South Yorkshire Times  March 3, 1933

The Great Blizzard

The severest snowstorm in living memory broke over South Yorkshire on Friday afternoon and continued without intermission until Saturday night.

Road traffic was almost completely disorganised, many moorland villages were further isolated by the breakdown of the telephone service wires, and no one escaped inconvenience.

Tradesmen and licensed houses in the “market” towns suffered heavy losses. The bitter wind which brought the snow blew it into drifts. By Sunday snow-ploughs and big gangs of men hastily called into service had got pavements clear, but the narrower roads could only be partially, cleared. But a more potent agency did the work on Monday a rapid thaw removed the snow and started the floods.

Many people were stranded on Friday and Saturday far from home, and others had hazardous journeys on foot, but the district was spared loss of life.

Some of the more trying experiences were those of people living or passing through the district between Stocksbridge and Woodhead at the time of the blizzard. In this district there were numerous incidents of travellers trapped in their cars, of volunteers trying to dig a way through to isolated buildings in response to urgent calls for supplies; and of passengers having to, spend the night, in. one instance, in a snowbound ‘bus.

At Wombwell a motor ‘bus company who tried to keep their services running had to abandon several of their vehicles and house some of the stranded passengers in the home of a director of the firm.