It was a winter which seemed to last forever. And one which stopped almost everything in its tracks. John Strachan never forgot the months of heavy snow and blizzards which engulfed the north of Scotland while he was growing up in the 1940s.
The Newmachar man spent 30 years with the CID in London after studying at Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen, but his memories remained vivid of the Big Chill. And he told The Press & Journal about some of his experiences, which included spending more than three months off school because of the extreme weather. He said: “I was eight, an age where memories are really vivid, particularly when we were off school at for 13 weeks which is quite a chunk of missed learning.
“The long absence was because the road from Hillhead to Newmachar was totally blocked with snow to a height level with the top of the dykes on either side of the roadway, and it was pretty much impassable. Food deliveries were a struggle in Newmachar and across north-east “There are a number of implications of being totally cut off from the outside world. One of the most important ones is the need for food supplies.
“Living on a farm has certain advantages in that regard. For example, there was the availability of potatoes, turnips, butter, cheese oatcakes and the occasional chicken. “More complicated foodstuffs were usually delivered by the Co-op van which, once a week, did the rounds of the more remote farms.
“Parallel to the back road, the main turnpike road.