Temperatures of minus 25 in rural Shropshire in 81-82, Newport still holds the record I believe for England. 
A couple of nights it was so cold the milk froze in the fridge, in spite of the Aga blasting away 24/7. 
Just looked it up it is the lowest in England however December 2010 was the coldest month since records started
December 2010 was quite snowy and cold (started end of November I think, I had to go to Heathrow and collect someone, horrible journey), the rest of the winter was OK.
2009-10 I think there was a couple of quite bad weeks and then it was OK.
I thought it was the coldest December, not sure if it was the coldest month. If it was it didn’t feel like it. Then again in 2010 I was living in a modern house with central heating, spent the first half of the 80s in a house that was, I think, about 130 to 140 years old with lots of draughts and a heating system that was a law unto itself. 
I’ve often wondered how far Don Penn would have gone in the game if he didn’t suffer the career ending injury. Pretty far I suspect.
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We,'d actually tried to sign Don Givens that season, but he chose the Blades over us.
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The Buck played with him at Blues and spoke highly of him.
We lost a lot of hardy shrubs those two winters a lot was due to it never getting over freezing point for quite a few days in a row some survived the first one but died after the second one . I was dong my Mock o levels December 81 and we were the only ones in school due to the heating packing up.
In 1973 when the three day week was on, schools were often shut because there was no heating oil, one day we were told the school would shut at dinner time and we should all go home - except our class had been a bit naughty, so we had to go out on the playing fields and pick up litter for a couple of hours. 
The injustice still rankles. 
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Remember going home and sitting round with candles on
If you didn’t experience the winter of 1962/3 then you don’t know what a hard winter is.
The temperatures were the lowest for 200 years below -20C.
The snow fell on 22nd December with 18 foot drifts and did not go until the begining of March 1963.
from wikipedia:
5 January 1963: The Big Freeze of 1963 impacts the third round of the FA Cup with only 3 of 32 fixtures played.[2]
12 January 1963: Only eight League fixtures are played due to the bad weather.[2]
23 January 1963: The Pools Panel is used to forecast the results of postponed matches for the first time.[2]
26 January 1963: Only one fixture of the fourth round of the FA Cup is played as most of the third round ties have not been completed.
28 January 1963: FA Cup fifth round draw is postponed for a week.
2 February 1963: Only five League fixtures are played due to the bad weather.[3]
4 February 1963: The FA postpone the fifth and sixth rounds of the FA Cup for a week.
9 February 1963: Only seven League fixtures are played due to the bad weather.[3]
12 February 1963: The FA postpone the fifth and sixth rounds of the FA Cup further.
18 February 1963: The FA Cup semi-finals are postponed four weeks and the final three weeks.
and we got relegated to the third division on goal average behind Charlton.
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My parents told me about it, and then usually added “of course 1946-47 was much worse”.
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Oh Gawd, the 1970s, what a miserable decade. Bombs, power cuts, inflation, only 3 T.V. channels, nothing ever happened on a Sunday, shops shut at five o clock, or half past if you were lucky, except on half day closing when they shut at dinner time (or lunchtime if you were posh), violence at football matches, violence at gigs, terrible clothes that we thought were great at the time, stupid shoes, Oxford bags ( 
), pocket calculators were the zenith of technology, the Austin Allegro…on the other hand we had the Clash and Ramones and Stiff Little Fingers, and Led Zepp and Sabbath and Alan Buckley, so not all bad.
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I had karmann ghia cords with side pockets and a waistband that was about 6 inches deep and 6 buttons, and oxford brogues, but the brogues had leather soles and if you got a bit of a freeze you would be on your arse more often than not 
The stupid shoes were useless in winter, zero grip, and over you go again.
As for the stupid trousers with stupid side pockets, what was the point of them? Of course, when I was 14 I thought they were dead cool. Since the stupid shoes and even stupider trousers I don’t think I have ever been fashionable, or even close to it. It isn’t worth the effort.
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My abiding memory of the 4-4 game is hundreds of our fans streaming out of the Street End, up and over the steps on the bank to the exit, when Sheff U scored to go 4-3 up with seconds left (after we had come back from 3-1 down only a few minutes earlier and had been looking for a winner). Then they all turned round and streamed back up the steps when Penn thumped in the equaliser from the kick off - as if there would be a replay so they could see what they had missed!
Wasn’t there for the return game at Bramall lane but dined out on it for ages when I was a student at Sheffield Uni a couple of years later - Wednesday fans were all very friendly towards me once they knew I was a Saddler (they referred to it as Thank Givens Day 
)
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I agree about the weather. I remember trying to walk to senior school in snow up to my knees and giving up and going back home. It was about 1980. People phone us now, if there is a mm on the ground, to see if the school is open.
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Patch pockets - and flares (that used to trip you up, flapping around your ankles as you walked).
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First pair of flares I ever had was from that shop at the top of Simcox Rd. Purple and cream…
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Yes. I had those trousers with the side pockets and also had those big solatio shoes with strips of leather uppers. Had to have the segs put in the heals to click-clack down the school corridor.
Also had a Parka Snorkel coat with that extended hood that protected your face from the side winds. Trouble was that when you farted the smell eminated from the the hood via your face!
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