Big freezes

You were very lucky there scrutiny, those old caravans were mostly hardboard, and it would have gone up bigtime without your dousing method. The words 'brass monkey' come to mind, also 'Keep Calm And Carry On'

I have just caught the Coventry news regarding weather for Christmas. Well I will be thinking of you all and picturing all the lovely snow scenes and how very traditional but how cold. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Spiked soles come into mind!

If it snows Dreamtime it will go warmer I will have to get snow chains for my wheels instead of spikes, hope we could upload some lovely snow scenes on here pleeeese Rob it will show the Coventry weather history for years to come.

I think that would make a great topic - full of all our lovely snow scenes. Maybe someone can start it off with old scenes that might be hiding away in those old biscuit tins of family snaps?

I've made a small start Morgana.... Coventry Winter Wonderland!

Just been and had a look. Magnifique

Hi Norm. Yes you were right, it was hardboard. The heat had passed through the asbestos and set the insulation smouldering, luckily it was damp but I never felt the cold till I had put the fire out. YES they were BLUE, lol. Bit late with this reply.

These are interesting photos from a previous heavy snow, back in 1990 - they're not mine, but I do have a tale to tell about that day We lived in Hinckley at the time, and I was due to travel to Wormelow to play for Warwickshire against Herefordshire in an EIBA Liberty Trophy match I met up with a teammate at Wolvey, where he left his vehicle, and we set off at about 7.30am in heavy snow The assumption was that, as long as we could reach the M40 at Longbridge Island, we would then be ok, using M42, M5 and M50 to get to our destination It was in all honesty not looking very good as we crawled along the A46, with the snow still falling heavily and only one line available on the road Safely on to the M40, we soon hit trouble - in the shape of a jam about 1/2 mile onto the motorway, caused, we later found out, by a lorry jack-knifing So there we sat - for several hours, as the snow continued to fall Obviously we would not make Wormelow - indeed the match would have been finished (had it ever started) by the time we found a way to move along the M40 for a few miles, following in the tracks of a police van and one or two other vehicles Anyway, to cut a long story a bit shorter, we eventually made the M42 (heading back towards home) at around 5.00pm - this area was clogged up with traffic due to the Clothes Show Live being on at the NEC, although many hundreds spent the night there By about 8.30pm we had made it onto the A45 and reached Stonebridge Island - The Malt Shovel, for what ever reason, was closed, so there was no respite to be had there - since setting out, we hadn't eaten or drunk anything (apart from a couple of Murraymints lying in the glovebox - the joke was that there were a couple of dog biscuits as well, although they survived! (just)) And of course we had no mobile phones in those days, so we'd been out of contact all this time too We were able at Stonebridge to join a queue which had formed to use a "car phone", as they were in those days, so a call home at about 9.30pm was made - over 14 hours since leaving the house! Movement was made to about 100yds the Coventry side of the Stonebridge roundabout, and it seemed that we were going nowhere else from there, so we prepared to bed down for the night Mercia Sound said that the A45 was now moving (about 1.00am Sunday morning) so we phoned in and told them it wasn't at the Stonebridge end At about 3.30am we were aware that there was movement behind us on Stonebridge Island, and the vehicle in front managed to turn around and head back - we successfully followed it, and made our way along the A45 to the M42, where we got as far as the bridge over the M6, which was literally a carpark - nothing moving in either direction We again were stuck, until about 5.30am when, following some vehicle moves, we were able to follow a distinctly difficult track along the M42 to Tamworth, where we picked up the A5 back to Hinckley As we turned into the top of our road, it was just gone 6.30am - very nearly 24hrs since leaving - and the snow was so deep that we just abandoned the car where it came to rest, and trudged wearily to the house Great, you may think - except there was no electricity, so a quick sandwich and a hot drink brought in from next door (thanks to gas) and we headed for bed After all that, it was surprisingly difficult to sleep, and I arose about 10.00am - to find my car on our drive - kindly neighbours had bumped it down the street for me It was an experience not to be repeated, although in a strange way it's one I'm glad I've experienced, and come through - the dog biscuits always get mentioned when that day is recalled We managed to get my teammate back to Wolvey to pick up his car, and he got home safely to Rugby - he was short of vital medication after such a long time away Sadly, he passed away a couple of years ago at an age far too young Oh, and we did get to Wormelow when the match was restaged - and we lost!

It took four days in February 1991 for a snowplough to finally clear the main route from town along the Butts Radial Relief Spur. Side roads were ignored at first. Even after the snow had cleared cars were left scattered along the length of Windsor Street where drivers had abandoned them. Luckily for us there was a convenience store on the estate so we were able to spend our time in isolation watching rented videos. It was also possible to walk into town if we had needed to as a path to the Spon Street subway had been kept clear.

I can remember literally lying in the middle of the A45 past the Allesley bypass circa mid-80's with my mate after we had traipsed over the Park. There were abandoned cars and lorries as far as you could see up past whats now the Coventry Hill hotel. It was waist deep -5 this morning in Earlsdon. I still have the record image on my phone 07/01/2010 when I lived in Berkswell, -12 bbrrrrrrrr

Just remembered this one. My mate was sliding his way to school along the canal from Priestleys Bridge towards Swan Lane when all of a sudden he thought "Hello, that was funny", so he walked back only to find a face staring up at him through the ice. After the police had dug the "face" out of the ice it turned out the man had been missing for a few days. It was known he had been drinking and presumed he had fallen in the cut on his way home, talk about drink being the death of you, it was right in this case. Didn't do much for my mate either.

Must have been a shock for your friend something I wouldn't want to discover. We've had a few around here die like that scrutiny .

I see the Beast from the East is creeping nearer then. We will be thinking of you all as we sit under the patio with our 'toasts' - Bailey's and what not!

Seeing the words Big Freeze reminds me of my early plant driving days. I drove a Drott (tracked shovel) for Stutchbury Plant in Bryant Road Exhall. I had worked the day on hire locally and at home, just after I had my dinner the phone rang, it was the firm asking me if I could do a nightshift on emergency snow clearing at Rolls Royce, Ansty. I said yes and my machine was waiting for me when I got there. The job was to clear the roads around the perimeter. It had snowed a lot during the day and I could not see the road but for the chain link fence that ran around the place. So I got to it and kept pushing the snow until it got too much then shovelled it up and dumped it over the fence. It took about 4 hours to do it all and I was frozen to the bone. A chap that worked in the boiler house asked if I wanted a cup of tea so I went in, it was nice and warm in there and I soon dozed off in the old armchair, only to be woken by the chap to tell me it had been snowing big time. I was shocked to see the roads were nearly as bad as they were before I started, so I had to do the lot again but in a higher gear this time and I finished it just before the workforce arrived. So back home and to bed, about 9 o`clock the phone rang, it was the firm, they wanted to know where I was and that my machine had been taken to Birmingham to work on the M5 and they wanted me there within the hour. So to round up, I had worked the day before, also all night and they expected me to dash out to work on the M5. Needless to say I did not stick that job too long. Talk about flog the willing horse.

No doubt there are others on the forum that worked at Ansty but heavy snow was always a threat with the exposed location. Working staff hours the site was usually just about open by the time I got there as the works lads had been there an hour earlier. I always understood that the norm was for a local farmer to drive a tractor down the narrow lanes, followed by Joe Lloyd's ex London Transport RT double deckers. This enabled a line of cars to follow along behind. Mind you if you arrived via Ansty Village you had to get over the canal bridge first. I doubt if many of today's drivers would manage it. If it snowed during the day, the site was always cleared early, lines of cars and buses making their way back to what felt like civilisation. This had tended to to change as I came to retirement, you generally stopped until the end of you shift and if you were snowed in it was bad luck. Ansty could be a good place to work, especially in the summer but winters could be hard.