Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

I wonder if the snow will cause the Lent term to start late? Apparently heavy snow is expected this Sunday.

I work in Crawley, and it was appalling there today - most people from the Horsham area couldn't get in as there appears to have been very little gritting or snowplough activity in W. Sussex, although Surrey seem to be very active. There was talk to day amongst my staff that the local schools may well be closed until next week.

Also Gatwick Airport has been closed all day.....

Nothing on the official website yet but will def be checking. Mind you my daughter may still be snowed in on her hols........is supposed to be home Friday night before heading off to school on Sunday!

I can see me having to do lots of her packing, perhaps it's all a ploy on her behalf

Jade wrote:I wonder if the snow will cause the Lent term to start late? Apparently heaving snow is expected this Sunday.

Earthquake forecast?

It is on the school website now. School is closed till 6pm on Tuesday, apart from those with exams who go back as usual on Sunday. Arrangements can be made for those who have to go back on Sunday for any reason, but Houseparents need to be informed. All info on website.

Earthquake forecast? [/quote]

I have seen the forecast for Sunday. It looks bleak i am afraid. No let up it appears for now. My mum likens this to the freeze of 1963! Then it was freezing for two months!!

onewestguncopse wrote:I have seen the forecast for Sunday. It looks bleak i am afraid. No let up it appears for now. My mum likens this to the freeze of 1963! Then it was freezing for two months!!

In the words of the song "I remember it well". I was living in a YMCA hostel near the pier in Brighton and shared a room with a basin and dripping tap. The drips froze into a long icicle outside the bedroom and then migrated into the basin which filled and froze before there were icicles from the basin down to the floor which simply got thicker and thicker. I still don't know why water in the pipes didn't freeze before it got to the taps.

After CH I wasn't too worried about the cold - wet shaving was a bit of a problem though.

onewestguncopse wrote:I have seen the forecast for Sunday. It looks bleak i am afraid. No let up it appears for now. My mum likens this to the freeze of 1963! Then it was freezing for two months!!

I was at Horsham then and there was no thought of closing the school. No rugby so we had cross country runs in the snow. Never lead as the slight dip in the snow could conceal a ditch, which meant that you ended up with mud and water up to your ankles and snow up to your waist. A cold shower would warm you up after that.
Band parade also went on, with snow on either side, pretty cold on the fingers but...
I don't seem to remember much ice on the roads, which may have something to do with there being less traffic.

Ah --- 1963 ! They don't make 'em like that any mor !
(Then what the Dickens is going on now ???)

In 1963 I lived in Benson (Recently Coldest) and worked, as an Antique Dealer,in Dorchester-on-Thames, about 3 Miles away.

I actually went to work, cross-country, on Skis, and returned likewise !

Of course I was a stripling of 35 !!!

I was six in the winter of 1963. We lived in a house on its own on a main road. We must have had an overflow dripping, as a huge icicle built up on the side of the house during the freeze, but as it was solid ice, it was still there a couple of months later when the snow had long since melted. People were stopping their cars on the roadside to take photos - in fact, my mother may still have one somewhere, I must ask her.

I left CH in the summer of 1962 , so in the winter of 1962/3 I was commuting for the first time in my life to an A level course in Holborn (from Roehampton), which was a new experience made more difficult by the particularly cold conditions. I did not realise at the time that it was anything out of the ordinary and assumed it just felt harsh because i was not used to having to travel in winter. I remember the bus from Roehampton to Hammersmith sliding along Roehampton Lane which is a long slow incline.

I was living near Paddington and working in Edmonton, usually meaning 2 tube trains and a trolley bus to get to work. During the interminable freezing fog the buses were not working and a group would walk the half mile or so to the station holding hands so if one got lost we all got lost. The trains out of Liverpool St were fairly reliable, and it was then back to the Tube.

I got stuck on Groombridge railway station for several hours, trying to get to Barcombe.

Like Jo, I was 6 years old during 62/63 big freeze. Fun with all that snow, no other childhood winter matched up to it. We bought a sledge but never used it again, as we didn't have another snowy winter for years and by that time myself and my younger brother had grown out of playing in the snow. Gone back to my childhood now however-had a lot of fun making snowman with my daughter few days ago.