Tales of Corby - The Big Freeeeze...1963

‘Iceberg Island’. That’s how the RAC described the abominably cold weather at the turning of the year. For a spell of around three months, Britain was gripped in an Arctic winter. It was indeed, the coldest on record. Records tumbled during the month of January, the coldest night on record was written into the annals. 27o Frost in Geddington. Surpassed a couple of nights later by 30o in Overstone. Snow, blizzards, freezing fog and temperatures brought the whole country to its knees. For a spell, the west country was cut off, Scotland was cut off, there was a pile up of 27 vehicles on the M1 near Toddington. Exasperating the situation was a dispute by the power workers who were fighting a wage claim. Casualty departments in hospitals were overrun as accidents, occurred not only on the roads, but on the walkways as well. Driving Tests were postponed. Just three games out of a scheduled twenty nine F. A. Cup ties survived the inclement weather. This was 1963. Arguably the worst winter in living memory. Householders, fighting the bitter cold, turned up the heat, and the energy sapping electric and gas meters went into overdrive. Single shillings, the food for these machines, were gulped down at such a rate, the banks were soon reporting a shortage. ‘We can’t cope’ they whined. “It’s enough to freeze the baws aff ye, ha’e you nae change for the meter?” Jim Broon wailed at the teller in the TSB. ‘We’re doing our best, we canny get any mair coins,’ he was told. Kettering came to the rescue of their friends in Corby. Their banks had plenty. Seems like our county cousins were more hardy, or preferred an extra pullover to keep the cold out! Further emphasising the point was a report from Stewarts & Lloyds steelworks where three donkey jackets had been stolen from the Blast Furnaces locker rooms. “They’d pinch the grub out yer waens’ mooth”, Shuggy McDonald told his gaffer. A ‘Package Show’ at Kettering’s Granada cinema, starring America’s Johnny and the Hurricanes was also cancelled, ‘due to circumstances beyond our control’. The snow was too much even for a Hurricane! Out in the suburbs, a service in Blatherwyke Church was brought to a halt with the congregation choking, when smoke belched out of the over heated organ. Was it a case of too much ‘fire and brimstone’ from the Rev. C. J. Ough? He admitted, “it was an alarming moment”. Never was the hymn ‘Crying in the Chapel’ more appropriate! Undeterred and with the spirit that put the Great into Britain, the service continued, minus the organ, with a heart warming rendition of ‘All Things Bright And Beautiful’. We were not alone. Down on the farm, the pigs were also suffering. “The sows have lost their appetite for a bit of ‘how’s your father’”, according to Pig Food specialist Horace Smith. Attempting to explain the disinterest shown by his sows towards the boars, Horace claimed the adverse weather was ‘too cold for the pigs, it’s affecting their reproductive performances’. The same grunt was probably being used amongst the humans as well! “Keep yer cold feet aff me, yer onte snowbaws Jimmie!” Helping to take the minds off the cold was the annual round of ‘Burns Suppers’. In Corby Conservative Club, Councillor George Bolas, replying to the toast, ‘The Land We Live In’ expressed his opinions that “Corby can give a lesson to the rest of the world. All the difficulties of the world could be solved if a leaf was taken out of Corby’s book.” George was recalling the days back in the 1930’s when the first newcomers arrived in Corby, then a village of 1200 people, “There had perhaps been some resentment among the local inhabitants of being invaded by ‘foreigners’. However, despite the strange language, customs, organisations and other habits, the people had learned to live together. In fact, the ‘foreigners’ had come to dominate the town by sheer force of numbers. Later, when even more foreigners settled in the town with even more stranger tongues and customs, it was colonism. But they have lived together in harmony and it is now a balanced community and thriving town.’ Norman Cameron ventured further, ‘I’m convinced that if Robert Burns was alive today, he would be immensely pleased with the town we live in. Burns was a great believer in all mankind, no matter what colour or creed.’ Whilst George and Norman eulogised on harmony, over in the Shire Horse pub the regulars obviously begged to differ. Steel erector Basil Board was appearing in court, charged with an affray on Christmas Eve, after refusing to ‘drink up’ as ordered by the landlord Ken Noble. Deep into closing time, Basil and his three pals had been supping contentedly until Ken asked them to leave. Barman Andy McConnell arrived as back up for Ken, “and Basil leapt out of his seat and head butted the landlord in the face”, knocking Andy out of the way and the rest of them over in the process. A scuffle ensued with all six of them scrapping on the floor, resulting with Mr. Noble requiring four stitches above a cut eye. In court, Basil pleaded self defence and had ‘accidentally head butted Ken during the scuffle’. He was fined £10 for assaulting Mr. Noble and £10 for assaulting Mr. McConnell with another £10 towards the costs of the hearing. According to a Mr.C .J. Lauder, giving a toast at the Stewarts and Lloyds Bowls Section Annual Burns Supper, Basil’s misunderstanding of ‘harmony’ was only in line with his own interpretation. “Many of us have given up the ruggedness and the grandeur of the Highlands to settle down here in the lowlands and the smoothness of the Midlands. We do appreciate it.” Whilst these pearls were digested, Lauder then brought the house down by adding, “Back home though, squabbles are often sorted out by throwing bottles at each other. In England they seem to do it by chucking cushions at each other!”.