SNOW up to the windows, walking along the top of hedgerows . . . oh yes, that was the winter story in 1940.

As you will remember, last week I printed pictures of heavy snowfalls, sent to be by Mr W Cook, of Westhoughton.

He did not know the year in which they were taken, and I suggested that it might be 1940. And as a result, I had many phone calls and letters giving that year a resounding "Yes".

Mrs Joyce Evans (nee Hawthorne), of Park Road, Westhoughton, writes: "I was only a child at the time, but I remember that snowfall well, because it was a particularly traumatic time for my family.

"My sister Olive was in hospital, critically ill with meningitis, and my parents had to walk from Westhoughton to Townleys, as there was no public transport.

"My eldest brother, Joe, had been called up, and was due to report to the RN base at Devonport the day after the big snowfall. He managed to reach Wigan, but was unable to go further as all the trains were cancelled. (Joe was killed in December, 1941, when his ship, the Repulse, was sunk off Singapore).

"Another brother, Harry, still awaiting his call-up papers, worked for a time as a snow shifter, because he could not reach his normal place of employment, Laburnum Mill, Atherton."

Mrs Bettina Watson, of Acresdale, Lostock, contacted me to say that at the time she lived near the Snydale water tower which was on one of the pictures. "The trams were stuck for ages," she said, "and father walked to Tyldesley, where he taught, along the top of hedgerows."

Mrs Emilia Wrench, of Booth Road, Little Lever, recalled that on the evening of Saturday, January 27, 1940, it started snowing, and kept going all night. Her boyfriend was staying the night at her home in Church Street, Little Lever, because her father was seriously ill. "On Sunday morning, the snow was up to the windows, so he had to dig his way out of the house - and then before he went home dig his way down the garden to feed the hens."

Four days later, her father died, "and we had to dig a way into the churchyard for his funeral." And she told me something which might well improve the situation here if it was done today - "people on the dole were sent to clear the roads."

Mr Robert Gidman, of Taunton Close, Smithills, wrote: "What memories you have brought back to me. I lived in Keighley Street then, and the snow was up to the street gas lamp light."

Mr John S L Evans, of Howard Avenue, Deane, recalls that the roads were blocked, and conditions were not helped by being at war with Germany. "The black-out was strictly enforced," he writes. "People used their own initiative, helping each other, digging to keep important roads open to hospitals, places of work, etc. I can't remember people complaining; they just seemed to carry on the best they could. Perhaps, though, there were many letters of discontent to the paper, similar to the ones the recent cold spell has engineered, taking the Council to task."

And finally, you may recall that Mr Cook also sent me a picture of a group photograph seemingly taken behind the tram sheds at the rear of Bradshawgate. Well, Mr Wilf Collinge, of Chetwyn Avenue, Bromley Cross, who started as a tram driver in 1935 and retired as a supervising inspector in 1973 - so let's be honest, he's knocking them up a bit! - has named everyone for me. They were, back row: Teddy Hilton, Percy Ratcliffe (?), Billy Ainsworth, Matt Hamer, Clarence Forshaw, Jimmy Sutton, Arthur Vickers, George Smith. Front row: Wilf Collinge himself, Archie Raybould, Harold Holt, Bill Smith (chief inspector), Bert Whittle, Johnny Dickinson, Bert Polley. and Billy Cook. He dates the picture as possibly December, 1946.