4 January 1963
Cut off by snow
By Daphne Knott
Do you remember the winter of 1963?
Villages around Hertfordshire, as in other parts of the country, were cut off by heavy snowfalls. This newspaper report from January 1963 describes how the village of Ayot St Lawrence coped during the wintry weather. Cut off for 5 days after Boxing Day, it seems the villagers were only saved from serious food shortages by overcatering for Christmas.
Were you snowed in during the big freeze of 1963? Add a comment to tell us about your experiences of that winter.
Newspapers at Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies
A comprehensive selection of local newspapers is held at Hertfordshire Archives & Local Studies and Hertfordshire libraries in either hard copy or on microfilm, the earliest dating from 1772. Many of these have been indexed to make your research easier. You can find out more on the HALS pages of Herts Direct.
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I had a 1934 Riley 9 Kestrel and I borrowed my fathers chains and went speeding up A1 in Hatfield past deHavilands – no other traffic but eventually stopped by Police to ask what I was doing “driving in deep snow a first time” I was en-route to ICI in WGC where I just completed student apprenticeship in Drawing Office.
On the way back to school I sat on the wall to the entrance of the Scout Hut watching buses and cars trying to go up and down Holywell Hill. One bus was descending the hill and the bus skidded down the hill yet the driver managed to keep control. Several cars gave up the struggle to go up the hill. Such an adventure for a six year old.
I was living in Kimpton at the time and as you probably know it is in a valley and whether you leave north, south, east, or west you have to go up hill, so we were snowed in for about three days. I think over at Ayot St Lawrence they had food dripped in by air. It was all in the local papers.
I was about nine years old when the big snow came.My mother asked me to let the cat out.I opened the back door to let the cat with difficulty being all iced up,let the cat out into the back garden,my cat just dissapeared into the snow.I tried to go and get him,so I went out into the snow,I sank down into the snow up to my chest worried for my cat.He mannaged to get back into the warm kitchen love him.That was a winter and a half.