"I was living at Rhyd Meirionydd Farm on the Borth Clarach Road, about half way between Borth and Aberystwyth.
The snow was not particularly heavy but the east wind blew it off the fields and any north south lane was filled with snow between the hedges or banks.
The day after the snow, there were drifts up to 6ft in the lane and we (2 adults and 3 children) were unable to get out by car for about a week.
For a week I was an honorary farmer and several notable things happened for me.
I was recruited by the District Council (for whom I worked) to walk to the Council Houses in Clarach to check on frozen pipes and snow in lofts (I found up to 2ft of snow in some roof spaces, inclding our own!).
The snow had to be cleared before it melted and flooded the house.
The power lines were brought down by falling branches from frozen trees and the Manweb helecopter landed in the field next to us for engineers to repair it.
My children had never seen a helicopter so close before.
The local farmers recruited me to drive land rovers and tractors across fields in order to take the milk to collecting stations (the first and only time I have driven a tractor).
Finally, there was a total eclipse of the moon during the days after the snow storm.
It was a magical sight as the bright moonlight dimmed and the snowy landscape changed in minutes from a crisp black-n-white to an eirie purple.
The moon itself looked 3-dimensional like a ball rather than the the flat bright disk it had been only minutes before.
I have seen lunar eclipses since but none with the drama that the snow scene gave it.
Does anyone else remember this? It was a week before the JCBs from Borth and Clarach both met close to our house and we could at last get out to the shops, school and work.
For a week I had been a part-time shepherd and cow-man for the neighbouring farmer, taking hay to the fields and breaking ice on the troughs.
I am so glad I had the experience. It taught me to admire the ! farmers who need to do this for a living."
Article written by Richard Rees.
