1963 The Big Freeze - Winterwatch BBC iPlayer

[Dedworth]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...he_Big_Freeze/

Great black and white documentary showing the extreme weather that is possible in the UK

[grahamw48]

Cheers.

I was there !

[Arthur Little]

Ahh yes ... I remember it well!

[Michael Parnham]

I remember this occasion, because we used to have to build a little fire underneath our diesel tanks on our trucks to thaw the fuel before we could proceed on our journey, also I do remember in 1947 struggling to school in snow that seemed to come up to our waist in, at the age of five it was lot's of fun!

[Dedworth]

Schools stayed open then Michael not like the nanny state today. I was surprised my son's school was open today, under the previous idle, wimp of a headteacher 1mm of snow would ensure closure.

I think they are wary now of the bad local press - not sure if it was 2012 or 2011 but the local rag trumpeted the fact that a RC Junior School prided itself with staying open when all the others shut down.

[Michael Parnham]

I think the reason for all schools being open back in the better times was because everyone walked everywhere, I still do walk quite a lot, but I cant understand why kids cant still walk to school, some schools have a system where a couple of parents walk a large group of children to school so that they are always supervised, and different parents take it in turns.

[grahamw48]

It's usually because the teachers ring in absent, not the kids.

So many now relying on cars and living miles away from the school.

That is probably the big difference now compared to when we were kids.

They should be required to live within a certain radius of the school premises.

[Terpe]

Our local village closed. Health and safety.

All the kids and most of the mums walked around half-a-mile to the local good bit of downhill sledging.
I don't think there'd been a proper risk assessment

Would the landowner be responsible

[grahamw48]

The litigation culture has taken all the fun and adventure out of life in this country.

I broke my arm 3 times, each time at a different school, when I was a kid....plus knocked off my bike and put in hospital when turning into school one day, and fell 40 feet down a cliff when out of school. I'm still here, and no lawyers involved.