Barnstaple snow

Heavy snow fall in Barnstaple during the Winter of Discontent

You know the weather is bad when it makes news. The winter of 1978-1979 was a harsh one not just for the UK’s weather and but also its economy. Dubbed by the press as the Winter of Discontent because of industrial unrest, the winter was the coldest since the big freeze of 1962-63. Blizzards, heavy snow fall and freezing temperatures on New Year’s Eve cut off most of Devon. The RAF dropped in supplies and the army was contracted to clear snow from roads.