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Winters of 1947 and 1963

we lived by miller st bus dept and the busses where still frozen when we did manage to get one some times half way to school you had to abandon ship becouse the bus got stuck in the snow
i always wore a balaclava in class it was that cold, as you say Bliss.we walked everywere and thought nothing of it one morning we opened the door and snow come in it had blown up against the front of the house, we tunneled out like moles
 
Remember frozen washing on the washing line ? Mom still put washing out if it was a clear, bright day (albeit, snow still on the ground). She said once frozen it dried quicker when you brought it into the house. She also thought it killed off any germs. D'you know, I think she was right.

And ladies, remember tottering around in high heeled boots and shoes on compacted ice and snow ? Well, you just had to didn't you ? It was like taking your life into your own hands (especially on the 'slopes of Kingstanding '!) and hoping you'd get to whatever club/pub/dance that night without ending up feet in the air. And that was before you'd had a few snifters!
 
we always made slides in the playground and have bet who could slide the furthest one time i went wizzing down the slide and landed on me back
banging me bonce,i was sent home on shanks pony when i got home i went to bed and slept 2 days i had concussion.
 
Vivienne14 said:
Remember frozen washing on the washing line ? Mom still put washing out if it was a clear, bright day (albeit, snow still on the ground). She said once frozen it dried quicker when you brought it into the house. She also thought it killed off any germs. D'you know, I think she was right.

And ladies, remember tottering around in high heeled boots and shoes on compacted ice and snow ? Well, you just had to didn't you ? It was like taking your life into your own hands (especially on the 'slopes of Kingstanding '!) and hoping you'd get to whatever club/pub/dance that night without ending up feet in the air. And that was before you'd had a few snifters!
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i think she was right Viv it did not seem to harm us we was tough Brummies:)
 
Re post #63. Before H&S regulations put a stop to all this !

At Kingsthorn/Cranborne Road I&J School, Mr Alderwick, the caretaker really had his work cut out salting the playgrounds. They were big and wrapped around the whole of the junior and infant sections. He would kindly leave us a couple of 'slides' in the junior playground. A real sport !
 
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63 aged 10+.......no buses so started walking from Green Acres shops to Turves Green school...4 of us managed to get to Man in the Moon while snowballing us and everyone else....so already late...ha ha...just then a car horn goes...it was the deputy head....." get in lads"... an order not a request......when we got there there was not many in each class and remember drinking about 3 of the little milk bottles
 
Since I left Brum in 1956, the '63 winter was experienced in Crawley, Sussex. However, I do remember the '47 winter in Paddington St. The schools never shut back then, you could have a tornado but you were still expected to go to school, no excuses...Porchester St was our local "ski hill", no ski's but devices like dustbin lids did the job. The whole street became a gigantic slide and it was just a matter of time before some spoil sport would throw ashes down and it was game over.
Dave A
 
Oh yes, i remember the fireplace ashes spread over the ice. Made a horrible mess, stuck to your boots and we trapsed it through the house. But it did the job.
 
adap2it said:
Since I left Brum in 1956, the '63 winter was experienced in Crawley, Sussex. However, I do remember the '47 winter in Paddington St. The schools never shut back then, you could have a tornado but you were still expected to go to school, no excuses...Porchester St was our local "ski hill", no ski's but devices like dustbin lids did the job. The whole street became a gigantic slide and it was just a matter of time before some spoil sport would throw ashes down and it was game over.
Dave A
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yes porchester st would have made a great ski slope dave...i had left paddington st by 63 and was attending farm st school..as you say no school closures back then or very few i would think..luckily i only had to plod through the very deep snow for a few mins to get to school...then come back home to a roaring coal fire in the front room and mom would make us a hot drink and we had hot buttered toast made in front of the fire somehow the taste was completely different ...the back room fire was only lit when we could afford the coal for the two fires and of course during that bad winter coal was very scarce..happy days though as the hardship lay with my parents who gave the 6 of us everything they could.. the main thing being love and i know only full well that this was sadly not the case with a lot of my friends

lyn
 
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we had coke no coal fires ,i fetched it from the gassworks after school it warmed us twice one pushing the cart up nechells place and 2 when it was burned.of a night mom took a bucket of hot coke up stairs when it got too cold and put it in the small grate but it was still cold in bed
phoo happy days my foot.i would Not re live that for all the tea in where ever:(
 
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