Great Western Coffee Shop

Some rather dramatic footage is seen in this BBC2 programme, screened tonight. I will add the iPlayer link as soon as it is available. There are some wonderful scenes containing steam engines with snow ploughs, and some sad ones of sheep and cattle on Dartmoor. My wife will be energised by the sight of Cliff Michelmore, now aged 93, upon whom she confessed a childhood crush. (More of a Jean Metcalfe man myself, but ^ chacun son go^t or whatever they say in France.)

At that time, I lived about 3 miles outside of Oldham, at a place called Moorside. A neighbour who lived on the opposite side of the road was a director of JCB. His bungalow was completely covered by snow, but he was able to call on his colleagues to send help.

Jean Metcalfe?  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Metcalfe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Metcalfe)  (As an aside she was born into a railway family)

I am assuming the programme was a repeat of the one shown in January when it was ironically scheduled just as the snow hit this winter.  Such is my backlog of viewing that I only got round to seeing it a few days ago.  Some of the scenes were amazing.  Well worth a watch if you get the chance.

I barely remember the Big Freeze it but my father tells tales of how it stopped him reaching the local pub for over three weeks!  ;D

I was 4 and one of my first memories is of playing in the snow on a South Kent beach!

But imagine those conditions today!
In those days, evey local community had its own shops and supplues were all local - farmers sold milk, butchers cut & sold meat, bakers got flour from the farmer & baked bread. So we all purchased locally and survived easily.

Now, few if any local shops out oftowns - and those get their supplies delivered from miles away. Farmers can't sell milk direct to public. Deliveries wouldn't get through, even if workers (who used to walk to work generally!) now drive in from miles away. Shops would be stripped within an hour of the forecast. Panic would ensue...

1963 - Here is a photo taken then at Castle Cary - (which I recently posted on another forum - sorry to be boring RW!)