The Winter Of 63

The current cold spell inevitably brings back memories for those of us of a certain age of the winter of 1963. For anyone between fifty and sixty this was one of the outstanding periods of our childhoods or teenage years. For us, the winter of 63 was the big one. The mother of all winters. The winter against which all other winters since would be judged. Starting with a huge snowstorm which rolled in not long after christmas 1962 and lasting until another big snowstorm that turned to rain ended it at the end of february, the period between was one of undingly sunny days where the temperature struggled to get near freezing and nights when you would be probably as warm in a freezer. We travelled to school at Broadclyst through snow canyons along Park Road towards Red Cross along narrow tracks cut through the snow and ice by the snow ploughs. Icicles hung from the trees and treacherous surfaces were always ready to lead to the downfall of the unwary.



The youth of the village responded to this unprecedented event by pressing into service every item that could be utilized as a makeshift sledge. Teatrays, old car bonnets, lumps of old galvanised sheeting were all comandeered and put to good use on the slopes around the village, particularly as I remember, the field opposite Park Close that appears to have been terraced at some stage. The giant steps gave the sledges that extra bounce. Bums were battered and hands and feet brought close to the edge of frostbite, but I doubt that so many of the youth of the village from that period had such fun in their lives before or since.



Inevitably though, you can have too much of a good thing and by the end of february, I suspect that a good few of us were secretly relieved when the thaw came, especially as the ensuing chaos meant a day off school. That being said, patches of snow could still be found on the hills until easter.



I think that unconciously many of us have been waiting for another 63 type winter ever since, a winter where the normal rules are suspended and we could let our hair down in the knowledge that everyone else wasa doing the same. There have been some other major winter weather events such as the great blizzard of 78 and some periods in the early eighties when snow prevailed but all proved to be damp squibs in the end, Given climate change its probably unlikely that we shall see anything like 63 again and if we did I doubt if our ageing bodies would stand up too well to the wear and tear of being bounced down a hill on a sheet of galvanised metal. Its the case then, that we can only hold on to our memories of when the sun glared down onto frozen snow and when Silverton got as near as its ever likely, to a winter in Siberia.