I went skiing in the road

Jenny Samper, a retired teacher and Canterbury City Councillor for Chestfield, remembers skiing in the road and being confronted with frozen toilets.

She said: “Herne Bay Junior School was closed for three weeks because the lavatories were frozen – they were outside. One boy came to school when it was closed and we had to get a taxi to take him home.

“There were pieces of ice floating on the sea but it wasn’t a complete ice floe like in 1947. My parents had a shop in our stables in Whitstable and people were coming in for potatoes and things but I don’t remember big queues or us running out of things.

“While I was off work I took my skis to Elham and skied down the road. The snow had drifted across so the field was nearly bare and the snow in the road was really deep.”