1963 was a bad winter! Do I remember right?

I used to walk the 2 miles to Church Rd. Primary, Birmingham & back, every day. School dinners were bought for 1/- (5p) a day. Beetroot, tapioca, all that stuff.

It seemed to be cold, snowy & icy forever. I was 10 years old. Teachers lived near school & walked there or took the bus. Only Mr Aspinall, the Head, had a car. The front doors opened front ways.

Boys who wanted to be on special duties had to take a spade or shovel with them to school.

We didn't attend lessons but met in the school hall. We were organised into teams & allocated zones of nearby houses. Off we trudged. Our wellies, right up to wooly balaclavas keeping us warm.

We needn't have worried about keeping warm. When we arrived at our target homes:- old folks, families with babies, we got to work shifting the snow & ice.

The main pavements first, then individual paths. Folks had coal fires then so cinders & ash was then sprinkled on the now cleared flag stones.

Then came our bonus...steaming hot mugs of orange squash to wash down big chunks of cake, I remember gingerbread especially.

We worked pretty hard. Those who benefitted from our toil were appreciatively grateful. We walked home, shouldering spades, happy.

The adverse weather lasted weeks. Then came the big thaw & guess what?

Back to lessons, school work, sums, compositions, art & craft. Might still have that spade in the garage!

Anyone else remember those or similar times?