1976

[Georgeskitchen]

Who is old enough to remember 1976?
The never ending heatwave. I was 15 at the time. It was pretty boiling hot. Water shortages with stand pipes to get water.The government even had a drought minister!
Can't remember any hysteria,( no social media back then, thank god)
All I can remember, growing up in a famous holiday resort, was a great summer with fabulous weather for weeks on end. Probably one of the best years of my life.
Anyone relate?

I was 16 and on work experience - folding jumpers in marks and spencers. It was very hot and very boring.

I was 5. I remember looking at the cracks in the mud and going with my mum to fill buckets at the stand pipe.

I remember 1995 as well. I was living in Leeds at the time and the reservoirs in the Pennines were practically empty. They were tankering water down from Kielder Water.

They also tankered water between reservoirs because it needed to be in the higher ones to supply the Yorkshire conurbation- but this was in the winter too, drought isn't just a summer thing. We drove across the m62 January 1996 to collect our puppy from the east coast among fleets of water tankers.

Going back to 1975 - because of the drought, it probably wasn't humid, so whatever the temperature was it would have been easier to tolerate than if it's hot and sticky.

I also remember that my auntie got married and I was a bridesmaid. It rained! Was in June.

I was 8 and living in a seaside town. I remember going to the beach every day at 4pm when the sun had died down a bit and eating a packed tea and swimming.

Oh I was 5 years old in 1976- spent the entire summer in a paddling pool! remember it well - my mum was a sahm at that point as was next door neighbour so all the 5 kids were in the pool all day and the mums got cracking suntans. Picnic lunch every day and ice lollies in the afternoon. Tar melted on the road and the really naughty boy next door scooped it up on a lolly sick and smeared it on the bonnet of his dads car! he got a right bollocking for that.

We were camping in Saundersfoot and my dad stayed up at night with buckets of water as there were grass fires near by. I got so badly sunburned, my back skin peeled off in sheets and in some places it bled. I couldn’t sleep on my back for weeks.
second Part of the holiday was spent in Reading with relatives where the ladybirds got a bit bitey!

… my DH reckons it snowed in June 1976 as he was doing his o levels…. But he is old and his memory is a bit off 🤪

There was a June in the 70s when it snowed (In London anyway) but I cant remember when, I just remember us kids playing in the street and having to come in. I dont remember it being cold which cant be right?

I remember 1995. It was a gooden. Although I'd always thought it was 1996 that the summer seemed to go on forever.

I was 9. I remember having a small amount of water in a glass to rinse the toothbrush when cleaning my teeth - no letting the tap run! Putting the lid down on the toilet after a wee, no flushing (and probably no hand washing either). Washing up water went on the veg patch or the tomato plants. I also got marks on my sandals walking through melting tar and remember my sister falling off her bike crossing the road and ruining her skirt.
I'm very fair skinned and there was a lot of sun cream (and I still hate the smell of coconut) but when we went on holiday I got sunstroke after a long walk on the beach and playing on the rocks - the sea breeze made us think it was cooler than it was. The sun burn patches were epic and I remember the bathroom of the chalet vividly as I spent so much time in there (flushing the loo after each pukathon!)

Just to add, I don't remember unusual amounts of ladybirds.

Sadly a lot people then, now are in the queue for dermatology clinics.....skin cancer rife 🙁

Loving this thread. I was born in 78 and The Heatwave was recalled often.

I was 12. It was an amazing summer, until I got sunstroke which was miserable.

I was 11. I remember fainting at school during rounders in the July, too much sun, no sun hats. I can remember getting water for washing from a tanker that drove around the village, we didn’t have standpipes but I remember them from the news. Ladybird swarms. All the grass going yellow and big cracks in the soil. Playing out every day of the summer holidays. It was sunny every day for around 2 months. The drought was the big issue. We were given a sign to hang on the toilet flush. “Don’t flush the loo, unless you have to.’

I remember it well.

My primary school closed for some time. It was modern, full of glass and just got too hot...

We camped in Cornwall that year and my parents maintained it was like being in the Med :)

I was sweet 16 and loved every minute of it

I wa Girl Guide Captain then, and took my guides away for a week. Went to a site in North Wales. there was a small river right nex to us. We floated little fires on rafts we made, all kinds of activeties.
The field was a gorgeous golden colour it was so hot and dry. I hope they have happy memories of that week.

Yes I remember it well. I was 16. I went on a week long walking holiday up the border of England and Wales from Chepstow to Malvern staying in youth hostels. We followed the River Wye a lot of the time and it had no water in it for miles. The river bed had big cracks in it. All the grass was brown and we ate lots of watermelon. Happy days. I don't remember any great numbers of ladybirds though.

Ohh, I love this thread and have fond memories of the drought. I remember going to primary school in my swimming costume - green nylon with white frilly tutu thing. No shorts / skirt covering. Also my jellies shoes. Although I can’t imagine how they survived the heat and didn’t melt!

I recall the arid grass in the back garden with wide, wide cracks. Also the melting tar on the roads. I don’t recall the standpipes or ladybirds, but remember water use being heavily curtailed.

One of the best bits was when the rains came and the children on the street twirling around and around together in the street, looking up at the sky, until we grew dizzy, laughing and so happy as though we’d all won the lottery or something. And the burst of strong smell of concrete from the pavement when the first rain came. Good memories <nostalgic sigh> …

i was born in 76 and my Mum still remind me about how hot she was when she was expecting me. She said it was a great summer; people would really enjoy visiting each other in their gardens and just that long summer evening or being outside for months on end.

There's a lot of us were about 16/17 then! I'd just done my O levels so had an extra long summer break, was madly in love with a boy from school and it was just one of the best summers ever.
I remember long hours in the garden with friends listening to the transistor radio, we had cracking tans as we all used baby oil back then (no SPF for us!)

I was 10. I remember news reports of the abandoned buildings becoming visible as the reservoirs outside Bristol emptied.
I also remember bathing with my sisters and then dad siphoning the bathwater to water the garden; cars with just the windscreen and windows cleaned; having chicken pox in a heatwave was no fun; having a bbq with family and friends on a beach and the police turning up asking us to extinguish it.

Bowsers and stand pipes in the street, with water cut off from houses on a rota basis

Dad fetching the bath water out the window with a hose to water the garden

Brick in the toilet cistern to reduce water consumption