Journal
Sunday,Aug 27 2006, 02:08:31 PMFreedom From Hunger 1963 ~ From an Igloo
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UK Igloos
(11 photos)
I would like to tell you about a little venture I did in 1963. Well that 1962/3 winter was awesome. One of only two winters in my lifetime in which snow and frost has lasted ALL winter, from Dec to March, in the UK. Well on Dec 27th we had a foot deep lying snow. The deepest I had ever known I was 23 that year. Well that day whilst it was snowing all day I had cycled into the town centre (Tunbridge Wells, Kent UK) to take some pictures of the town under this wonderful snow! (See my Webshots photo albums ~ if you want an invite please let me have your email address, or just go to Webshots and search for "Philcovers")
Well on my way home I found that my sister and her friend (who are 8 years younger than me) had rolled the most enormous snowball, and couldn't move it any more, and they wanted it at our house, another 30 foot on the grass verge. So I was asked to help. We managed to get it to the grass verge outside our gate and there it would not move any further! During lunch we decided to turn the large snow ball into an igloo. So we went to work collcting loads of snow and making it into snow bricks and carving out the snow ball, it became a large snow house, 8 foot tall with an entrance, and a south facing window (Which I made by putting water into to rectangular pan and left to freeze over night, and placed it in the hole next morning.) The next day we made the slightly curved tunnel entrance, and it was finished! At night we took my portable tape recorder and some candles and listened to taped pop music of the time. Then we decided to put a notice on the outside saying "Solve the Housing Problem ~ Build an Igloo" And also a collection box for Freedom From Hunger Year campaign.
On Dec 31st a group of about 8 of us went in it at 11.50 pm and came out just after midnight!. The first time in my life that I had seen in the new year in an Igloo!
The igloo lasted about a week, and yes people passing HAD REALLY PUT IN SOME MONEY, not much but 37 shillings & 6 Pence (or something like that). We sent the money in to the Town collection and heard nothing more.
When in Dec 63, I was in the Student Common room of the Swansea University, where I was for one year training to be a teacher, I was looking through all the daily national newspapers, and was DELIGHTED TO SEE the inside middle pages main headline in the Daily Sketch
"AND FROM AN IGLOO IN TUNBRIDGE WELLS"
The double page spread (I still have that copy) highlighted a lot of ways that money had been raised all over the UK for the Freedom From Hunger campaign, and they used OUR IGLOO as the main headline! And we had only collected 37 shillings!
Was I surprised!
I know it wasn't much, but it all added up to the other collections and someome somewhere had a little more to eat.
*SMILES*
Chris