Owen recalls working in a 'snow gang' in post-war Britain's 1947 freeze.
Hello Ole Partners,
January is not a month for doing much in the garden so no gardening tips this time.
We hear a lot about global warming these days so this month I thought I would tell you about a particularly hard winter when I was a young man aged 21, in 1947. As I recall, the winter started a bit late, the first snow falling on 20th January or thereabouts following strong Easterly winds. The snow was quickly blown off the fields and further falls caused severe drifting. Little did we know then that the snow and the freezing conditions would last for around eight very long and cold weeks; it was so cold rivers froze. Most roads bound from North to South quickly became blocked by very heavy snow drifts and villages were cut off completely from the outside world.
In Bunwell David Nicholls recalls "We moved to the Greenways just before the worst of the snow in 1947. The road from Greenways to the Turnpike was just level with six foot high drifts. A three foot passage was cut down the middle of the road. At school we were fed with Emergency Rations. Cream Crackers and cheese for firsts and Cream Crackers with jam for seconds. Sometimes it was Cream crackers with Spam. I loved it because I hated school meals so much and would have been delighted if we ate like this every day."
JCBs and gritters had not been invented so the only way to clear the roads was with huge gangs of men equipped with shovels. The Highways Authority employed any available labour to meet this sudden demand. My employer released me to help and I joined one of these gangs. Soldiers and not yet repatriated POWs joined in too. The air temperature at this time was very low and I had to work hard to keep myself warm, there being no time for idle gossip. We didn't have the benefit of all them there fancy thermal materials you have today to keep us warm either. Indeed, as this was so soon after the end of WWII and rationing was still very much in place, new warm clothes were an unheard of luxury.
Several more heavy falls of snow occurred, some of them accompanied by strong winds, quickly filling again the roads that had been cleared. Some of the drifts were 12 feet (3.65 metres) high! The top priority was to try and clear all the bus routes because in those days few families owned a car and were totally reliant on public transport.
This trend continued until the night of 4th/5th of March when 8 inches (20cms) of snow fell overnight. Fortunately there was no strong wind with it. However, a few days later we were subjected to a strong gale, my father commenting that it was 'the worst gale since 1895'. This unfortunately blew the tiles off many roofs. The tiles smashed as they hit the ground which led to a shortage and very soon most builders merchants had sold out completely. Many farmers saw an opportunity and stripped redundant cattle sheds of their tiles to sell them at a profit. As the saying goes 'It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good'.
Around the middle of March we had a rapid thaw and, bearing in mind the colossal amount of snow lying around, this brought widespread flooding with it. Many houses were flooded and I remember members of the Women's Voluntary Services working very hard to supply those evacuated from their homes with hot drinks and food. What this must have been like for parents with young children Heaven only knows. All these displaced persons had to be found temporary accommodation.
I remember the whole of the Tas Valley being flooded, with the normally gentle River Tas now increased to a raging torrent pouring through the middle of it. The noise of this was quite frightening and it could be heard for a considerable distance.
No spring crops had been sown and when some of the fields dried out a very late start to the planting was made. However, the early summer bought violent thunder storms, accompanied by torrential rain. This flattened many crops making normal harvesting impossible. I remember harvesting crops of flattened barley with a hand scythe and that was back breaking work. Not surprisingly this led to a shortage of corn in the spring of 1948 which in turn led to very high prices for seed corn.
My employer sold some seed barley for the very high and previously unheard of price of £5 17s 6d (£5.88). This was for a 16 stone sackful - a sackful was known as a Comb in those days. You must bear in mind that this was not all profit as the cost of harvesting this grain had been enormous - it wasn't easy being a post-War farmer or farm labourer. .
There was no social security system to fall back on then, no central heating when you got home tired, wet and frozen through, often no electricity, and no 'working from home' like you young 'uns can do today. Times were hard but us Norfolk boys and gals are born tough and we survived!
Until next time, moined 'ow yer go.
Owen
First published in the Wymondham Magazine, January 2021.
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