Nostalgia with Margaret Watson: Many believe the severe winter of 1940 is the worst in living memory

It didn’t last as long as the one in 1947 but it was made worse because of dense fog which enveloped the town, something we don’t have to cope with these days thanks to smokeless fuel.

In some areas snowdrifts were ten feet high, and when the buses did eventually get through, dense fog suddenly descended and they were called in leaving hundreds of workers to make their own way home.

People threw sand and ashes on the icy roads and bus drivers and conductresses borrowed dustbins from neighbouring houses to throw even more ashes down.

On some days it was deemed too dangerous for vehicles of any kind to descend hills in the district, with the result that long lines of traffic were stranded.

On one particular day, there were as many as 40 vehicles spread out in all directions between Temple Road and Scout Hill, but they were all straightened out within two hours.

But according to newspaper reports, there was no criticism of corporation workers or bus services, and according to one Reporter article, everybody seemed to accept the situation in a happy spirit.

Life went on as normal and people refused to let the snow keep them from their everyday life, including members of the Ravensthorpe Ladies Guild who still went ahead with their annual tea party.

The snow, however, came down more heavily than expected and they had to resort to cutting a 15 yard strip of felt material to wind strips of it round their feet before attempting the journey home on foot.

The snow that year started in January and continued into February and it was so bitterly cold the snow froze solid.

It stayed on the ground for days with workmen having to use picks to make any impression on the hard set snow

One farmer, determined to make his regular milk deliveries, resorted to taking it round on a homemade horse-drawn sledge.

One postman found it easier to make his deliveries by walking along the top of garden walls to avoid three foot high snowdrifts on pavements.

But the real heroes of the day were the family doctors who made their rounds on foot, and the tradesmen who struggled to open their shops and businesses.

The general opinion was that that the winter was the worst on record, and one row of houses in Earlsheaton had icicles reaching from the spouts to the ground for the whole length of the block.

It gave a curtain-like effect to the dwellings, and the householders had to break them to get in and out of their homes.

All this was happening during the war when there were severe shortages anyway, so it wasn’t surprising that the huge demand for coal meant it had to be rationed.

Corporation employees worked 18 hours a day for three days, and at one period there were 150 men engaged in snow clearing alone, working round the clock.

A corporation official said they would have employed 1,000 if they had been available, but this couldn’t happen because there were so many Dewsbury men away fighting in the war.

Whitley and Briestfield presented the greatest problems and at one stage they had as many as 70 workmen employed in cutting through the snow from Thornhill to Whitley.

Despite some of the worst conditions in living memory, there was no mention in any of the reports of schools closing because of the weather. In fact there was no mention of schools at all.

No doubt it was because pupils in those days always walked to school, no matter what the weather and the schools were always conveniently near their homes.

It was a case of, if their parents could walk to work in the snow, certainly their children could do the same.

The snow scenes in some areas looked quite picturesque and amateur photographers were quick to take advantage of them.

Hundreds of photographs were taken of Crow Nest Park which were sold as postcards, including the picture above which shows the war memorial.

One thing for sure when you look back at the terrible winters of the past, people didn’t let it affect their lives as badly as they do today. Perhaps we were a hardier lot and just got on with things.

There was one bad winter in 1933 which a lot of my older friends used to tell me about and described the terrific snow blizzards which raged for days.

The tramcars found progress impossible and hundreds of them and other vehicles were stranded in the snow which continued relentlessly.

Telegraph poles were torn down and the glass roofs on some building collapsed with the heavy weight of snow collecting on them, including the one on the Kingsway Arcade.

Apart from the inconvenience of ploughing one’s way through the thick snow, it became extremely dangerous for those walking near many buildings.

A number of people were injured after being struck by falling spouting and pipes which were unable to take the weighty lumps of snow.

Every endeavour was made to see that the unemployed were given their fair share of the work of clearing snow.

They were employed for two days in turn, working from 7 o’clock in the morning until 5’o clock at night with a break of an hour for dinner. Their rate of remuneration was one shilling an hour.

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*Changing the subject, readers may be interested in a talk to be given in Dewsbury Town Hall on March 30 by local historian Stuart Hartley on the ‘Acclaimed Women of Yorkshire’. It is being presented by Dewsbury History Group.