Summer of 76

Bath, UK. I was 7 years old at the time and remember camping out in the back garden for most of the summer as it was so hot. When it finally rained, the whole street came out into their back gardens and jumped up and down and sang. We had one of those swinging hammock chairs that could seat around 4 people. It got soaking wet and my mum was none too pleased. We also had a dog called Dougal (Yorkshire Terrier) who used to love drinking beer. I think it was called Truman or something similar. Great site anyway. Thanks.

Chris Godfrey

I was 5 years old in 1976, and I was driven to Brecon with my sisters by my mum and dad to see the great reservoirs completely devoid of water, and all that stretched out in front was cracked brown mud. I didn't know at age 5 the implications of this, and thought that soo much mud was cool. I remember the cracks in the mud where so big my father could fit his foot into them. Hot, remember it so hot, going to Porthcawl for the day, t-shirt off, burnt to a crisp, mum putting loads of lotion on. Happy days.

Fabulous site btw, I have a dedication to the seventies on my site. Thanks for sharing.

See http://www.jubnuk.co.uk/1979.htm

Richard Williams

My brother Mick and I started working in the Spencers Arms pub in Lower Richmond Rd, Putney, in Summer of 1976. I had my 21st while working there, March 29th. I can remember how hot in got as the old people not accustomed to the heat were dropping like flies.

Mick and I used to go running in the common opposite the pub to keep fit and the locals reckoned we were crazy aussies bastards. The pub was a Watneys pub and if anyone knows the whereabouts of the then 'governor' Del and his family let me know. Del hailed from Battersea.

Chris Peterson

We worked all through that four month long summer in London and well remember a customer who lived in Paignton arriving to collect his order. It was the beginning of August and he told us how bad it was 'down there,' so we told him not to worry, we would be there on Sept 1st and would bring rain with us. He offered to pay for our holiday if we went there and then, but we had too much work booked.

We arrived in Cornwall on the 1st of Sept and it poured with rain on the 2nd. It rained for a week solid, so we dashed back to London and flew to Spain the next day, but guess what, it rained there too.

We still have our 'Cornish Rainmaker' T shirts!

Joe Seymour

Standing in the middle of the River Severn at Bewdley, Worcestershire on a fishing trip with a neighbour who I used to go with (when he could tolerate me, well I was only 11). The water only came up to the top of my wellies in the middle! The same spot in the Autumn was twelve feet under just a few weeks .....memories eh ? Martin Flavell

March 29th 1976, I left my job at Vauxhall Motors, Ellesmere Port plant in England. To take a job with British Leyland working in the USA. My first job was working as an MG and Jaguar mechanic in Roanoke, Virginia. The Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia was NOT the place for these automobiles.

In 1977, I asked British Leyland for a transfer. They found me a job working in new car sales at British Motors of Sacramento, in California. I came here August 1977 and have been here ever since.

I still own and drive the 1978 MG Midget that I bought brand new on August 10th 1978. Upon my arrival into Sacramento all the music on the radio was The Bee Gees from Saturday Night Fever. The big movie back then was Star Wars. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my memories. Paul R. Lewis

I don't know why, but 1976 has always seemed like a special year. Perhaps it is because it marks the end of an era more precisely than an artificial division by decade alone.

I was thirteen, living in California. I remember that it was the bicentennial year for the U.S. and there being commemorative coins issued for it. I had a friend whose parents were hippies. I remember that they used cigarette ashes to somehow help their plants to grow better and that they didn't flush their toilet after each use (to conserve water I think). Drugs (marijuana and acid) were readily available and may have been sampled by yours truly. I don't remember it being extraordinarily hot in Cali., as it apparently was in England. The following year we got to see Star Wars and my hippie neighbours took us to a "Save the Whales" exhibition/fundraiser. Karen

I entered my senior year of high school in 1976 in the American Midwest. We wore our hair long and shaggy. Bell bottoms and polyester shirts were common. Coors beer was all the rage in my neck of the woods. Everyone drove a beaten up American car; Mustangs and Thunderbirds were considered really cool. Football players were not nearly as big as they are now. Marijuana was everywhere. (Of, course, this was Ann Arbor). Elton John, Neil Young, Bread, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Star Wars, Jesus Christ Superstar were some of my albums. Aaron Selzer

I was 13 in '76 and in the Scouts. That was the year our summer "camp" was actually spent cruising the canals in the midlands on two narrow boats. There was a certain lack of water in some places and we on occasion had to drag the boats off wherever they had run aground. We still managed to find canal side pubs with plenty of beer though (yes, disgraceful at 13 I know ;-) )and it was one of the best summer camps we had.

When the drought ended and the rain fell I remember everyone came out of their houses and just stood there in the rain, such was the relief. Of course within 2 weeks we were back to complaining about it :-) Don

Its the only year I can remember when the pubs actually ran out of lager! Come the end of June, there was no draught lager anywhere! Come the end of July, no draught beer at all, not even Guinness! We survived on bottled beer, orrible! I remember it started to rain again, just after the free concert given by Queen in Hyde Park on Sept 18th, and we then had the wettest autumn on record! Cheers Kevin... Kevin Penfold

I was 11 years old, the summer was so hot I can remember sunbathing in my garden with my record player beside me. My 45's all melted together in the heat. I had gathered them up over of number of weeks with my hard earned pocket money and was devastated when they got ruined in the heat. Still tried to play them even though they were all bent!!!!! Joanne Best

I was 4 and have vague memories of being on a beach, possibly West Wales or Cornwall, and being surrounded by swarms of ladybirds. We had to run to the car to eat our lunch as they were getting into all the sandwiches! Caz

"I was 19 and living in London. I remember my flared trousers and platform shoes which I found difficult to walk in. I would listen to the Bee Gees and Abba and went to watch the film Saturday Fever with John Travolta. In the evening I would go to the disco in Hammersmith Palace in Shepperd's Bush. It was too hot to dance though." Victor

"What a wonderful year, so full of memories. As said in other memories, getting up early to watch show like Tiswas but being outdoor more often than not. It was so different being a kid then, climbing trees, playing hide and seek etc rather than being stuck in playing on a pc or playstation. Every summer, the tennis rackets came out when Wimbledon was on. Best memory of the summer of 76 were the huge water fights we had in our Avenue. All the kids would gather and water receptacles filled by mum and dads. We used old washing up liquid bottles to fire water at each other !!!!!!! Oh where did the good times go!" Fiona

"I was nineteen working on the farm riding motorbikes, the weather was hot. Man was it hot. It was a fantastic summer; I got a fantastic suntan. I didn't wear a lot of clothing, neither did the girls. That was cool. It was the only thing that was: hot days and hotter nights. Even at full throttle the wind was still hot, the beer was hot, the water was hot what water we had. I was a true seventies child and loved every minute of it pity it left." Tony or known then as Topcat

"I always remember Saturdays as a kid. I was only seven, but I always remember me and my brothers and sisters used to get up early and watch shows like 'Space 1999' and 'Saturday Scene', (Does anyone remember Sally James pre Tiswas?). Another memory was 'World of Sport', especially when the wrestling came on at around 5.00 pm. Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, Kendo Nagaski etc etc. My Mum and Dad were glued to it, especially when Big Daddy would stand on the ropes and give his opponent the almighty body splash! Dad would always say 'I wouldn't want him to sit on my toilet!"

"Also, does anyone remember a show called 'Supersonic'?. It was a bit like 'Top of the Pops', but was shown on ITV every Saturday. I distinctly remember it being post glam with some rather dodgy mid-70's pop acts!" Christine Gregory

"I was eight and remember it well, it was great until the corner shop ran out of jubblies" Tracy

"Being pregnant and too hot and walking to Clifton Suspension Bridge to try and get some air! Driving with the top down in our beaten up frogeye sprite with Pink Floyd playing. Moving to the country and growing our own veg using water siphoned from the bath into a container on a wheelbarrow - it seemed like the longest summer ever.... "

"1976 - The best summer that's ever been. It started in Manchester about the 11th June, cornflower blue skies for weeks on end. I remember a satellite picture of the UK on a news programme showing not one cloud anywhere. I remember having to cancel a hiking trip in the lake district - after getting there we were told that a girl had died from heatstroke - it was just too hot & dangerous - even wearing a cheesecloth shirt! I had a green Triumph Spitfire back then with Pink Floyd & Genesis (Trick of the tail) playing on the 8-Track stereo. A mate of mine sat for 40 minutes in a deckchair on Blackpool promenade and looked like he'd been in a house fire! Anyway, the Kettledrum in Salford had plenty of ice cold Boddington's to refresh us.... how I wish I could go back for a day." Alan Starkie

"The most significant thing I can remember about summer 1976, along with the heat, was the overwhelming amount of red lady birds. I was 15 working out in the fields leading corn, when the trailer was filled by the harvester it just looked like a trailer full of ladybirds a complete red out! The like I have never seen to this day. Also around then were a number of small swirling tornados which churned up the turned hay, good times!" Eric Tew

"I was only three years old, I remember being in Luton Arndale Centre with my Mum. The fountains which were my favourite part of the centre had been switched off and drained of water, which I found very interesting. I'd bought a toy JCB style matchbox digger which I left in the drained fountain and only remembered when I got home... I also remember being scared to bits by Doctor Who getting his leg trapped in a railway point while a train was approaching!

One of the biggest memories from that time for me though is a concept rather than an actual event. This concept was "the vandals". I'd be walking along the street and see some graffiti and ask my Mum who did it. "Vandals must have done it at night" she'd say. Aged 3 I had no idea who or what the vandals were, but I knew they must be bad. To me the vandals lived in a world after dusk somewhere I didn't want to go! I distinctly remember once being on my bike in the street we lived in just before dark and seeing a group of youths at the opposite end of a long alley, too far for me to clearly see them, but I knew I had seen my first glimpse of "the vandals". Terrified I pedalled home on my Raleigh Tomahawk! I discussed this with a friend roughly the same age recently and he had a similar fascination with "the punks"!

Geoff