Beast from East? Try winter of 1963

FOR this scribe, last weekend’s severe weather of the Beast from the East combined with storm Emma conjured memories of the hard frost of 1963, which occurred in January and continued to February.

Even though five-years-old, I well remember travelling through the village of Chapeltown over a blanket of severe frost with other children of Lynchs, Currans, O’Donoghues, Falveys and O’Sullivans.

Remarkably, the birds were dying on the ground before our eyes. Others were so weak that they allowed us to pick them up.

Linnets, blackbirds, sparrows, robins, thrushes goldfinches: it was no bother to handle them.

We never since saw birds affected here in that way, no matter how severe the weather, not even in the last few days.