THE WINTER OF 1947 video Colin C 

I was 7 and we lived in a big house no radiators in those days me and my brothers were sent out to the old factory to fill the buckets with slag, to make a fire, it was bitter outside toilet, then 23 in 1962, with two small children in a top council flat just one fireplace, my husband had to walk to the hospital as no buses could run, a wonderful coal man came with his cart and climbed up the flats where there were babies, the ice were were inside the windows,bitterly cold,I am 83 now but remember those two winters well, with the country how it is now no one would work, no benefits in our era, thank you for reminding me what we went through, if it happened again I dread to think what the layabouts of today would do,we have radiators in every room, double glazed windows they the youngest generation would not know how to cope, thank you for your films of the two worse winters I can remember 👍🏻🇬🇧🇬🇧

Thank you for this, it raises so many emotions. My mum found out in the October of 46 that she was carrying me, I was born at the end of April 47. My dad did the honorable thing and they got married not the ceremony a girl dreams of, but a necessity back then! They had the additional expense of renting rooms as their parents couldn't keep them, my dad worked 12 hour shifts as a machine tool fitter at the time and came home at 7pm, washed shaved and after a bite of food went back out to an evening job from 8pm til midnight. Yes, they were hard times, but they had a long and happy marriage. I'm so proud of them both for many reasons, especially the sacrifices they made so that I might have not just a life, but a good one.

Fantastic video,no doubt the people were stronger mentally and physically than they are now. Thank you

In 1947 I walked to my junior school via a hand shovelled path (nearly 2 miles) and the snow was piled higher than me. All this in shorts and I experienced the dreaded chaps on the front of my thighs. It was a very cold winter and for fuel we had to trudge up the local gasworks and forage for Coke (not sniffing kind) and trundle it home in home-made wooden carts fitted with old pram wheels, In 1962 I helped my father-in-law (a farmer) deliver his milk churns to the milk processing factory (20 miles away), sitting on the pack of an open trailer (behind a tractor) wearing an ex-airmen's flying suit. Approaching Shoreham there was a relatively straight piece of road that ended in an almost right-angle bend and several cars didn't make it and plowed straight on into a boggy frozen field. Happy days. Both are great videos BTW!

I remember the winter of 1963, I was seven years old. The massive snowdrifts in this video look very much the same as those in our village back in 63. My mum often spoke of the terrible winter in 1947 and how hard it was for people. Everything permanently frozen and very little heating in people's homes. People were hardy in those days and used to going without in times of difficulty.

That was the year my grandmother died. My mum was 13 at the time . Imagine if we had weather like this now the media would be hysterical.

what I remember about 1946/7 snow, people cleared the snow of pavements to the side of the road, spaces were left open through the snow walls to cross the road I was 3 years and all the snow was taller than me.. 1962/3 I remember clearing the snow outside the shop I worked in to get into the shop to open the door, it was a busy newsagent we opened at 6 am so we had to get in early to clear the way for shoppers. If I remember rightly most of the newspapers got through, we sold hundreds of morning papers. Thanks Collin remembering these times got the little grey cells working.

I remember that winter very well. We lived in the country, the roads were blocked with snow, I couldn't go to school (hurrah!). A train was supposed to be getting through with food supplies. Dad fixed a wooden box to my sledge and we made our way to the station, about half a mile away. It didn't get through that day, we had to go back the following day - success that time. As kids we thought it was fun but not so good as the snow eventually melted and dead sheep were found under snow drifts. That was the way life was back then. Did it make us tougher, probably.

I arrived from India in late September 1946 as a baby, and I turned so blue in the cold rain in Liverpool that a kind lady gave mum a blanket for me. I don’t think I ever got over it. I hated the cold, and I remember thinking after cycling miles to my apprenticeship in Birmingham in 1962 that I was done with cold weather. I got married in 1972 and left for Australia in the same week. I have been here ever since.

I was born 2 days after Christmas Day in 1947 and often think how my poor Mum got through it, sadly she passed when i became four years old.

Wow I need to take stock I am such a wuss and soft I thought id experienced cold I was born in 72 my dear beloved mother and all other parents born in 1933 or before and who were around to experience both of those winters and I never knew she lived through both I knew 1 but not the other they were made of strong stuff to survive that and went to bed with no food and after experiencing the wars too I take my hat off to the older generation I thought I had it thought I don't know any suffering really do I God bless and I'm sorry for being so selfish 😱🥵

Such a fantastic video, Colin. Full of interesting information and very powerful images of a winter like no other. I lived through the horrendous winter of 1962-63. This winter looked even worse! Such resilience, courage and community spirit shown by these strong individuals. There was even humour! Nothing will beat the working class spirit and determination. Thanks for the post! 👍

I do like to think that even today there are some people still around who would muck in in such conditions for the better good. Governments can hardly be blamed for such conditions although back in the day local councils got workers out of bed at 2am to clear paths and roads to enable a few services. Now unfortunately they do not have the man power. More and more council tax and less and less service another sign of the times, mother nature is not alone it seems. Again a great post thank you.

I was 7 years old but still remember 1947, tunnelling our way through the snow drifts to the local shop a quarter mile away, there was no central heating then, coal fire and lucky for us my dad was a miner so we got free coal to heat saucepans of water on the stove to pour in the tin bath we all shared 1 after the other cleanest first. No much on the roads in them days, milk was delivered by the farmer by horse and cart. Looking back they must have been hard times but we didn't complain and I maintain my belief. My life's journey through the last 82 years has been the best this planet has and will experience.

The best take away from this video upload is the comments from all the older folk who share their memories of this and 1963. Colin, you have made a lot of people happy with this trip down memory lane.

if this happened now the people we have now would never cope. because they are not hardy enough to deal with this. those were some much tougher than ones we have today

I was born in the winter of 1947 my mother told me many things about how bad it was.

Would today's generation cope? Have doubts? Me too! I was born in May 47 when it snowed . . . in May. Remember 63, bedroom windows iced up inside the house. Our bedding a couple of "Army blankets" and coats of any description on top. Like most ordinary working class kids going to School, the classroom was a relief, we had heating there.

I'm sitting here shivering looking at all that snow.

We remember opening the door to our house to a wall of snow and had to shovel the snow into the house so that we could get out !

A very beautiful memory. Although people today complain that those days were very hard, well we did not know any better, we were very happy and more carefree, we knew how to enjoy life to the full with little or no money to get by on, but I don't mind telling everyone, I would swap the life I have today with the life I once had way back in the 1950s and 60s in the blink of my eyes, yes I would.

Great video thanks.

I have a picture of my mum in a rowing boat at Gloucester Cathedral after the thaw of the 1947 winter. She was with the Red Cross delivering aid parcels!

In 1947 we were living out in the country during this tremendous snowfall and down the road from where we lived there was snow drifting 30 feet deep.

In 1947 I was 2 years old so can't remember it, but I do remember 1962-1963 .....Yes people were a lot more resilient then, we didn't moan about everything, just got on with life, didn't expect someone else to sort things out, and didn't blame the government for everything, we took responsibility for our own lives, people were a lot more mature then and not wingers like today's generation.

We lived in Warrington Road, West side of Newcastle. I can remember the banked up snow still lying, unmelted, on the sides of the road in the June of that terrible winter.

Brilliant video and pictures of incredible amounts of snow. Thank you ❄❄❄

Remember 1947 snow Teacher Mrs Henderson from Crofton Babies came and told us there was no school that day. Never happen now.

My sister Pam was born in February 47 and my Dad and Nanna went to visit they went up a hill towards nunthorpe nursing home in York they were holding on to each other and slipped in all the snow and both went down together ,they couldn’t get up for laughing and arrived at the nursing home wet through . Happy memories.

Another great collection Colin. I was 6 YOA in 62-3 and do remember it being the worst snow that I have seen. From a young boy's perspective it was great being able to have fun on a sledge and create wonderful long slides and have endless fun on them. Although I was too young to know what it was like elsewhere across the UK in 63, but I am sure there were deep snow drifts in some parts of the country, but in Gateshead where I was at the time the snow was 'only'2 or 3 feet or so, and I am sure I still got to school which was about a mile away. In that sense, and from the photos you have here I would say 1947 must have been far worse and it was much more common to have 3 or 4 foot of show in the forties and fifties I would think !

My father told me that as no one could get to work where we lived, the local council employed all the local fit men to dig out roads so that we could be reconnected to the rest of the country!

I was two years old my brother lifted me up to see the snow covered most off our house my first memory my my mum wrapped all in blankets with a hot brick in our beds she heated on the open fire no e

I was there.... remember my grandfather had to store the milk churns in the deep snow drifts because the lorry could not collect them. Snow too deep to sledge but built some enormous snowmen.

My parents told me about this winter; imagine this with no central heating or double glazing! My grandmothers would be up first to get all the coal fires lit, and the best way to get dressed was to sleep with your next day's clothes in the bed so that they would get warm, and then change from night clothes in the morning under the covers.

Yes! I remember the 1947 winter snow. My father had to dig 6 foot of snow to get out of the front door so that my sister could get out. She was a WRN , wartime navy and had to walk to the docks. Took her hours to get there! Told off for being late!!

Another world back then...people looked out for each other....not now ....1962 63 that weather came from Hawaii....i remember 78 into 79 that was bad walking to school through the drifts.not now school are closed for half inch of snow....

I remember this well, I was 10 years at that time.

Up to 4 in of snow is extreme weather conditions today lol.

I remember it well, particularly the floods that followed the thaw. Water from the river Trent flooded such a large area that it joined the Witham at Lincoln. Luckily our house was above flood level, but there was water at the end of the road. Some neighbours has a small dinghy, and brought it along to sail over the fields.

I was 5 years old and I remember the huge banks of snow along the side of the road as I was taken to school. That was in a wee village called Skelmorlie on the Clyde Coast.

I was born September 47 ,well mam and dad had to do something nine months earlier to keep warm

I started school in ‘47. The snow is all I can remember of ‘47. The earliest instances I can remember were the doodle bugs and the air raid sirens, the Anderson Shelters and Mrs Tovell’s basement flat where we all used to congregate during the air raids. Eventually, l discovered that the war was at last over and I was very worried and frightened because I thought that meant that life was over and we all going to die (or something) and was all unfair. - I hadn’t known a life without war. I was born in 1941 on Lord Rotheschilds estate in Tring and very soon after, a few weeks later, we returned to London, Number 126, Tulse Hill and then,less than a week later, we moved to Streatham and a day or two afterwards 126 Tulse Hill took a direct hit from a German thousand pounder leaving just a hole in the ground. A few days earlier and my whole life would have been just a few days and “my whole world just my mother’s arms” like the doomed bastard child of in Tess of the d’ Urbervilles (and along with many, many a poor infant in war torn London at that time.) Sometime later I was taken to see No. 126 Tulse Hill and there it was -just a hole in the ground, surrounded by the chain link fencing of wartime London - but didn’t really register with me at that time but I’m still standing.

If this weather happened today we would all die cos we know longer have coal fires and we cant afford to keep warm ,cos of the way we are being herded and ruled and told what we can and can't have

I recognise the one street with critchleys sweet shop we used to pop in on the way to school cracking video.

Used to work with a bloke from county Durham first job I had told me his dad left for work out the bedroom window snow was that deep

I made a comment on your other video of the 1962-63 winter which I did not experience as I left England in 1958 but I do remember well the 1947 winter living in Cheltenham.

I was six years old and remember it well. When I opened our back door there was a solid wall of snow and we later built an igloo in the garden - just big enough for a six year old! One thing which we forget is that the country ran on coal. All power stations, factories and houses depended on it. Most houses cooked on gas which was made from coal but not only were the railways out of action but the massive coal heaps at the collieries were frozen solid. All this came just after World War 2 and the recession which that caused, but were we miserable ? - too right we were.

So now I know why I was not outside in my pram for three months having been born in January of that year.

I was born March 1945 Birmingham., I remember the first snowfall, abput a foot of snow then trodden down by the people passing by. It then froze solid. My mum went out to go to a nearby shop but slipped and fell breaking 3 ribs. More snow ensued, it was really quiet. Normally there was lots of traffic being across the road from Morris Commercial factory. It seemed ages before the city came back to normality. Didn't stop dad from getting to the pub on the corner though.

My next door neighbour told me about the big freeze 1947. Herefordshire, they couldn't get a spade in the ground until August. People were still on Rationing too.

People didn't wait for the council , everyone out with a shovel, ashes

My own personal opinion that the severe winter of 1947 was caused by atmospheric pollution from the Mass bombing blitz of WW2

I was born in the January of 1947 and in those days new mothers were expected to have a ”lying in” time ( in bed) for ten days after the birth. She said that she felt very fortunate because that meant other people would have to brave the cold to do the shopping.

December 2010 for me. Coldest December ever recorded

I remember six-foot drifts against the door, and digging yourself out in the late 70's and spinning the car against a drift against a tree and rocking it 30 minutes to get it out in the 80's, so I could get into work. I remember going out starting the car, leaving it running for 20 minutes - this is back when you could just lock the car doors as it was running, and who would steal a car under a snow drift, who would be out? and you went back in to watch TV until you had a chance or seeing anything through the windscreen - this of course is before heated windscreens... Bad weather is not new...

My mother and my father were both born in February 1947.

2:37 looks like 62/63, judging by the RF-like bus.

13 year old living in Thornley , pretty bad, still here ,

Obviously it was different for parts of UK, Whether you had employment etc. How did we cope? Well i' is not like we lived in tropics, prior. Blood was thicker, in veins, to deal with it. Obvious also, the need for fuel to keep warm. People burned coal mainly. Life was built for it. The snow-bound fells were different from suburbia While not alive for '47 ... In '63 and of course my parents were there in '47 No matter what part of UK we had to adapt. In suburbs my dad insulated the water in roof tank and hung the old black-out material up to stop draughts... you know? Stuff... was done.. Hot water bottles with extra clothing were normal It is always cyclical and driven by our sun through electricity, electro-magnetism and cosmic rays [protons] All connect to our upper atmosphere and drive our weather hot and cold.

1047 I remember that Mr Rayment fought his way through the snow drifts to get to the village to bring back bread for all of us. Snow drifts just up the road were over 12 feet high. The kerbs and footpaths were damaged by the snow plough and were still like that 20 years later.

The road between the Ridgeawy at he Southern edge of South Shields and Cleadon village was blocked by snowdrift at least 10 feet high

Incredible people who lived through the war and now this.....hope I am a tiny fraction resilient compared to them

Yes look at that you see it was worse winters back in the day and every one got on with it and helped shovel it away as best they could and everyone helped each other , oh and NOT !! One word of climate change ,odd that isn't it ,these pictures are great archive's 👍 pictures , and the frozen lakes/rivers 😀

I was born in febuary of this year older siblings and parents told me how bad it was not just the snow but getting food and coal because nothing could move , but todays x gens think we had life easy no we worked and saved for what we wanted

3:51 Little boys in short trousers in the snow, makes your eyes water don’t it? Good video, but 1947 was a freak year. The summer was hot, for the same reason the winter was harsh, ie no westerlies but east winds instead. That could happen now. It’s because of a breakdown of normal circulation and pressure systems.

you are so right😅

And at that time the royal family peddled off to have a nice long holiday abroad. Easy for some people.

Born 1947 january ,giving birth found she was carrying twins ,no wahing machine ,disposable nappies outdoor loo, wonder how they would cope these days😮😮😮😮

A lot of forecasters are expecting a colder than average coming this year - i.e. Dec '23 & Jan/Feb '24. Caused by El Nino, or a change in the polar vortex. Let's see.

I WASD BORN IN 1944 INTO A REAL DICKENSIAN CHILDHOOD BUT PEOPLE AND LIFE BACK THEN WAS MORE NORMAUL UNLIKE TODAY.

Winters like this happen in many many countries even in the modern age. This is "normal" for many people in many countries. So long as you have a well stocked provisions of dried and tinned foods and a house which can be kept warm and dry (fuel) then you will be okay for three months.

Coal not the rubbish gas elec fires that put no heat out even though all the money that goes on them real coal fire

1:06 is my village in breighmet

This photo 2:15: is definitely not from 1947, as those trains didn't appear until 1959. Great video though. 👍

Remember I was ten had chicken pox really cold snowed n no school just stew to eat. But I survived just get on with it. No benefits then and whining like the young of today

Now, who said global warming was so bad?

That was when Haarp and chemtrails never igsisted and in them times that's when UK had decent summers and propper decent cold winters and better quality of air with no chemicals sprayed in the skies like we see now and why you don't get propper seasons and that's how winter should always be -20 below zero during the day and when summer should always be warm like Italy

Oh god lord help the young today if it happened again, i can remember the winter of 63/64 as if it was yesterday, i can remember having to go about 2 miles to the coal wharf to get a pram of coal so we could have a fire and hot water, must have took me and my mates 4 hours, but it was normal to do things like that in those days, you all mucked in and did what was expected.

the people were a lot stronger than the present ones. if it happened again there would be a great deal of deaths

All the nonsense going around about how the current generation wouldn't be able to cope. We coped because we had no other choice and today's young people would too if things happened again. Fortunately they won't ever have to.

Your clueless, saying they could cope in 1947 with under 4 million cars on the roads and now there are 41 million cars. Excluding buses trucks, taxis, you name it. We don't get power cuts because our electric infrastructure in the UK is a world leader. Trust me, the winters haven't even begun yet, with rising ocean temps, faster evaporation, massive clouds, hurricanes, trust me, your day is coming for snow that will make your eyes water.

My father rip told me about how he shoveled snow every day for days on end and he reckoned they never seemed to get anywhere there was that much snow.

maybe you forgot about the winter 2 years ago when people couldnt get out of their houses, clear roads, get milk or bread..???? Winters havent gotten an better, in fact colder...actually stastically its gotten colder and we are currently in a cooling process to a mini cold age...this winter we have seen record lows and the arctic ice is getting thicker and thicker... the UK is heading for these types of cold spells again..working for the railway for years i noticed the winters cooling right down and some of the snow storms we had were the likes ive neer seen before...even in the early 1970s and then over the last few years..Britain and the rest of europe has gone into a mini ice age..in canada there have been some mild winters in the last 5 years..but the further north you go it rapidly changes..the only thing that keeps it warmer at times is the gulf stream and it has cooled - what most peope dont know is, when Shell leaked billions of gallons of oil into the sea, it actually blocked the flow of warm air which the media then publicized as global warming or has they had to rename it...climate change..thigs have resumed to how they were..weather is cyclical..and I have nver seen the UK hit so hard with cold weather this last 10 years or so..like it has...I moved from the North East to Scotland then to Canada and believe me...the weather is not getting hotter...its cooling right down..here the polar ice caps are at their thickest for well over 100 years...even the inuits are having a hard time in some areas...but i do remember some rough Wintes in the UK growing up..but only 2 or 3 major ones..but brace yourselves cos its gonna get much colder...