In January 1995 a snowstorm hit the North of England causing chaos in some parts of the region.
Six people lost their lives in the ferocious blizzards, which were much earlier and more severe than forecast, villages and farms were cut off and thousands were stranded unable to make their way home.
At the time we lived in a very out-of -the-way corner of the Ribble valley, near the village of Bashall Eaves, and some family friends of ours had a hill-farm near the town of Earby. They kept Swaledales and that bit of the countryside is prone to snow drifts so they were worried about their flock being stuck in them.
I can vividly remember sitting in the tiny warm kitchen of the old gatehouse we rented, overhearing the conversation on the phone between my mum and her friend and picking up on the stressed tone in the voice on the other end.
I didn’t really know them too well, only their son, as when we went round to visit our parents sent us off to play around the farm with him as he was much older, whilst they went to the local pub to catch up on things.
Intrigued about the topic of the phone call I strained my ears to eavesdrop and heard mention of sheep and skiing. Of course I knew they kept sheep because they were seemingly everywhere when we went exploring the fields there, and I’d been out in the storm myself so could imagine very well how bad it might be for them up there, but where did skiing come into it?
Find out in Chapter Two……
A B-H
(Dec 2024)
Northwest Nature and History 