Wigan Album

Wow! Fantastic photo, Veronica! There would probably be only a coal-fire in one room of the people's houses, an outside toilet and a cold tap, but I bet people "just got on with it", shops opened and the children went to school!

Now thats what you call snow Veronica !
I remember when living in Kent the snow that fell in the winter of 1962 lasting till March...and still in Kent in the 70's we were living 15 miles, as the crow flies, from London
& were snowed in for 2 weeks , no electric either !
Now a bit of snow disrupts everything....

You’re correct Irene one fire in the house but if anyone was poorly I recall a fire was made in the antique fireplaces upstairs - that was rare though. Do you remember those lovely small fireplaces? In the eighties they were sought after. My son has one in his house. I love them.
Helen my dad used to tell me about the deep snow in the forties. When he was ‘called up’ during the war the soldiers used to shift snow around Wigan. I do remember 62/63 life went on as usual not like today…

Wonderful photo Veronica, puts my recent photos of a measly few inches of snow to shame.
They got on with life however hard it was in those days. Now looking at the news coverage you would think the world was coming to an end.

Probably 1947, i remember visiting a relative in Whelley with my parents and having to stay there for one night, we managed to get back home to Standish the following day. The snow always drifted up our front door but it was so high, around 6 feet, that my dad had to borrow a spade to get us in the house. That year, snow fell every day somewhere in the UK from January 22nd to March 17th.

The snow of 1947 was the first snow I had ever seen being born in foreign lands.
At Holland Moor we has a bedroom with a small fire with a tiled surround...it was only ever lit if someone wasn't well !

My mam told the tale of when she was pregnant with my brother in 1940..she went walking up Wigan Lane to look at a house which she hoped was soon to be hers,my mam was only five feet tall and she used to put her hands up to her waist and say “The snow was up to here”everybody would laugh until we eventually saw a photo of that very year..she was of course correct.