If you think it’s a bit cold now…

Thirty years ago today parts of Kent were covered in almost 2ft of snow – the heaviest fall to hit the county in decades.

The flakes began falling heavily on Sunday, January 11, 1987 and it snowed every day until January 14, leaving people stranded in their homes, cars buried under blankets of the white stuff and businesses unable to open.

Children listened to the radio on the Monday morning to find out if their school was one of 500 closed across the South East hoping they would be free for snowball fights and building snowmen.

Homes were without electricity for days, main roads became impassable and train services were cancelled.

Met Office records show some of the heaviest snowfalls were in Sittingbourne and the Isle of Sheppey on January 12 and this, combined with strong winds, led to drifts a staggering 19ft deep.

Just across the water from Sheppey, at Southend in Essex, the sea froze over.

The deepest level snow in the South East was recorded in East Malling at 20 inches or 52cm – the greatest depth of level snow in the area for at least 40 years.

Temperatures remained largely below zero throughout the snowy period with some areas dropping to a chilly minus 14 degrees.

The snow only began to thaw properly on January 18.

Ray Morris, from Strood, was a field engineer working to restore electricity across the county when he became lost in a blizzard.

The 67- year- old, who has worked for UK Power Networks – it was Seeboard back in 1987 – for 52 years, recalled: “The linesmen managed to get me up the top of Detling Hill in the Land Rover.

“The snow was almost as high as the windscreen.

“It was terrible, I’d never known anything like it.

“The equipment I needed to reach was within walking dis- tance, but the snow was 4ft deep in places. I started walking but the snow was blowing all around me, my tracks were covered and I became disorientated.

“I was lost for about an hour and a half, which was frightening, but I eventually found my way back by recognising the shape of the trees I noticed when I left the Land Rover.”

Faversham became one of three places in Britain to have 15 consecutive days without seeing any sunshine, from January 13 to 28, which was a new record.

Enjoying the snow, children got their sledges out as schools had to close

Some tackled the snow on foot, some on horseback, the buses tried to keep going while the trains were cancelled – and some just got out their shovels and started digging