Daily archives: March 1, 2025

Tom Godfrey was born in 1928 and brought up in Long Eaton.  In 1939 his family lived in Manchester Street (between Nelson Street and Wyvern Avenue).  He retired from his position at Cambridge University in 1993.  In 2011 he sent the following letter to the Sawley & District Historical Society. Much has been written and said recently about the cold weather of the winter of 2010-2011, but the winter of 1946-1947 was much worse. Then there was virtually no home central heating and fuel was in very short supply. Creature comfort was a matter of how much clothing we wore. Outside workers called it two overcoat weather. We all had to accept it as a way of life. Now that I am well past eighty years old, I felt I should write down the memories of my personal experiences of that time before I become unable to pass them on. In the early part of 1947 I was an undergraduate at Cambridge University, living in a room in college.  The cold weather proved very unpleasant.  Though the cold was a real problem to many we were to a large extent indifferent.  Our life carried on as usual as far as […]