating, and in the morning looking out of the window found the Thames frozen over! That Sunday was the coldest day ever recorded and during my ride back to Brum my left big toe froze solid and I lost my toe nail. To this day my nail has never grown back, a souvenir of the winter 1962-63.:( Is that were the saying "Brummies are as tough as (toe) nails" originated? lol

Graham.
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F
Graham for 11 hours there I thought nobody was going to back my post up thanks mate:)
 
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Alf said:
Elizabeth it started Wednesday 26th December 1962, I remember the day because I was visiting my in-laws for Christmas and it was Boxing Day and we were due to travel home next day:)
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Hello Alf gosh i don't remember the dates,lol but i do remember my mom being out as i said,and i seem to remember my parents saying it was the worst winter since 46/47
 
I rememberit well prior to the big freeze i was working on the construction of the Hall of Residence at B,ham Uni all building work stopped for 3 months as no bricks could be laid or plastering done; due to the frost ,no antifreeze or addatives were added to the mortar at that time. All us electricians were sent to work at Longbridge Eastworks until temperatures rose above freezing in march. Dek;);):)
 
Very odd, I don't remember the big freeze of 1962-3,although 1946-7 is still very clear,a great time for boy's,especially as our school closed because of a burst boiler:).Mind you I was so busy trying to feed the 4 little bread snappers,that were born to us in the 1960s:beam:, I didn't notice anything else in sixty's either.:rolleyes:
 
Elizabeth Redmond said:
Hello Alf gosh i don't remember the dates,lol but i do remember my mom being out as i said,and i seem to remember my parents saying it was the worst winter since 46/47
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I also remember the 46/47 time and snow drifts to the top of the Front door and Dad clearing it away:)
 
Well it makes you wonder what would happen these days because it doesn't take a lot to bring us to a standstill
 
Alf said:
Graham for 11 hours there I thought nobody was going to back my post up thanks mate:)
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Alf you're more than welcome!

I forgot to mention that in that winter of 62-63 we made more than one trip to Wales and in some places I saw 36 ft snow drifts and more than 6 ft of snow on the roads. In places we had to carry our bikes and wade up to our armpits through the snow! It didn't do us any harm and I was as fit as hell, witness is my Beacon Mountain Trial record, May 1963, it still stands!:)
https://www.beaconrcc.org.uk/open_races/lmtt/archive/gpw1963_article.html
 
Alf said:
I also remember the 46/47 time and snow drifts to the top of the Front door and Dad clearing it away:)
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Hello Alf i really don't like cold weather brr,give me sunshine every time(that was nearly a song):)warm not boiling
 
Ray Barrett said:
Very odd, I don't remember the big freeze of 1962-3
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That is a surprise, I thought everyone who lived through the big freeze of 62/63 would remember it.

I was 13 at the time and living in London. The snow came Boxing Day and it then never went above freezing for about 8 weeks.

I remember the chaos with football matches, as hundreds were cancelled.

Virtually the whole 3rd round FA Cup was wiped out on the 5th of January (only 3 games played), and when they did the draw for the fourth round on Monday it was full of "Fulham or WHU will play Everton or Derby" that sort of thing.

I think even when they did the fifth round draw some of the 3rd round matches had not been played.

They even had to move the date of the Cup Final so they could fit all the maches in.

Have a look here at the 1962/63 FA Cup details, some of the 3rd Round Matches (normally played early January) were not settled till March

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1962%E2%80%9363_FA_Cup
.
 
dek carr said:
I rememberit well prior to the big freeze i was working on the construction of the Hall of Residence at B,ham Uni all building work stopped for 3 months as no bricks could be laid or plastering done; due to the frost ,no antifreeze or addatives were added to the mortar at that time. All us electricians were sent to work at Longbridge Eastworks until temperatures rose above freezing in march. Dek;);):)
Click to expand...

Think I read somewhere that a lot of the problems with the city centre in the 70s & 80s, ie concrete cracking etc. were due to the concrete having been poured during that winter, and the anti freeze that had been added.
 
I think most people remember that winter is because most working class homes of the time had no central heating, the thing that takes me back to that time is the smell of parafin it was everywhere in shops mates homes our home literally everywhere. I remember skating on the pond in the park facing the Raven pub Weoley Castle, and on the bigger lake Weoley Park road end towards the Bristol Road.
regards
paul
 
fatfingers said:
Think I read somewhere that a lot of the problems with the city centre in the 70s & 80s, ie concrete cracking etc. were due to the concrete having been poured during that winter, and the anti freeze that had been added.
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Most of the building work at that time was of poor quality as there was no control. i think it was Glycol that was banned. Another trick was to put washing up liquid in the mortar this made it creamier and easier to lay that was also banned.these days quality control is much stricter all concrete loads are laid and samples are sent off to be tested if they are not up to the standard required the concrete that has been laid will be removed and done again. Dek
 
dek carr said:
Most of the building work at that time was of poor quality as there was no control. i think it was Glycol that was banned. Another trick was to put washing up liquid in the mortar this made it creamier and easier to lay that was also banned.these days quality control is much stricter all concrete loads are laid and samples are sent off to be tested if they are not up to the standard required the concrete that has been laid will be removed and done again. Dek
Click to expand...
Washing up liquid,imagine all the buildings bubbling when it rained
 
Alf said:
Elizabeth it started Wednesday 26th December 1962, I remember the day because I was visiting my in-laws for Christmas and it was Boxing Day and we were due to travel home next day:)
Click to expand...
Thanks for the memory Alf - My wife and I walked from near Trittiford Park to Hollywood Lane as we were due for dinner at her aunt's. The roads were a little better by the time we left so we took up the offer of a lift home.
 
You can buy (expensive) products to make a cement mix creamier but the main object is to make it stick better and washing up liquid does just as good a job, only a few drops needed. Washing up liquid was never added to combat freezing conditions. After more than 30 years all the cement I made with washing up liquid mixed in is still in perfect nick.

Graham.
 
Does anyone remember the floods in Acocks Green sometime between 1980 and 1983? I remember the massive downpour of rain as i played truant from school...lol... and the roads were coming up. Massive holes were appearing in the roads as pipes burst everywhere in the 'village' or the 'green' shopping area. Cars were driving along in what looked like a big river until it got too deep to drive in I remember a photography shop, opposite where the Dolphin pub used to be, had some photo's of the roads and floods in it's shop window afterwards.
I was wondering if anyone else had any pictures to share?

Funny the things you remember isn't it? :D
 
Tinalc, haven't got any pics, but remember it well, was on my District placement and we had to detour to get to the base surgery!
It caused havoc with the buses too,then there was more chaos as the roads were dug up to repair. Think it was 1982, but I'm sure someone else will know.
Sue
 
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