Medway Frozen 1963

[castle261]

The very big cranes did not have rungs, but handrails and steps, Dave The Train. ( still dicey )
Steps -- were in a way worse. Some cranes, like the Portal crane on 2 dock, you had to lean out,
& hang on, to get up the last bit --- A bit like steeplejack Fred Dibnah did, at the top.

[DaveTheTrain]

I was working on the big cantilever 250 ton crane, on the north of basin 1 opposite Upnor Castle,
when we watched the last six feet of the River Medway, freeze right over. We were about 140 feet high up, so we had a good view of it. ------ it was quite a sight. ------ Snow for 3 months, then.
                                  Boxing day at 2-00pm to March ---- nothing but SNOW.

That must have been fun coming down that steel ladder on that crane, Castle261.  I can imagine how icy those rungs must have been.  The dockyard cranes were not easy to scale on nice day from my very limited expereined in the preserved part of the yard.
DTT

[castle261]

Would you believe it we cycled to work, even during the snow, I carried my Raleigh bike
over the snow, until I got to the main road, cycled along the ruts. we once stopped to
help a motorist, stuck on Institute Hill., then on to the dockyard, to clock on. Recorder
would stop the clock for you,  Everybody was friendly, helping each other, out of the snow.

[CAT]

I don't know if this could be classified as Medway Frozen, but i have this pic in my collection titled 'Wouldham Frozen'. I don't know the area well to say if the title is correct, but it still looks jolly-well cold.

[johnham]

I lived in Higham in1963 ...we were cut of for five days ..nothing could get up Gads Hill from the Strood side or up the hill
from Shorne ... eventually the Army managed to get a bulldozer to clear a path. Snow remained at side of road well into April.

[AlanTH]

I got married that year.... nuff said about that.
The snow drifts off the airport were so deep up the top of the Rochester Maidstone Rd you couldn't see over them from the upper deck of a bus. Brrrr. Makes me shiver to think about it.
AlanTH.

[Smiffy]

This may bring back some chilly memories if you were around at the time...

[castle261]

I was working on the big cantilever 250 ton crane, on the north of basin 1 opposite Upnor Castle,
when we watched the last six feet of the River Medway, freeze right over. We were about 140 feet high up, so we had a good view of it. ------ it was quite a sight. ------ Snow for 3 months, then.
                                  Boxing day at 2-00pm to March ---- nothing but SNOW.