EXACTLY 60 years ago, England was in the grip of a deep freeze, the third coldest winter in 300 years.
It snowed on December 12, 1962, and the frost didn’t relent until March 6, 1963. Only the winters of 1683-84 and 1739-40 were colder in England than that of 1962-63, and with an average temperature of -2.1 degrees, January 1963 was the coldest month since January 1814.
Tina and Reg Foster, of Cockerton, remember it well because they were married on February 2, 1963, and they featured as the front page picture of The Northern Echo two days later under the headline “Shivering chivalry”.
“There was more ice than snow and so me and my best man, Brian Nelson, were photographed trying to lift her into the church,” says Reg.
“I had new shoes on so it was very slippy which is why they were trying to lift me,” says Tina.
They’d met in South Park – “it was the thing to do then, go to the South Park on a Sunday afternoon and see who you could see” – and they married in Cockerton Methodist Church, which they still attend.
“We planned to drive to London for our honeymoon, but it was too cold so we took the train and had four days in the Royal Hotel in Russell Square,” says Reg. “Someone in the hotel recognised us – they’d bought the Echo in Darlington, travelled down on the train with it, and when they saw us in the hotel they said ‘is this you?’.”
It seems a friend in the family knew someone at the Echo who knew someone in the photographic department. The editor must have then spotted the picture and thought it was a different take on a spell of weather that was affecting everyone.
Tina and Reg Foster back at Cockerton Methodist Church where they were married 60 years ago
Tina and Reg, who both worked for the Inland Revenue, now have a daughter, a grand-daughter and two great-grand-daughters. They are going to celebrate their Diamond Wedding Anniversary with a holiday later in the year in Dubai – where they are guaranteed that it will be a lot warmer than it was in Cockerton in 1963.
On the night of January 19, 1963, the A66 over the Pennines at Stainmore was struck by "the worst blizzard for 16 years", according to a very precise report in The Northern Echo, although that detail indicates that conditions were worse than in 1955 when the famous railway film Snowdrift at Bleath Gill was filmed up there. The Echo said that more than 200 vehicles had been stranded in drifts. if you, like Tina and Reg Foster, have a tale to tell about one of the worst winters in 300 years, please email chris.lloyd@nne.co.uk
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here