Big Freeze

A Memory of Lowestoft.

I was born in Lowestoft in 1952. I went to Lovewell Road School and in 1963 we had the harshest winter for years. No heating at the school but no getting sent home then! Our teacher (Miss Cook I think) took us for a 'lovely walk' along the seafront from The Royal Hotel to Pakefield Church. That day was bitterly cold but amazingly Sunny and bright with a flawless blue sky. The sea was frozen in parts at the shore and we saw an enormous Conger Eel frozen in death by the sand.. an interesting follow up to that 40 years later I corresponded with a man in New Zealand.. he was at Lowestoft School of Art at this time and sometime after our school walk he and a friend also saw the eel - but dug it out of the ice, to take back to the school to draw it. Unfortunately the eel started to thaw out in a cupboard and the smell permeated the whole building for weeks after! Back to me, we got to Pakefield Church where we were allowed to do brass rubbings.. I could barely hold the wax, it was so cold! But in nicer times a ride on the electric boats in kensington Gardens, visiting the aviary there was always something to look forward to.