Summer of 1976

My daughter was born end of very hot June. I was so relieved to finish work mid May (normal then). Had another child end of freezing Jan 1979. They are still have opposite personalities.

And not being able to sleep at night as even with windows wide open it was still hot stuffy air... (i thought we had really hot weather& a long summer a couple of years ago too?- i had a new boiler & pipes fitted then so i spent most of the days out in back garden to avoid the noise& mess!)

Remember it well. I was engaged to my dh, and we went on our first holiday together. Torquay ? I had to ask my mother if it was ok, she only agreed because we were going to get married. Oh how times change. I was 21.
It was so hot I got sun Stroke. And was really ill. But a lovely holiday .

I remember the thousands of ladybirds being shovelled up off the prom near where I live, and travelling home from work on a hot sticky bus with ladybirds everywhere, even sitting on them.

Even at the beginning of this year I was plagued by tiny flies in the back kitchen and I thought then that it was unusual. I was so desperate I nearly bought a sticky flycatcher, but I flicked them to death using a swift movement with a tea-towel each time I went into the kitchen.
Lord knows where they came from but I now think it was a sign of the heat we now have.

I certainly do remember that scorching summer. My daughter
was 18 months old and we went to Weymouth with my husband's parents - not a good idea! They were sun-lovers and just wanted to spend their time on the beach, not my husband's idea of a holiday, but it was his idea to take them with us. We went our separate ways in the end to find some shade to keep our daughter in. Apart from that Weymouth was lovely and it was a lovely summer

I sat my last degree exam on 4th June 1976 and got engaged to DH a few hours later in Kelvingrove park, next to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery, just below Glasgow University. It was all very romantic, the birds were singing, the sun was shining and I was like the cat who got the cream. ?

We had booked a table a restaurant in a hotel on the road to Loch Lomond. We never found it and ended up back in Glasgow at the Berni Inn.
Years ago , I was delivering an inservice to teachers in a hotel. It turned out to be that elusive hotel, a bit down at the heel by this time, 25 years later!

A few years ago, our children clubbed together to give us a painting of the very spot we got engaged at. It was such a thoughtful present.

Yes fabulous memories, I was 20, the roads melted in parts, and one major concern was if the pubs ran out of draught beer.

I had my eldest daughter in september 1975. I remember thinking that i was glad i wasn't pregnant in 1976!!

I remember it well. My younger brother, 12 years old at the time, had an accident and broke both of his arms. I imagine plaster casts on both arms in that heat must have been very uncomfortable.

A-levels, working on a market garden in Northumberland which was my usual summer job, prior to having a gap year pre uni doing voluntary work in Kidderminster. I remember the weather breaking around mid August so that changed the dust carried home from the farm to mud. Passed my driving test at the 6th attempt (long story) and a boyfriend’s younger brother died in a river accident. A bit of an up and down season.

Oh yes, I got married in June 1976. I was 19. He ran off with my best friend 4 years later. Double whammy for me. Good riddance to them both.

I remember it very well. DD1 was just one. We lived out in the sticks in a tiny cottage backing onto peaty Army ranges. The peat caught fire and burnt & burnt all summer. We had green goddesses manned by Ghurkas strategically placed to protect us & the neighbours although some times there wasn't enough water to fill the tanks. It was unbearably hit, the grass turned to hay and DD spent much time outsude under a tree lying in tepid water in the baby bath. The smoke became unbearable so we evacuated to my parents 50 miles away. We’d only just arrived when a neighbour phoned to say to get back asap as they couldn’t contain the fires so DH & my Dad returned to try & save anything they could. Luckily the wind changed in the nick of time, the Ghurkas who had by then set up ‘ camp’ in our garden did their stuff and the properties were thankfully saved. It went on until early September when the heavens opened and we, plus 5 soldiers sheltered in the kitchen drinking tea until the rain started to leak through the ceiling from the flat roof above. ?
Truly a summer I’ll never forget

Two events that Summer stand out for me. Thanks for bringing back lovely memories.
My friends got married and it was stifling in the church, but when we went to the bride's family's pub garden for the reception it was a tiny bit cooler and such a happy occasion. She is one of 13 children so it was a big "do".
The other event was a holiday with my late brother and his family at Dartington Hall in Devon. David lived in New York but came to the Summer School at Dartington every year to play piano and flute and attend concerts and talks with folk from all over the world. I came along as a listener.
The normally green grounds of the Hall were suffering and my sister in law and I used to gather up as much bath water as we could and take it out to the trees to try to save them. A chat with the lovely gardener there told us that our efforts were appreciated but in vain.
At that time you were allowed only 3" of bath water and there were lots of jokes about bath sharing.

We went on holiday to Spain that year.
Our first and last holiday abroad. Hot in Spain too, but had a wonderful holiday.
Remember worrying that stand pipes might be introduced and being exhorted to share a bath and not waste water.

I lived in a flat in London in 1976, we found we could get on to the roof and spent many Saturday afternoons sunbathing up there. We also swam in the Thames (can't remember whereabouts it was). Then we got married in August and went to Greece for our honeymoon - it was probably hotter at home!

It was the year my first baby was born, an incredibly hot year! Baby was in mostly nappies and not much else for months.

I am so loving this thread

We were in Coventry and it was stifling. Not a breath of air anywhere. I would have given anything for a bit of a sea breeze. We could have fried an egg on the pavement! And I had hay fever! Never stopped sneezing for weeks.

We’d married the year before. We both worked in London and the tube was unbearable at times.
We’d just moved into our first house and we had all our friends over for a ‘garden party’ Mainly because our garden was so overgrown and we needed help.
Wimbledon was amazing that year Borg v Nastase and Evert v Cawley.
So hot!!

@hereshopping I had the badge
Save Water - Bathe with a Friend ?

This isn't the hottest summer - we haven't had summer yet! It has been the sunniest spring on record though and probably exceptionally dry. I had a lovely summer of '76. My son had been born the winter before and my daughter was four and a half and we didn't really go anywhere during the summer months although I suppose I must have shopped. We had plenty of shade, the standard blow up paddling pool and a thankfully cool house - complained about in winter but not in that summer!

Our sitting room was one storey up and faced north so I was able to put the new baby in there in his carry cot in the hottest part of the day. He slept a lot, perhaps drowsy with the heat; he was a very easy baby!

axxxliz so sorry you have such a sad memory from that year. I do hope subsequent years have been kinder to you and your family.

Not a good year for me. We had to sell our home or go Bankrupt. So homeless in April and living in one room with in laws with 2 children. Then my Mum died of septicaemia in July.
By November we were in a small terrace house and I remember it was a very wet winter.

I was a student nurse at one of the London teaching hospitals. We had a very traditional uniform that we had to wear absolutely correctly. No allowance was made for the temperature so still had to wear tights and our thick cotton dresses had to have the stiff collars fastened to the very top button. Then with a starched apron over the top you felt ready to faint.