Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom

 

 

The winter of 1946–1947 was a harsh European winter noted for its adverse effects in the United Kingdom. It caused severe hardships in economic terms and living conditions in a country still recovering from the Second World War. There were massive disruptions of energy supply for homes, offices and factories. Animal herds froze or starved to death. People suffered from the persistent cold, and many businesses shut down temporarily. When warm weather returned, the ice thawed and flooding was severe in most low-lying areas.

The winter began with two periods of cold weather in December 1946 and January 1947, but the coldest period did not begin until 21 January 1947. The main cause of the cold weather was an anticyclone which sat over Scandinavia from 20 January. This high-pressure area blocked the progression of depressions across the Atlantic Ocean and forced them to the south of the United Kingdom, resulting in strong easterly winds which brought snow to eastern and south-eastern England before progressing across the entire country. This cold spell continued and by 30 January the Isles of Scilly were under 7 inches (0.18 m) of snow and the overnight temperature at Writtle, Essex, was −20 °C (−4 °F). Throughout January the highest recorded temperature in England and Wales was 14 °C (57 °F) and the minimum was −21 °C (−6 °F).

Mum and Dad Berry told us the story of how they cut up their chicken coop for extra firewood to try and keep warm.

This winter was a huge reason why they started looking around and about that time there was huge propaganda to go out to the British colonies so this winter made the  decision to move much easier for them.
Dad Walter John Berry saw an advertisement for a job in Kenya and so took the plunge.
KENYA became part of our story!!

The Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, commonly known as British Kenya or British East Africa, was part of the British Empire in Africa.
It was established when the former East Africa Protectorate was transformed into a British Crown colony in 1920.
Technically, the “Colony of Kenya” referred to the interior lands, while a 16 km (10 mi) coastal strip, nominally on lease from the Sultan of Zanzibar, was the “Protectorate of Kenya”, but the two were controlled as a single administrative unit.
The colony came to an end in 1963 when a black majority government was elected for the first time and eventually declared independence as Kenya.
History of Kenya
The Colonization of Kenya