Remember the heatwave of 1976?

Someone mentioned the 10cc song I'm not in love.I vividly remember lying on my bed,windows open, as a 16 year old on a boiling hot night hearing that song as they were in concert at our local football ground .I only need to hear that song to be instantly transported back to that evening.

I would've been in my late teens, so I lived through it but to be honest, a lot of summers seemed to be hot and long so 1976 doesn't particularly stand out to me.

Thank you, Chestnut, for that link. I wasn't in the UK in 1976 but have often heard about it. That documentary really was an eye-opener!

Working 12 hour shifts on a Geriatric Ward???

I was working in a solicitor's office in Cambridge prior to möving to Germany permanently in the autumn. We didn't have aircon in the office but it was an old building with small windows and I don't remember it being particularly hot. I think we were less bothered by the heat when we were younger, except, of , course, those who were pregnant.

I remember the ladybirds. There were thousands of them. My wrought iron gate was painted blue, but it looked as if it was rusty. And when we unfolded the folding garden chairs dozens of them fell out of the tubular frame.
We couldn't walk down the street without stepping on them.
Then, next year it was back to normal. Where did they come from? Where did they go?

Like many others, I was pregnant in 1976. We went on holiday to Jersey in August. I was six months pregnant and quite large. I would have loved to have a bath each evening but we were told to be very careful with water and only flush the loo when really necessary.

I remember the wildfires coming down the country lane I lived on. Took out all the farmers' crops and the hedging along the banks. Thankfully, no one's house was affected.

Nusgranny, I remember the Boots uniform - and the rule about always wearing tights. So glad I didn't work there then!

I was working in Boots before starting Teacher Training. Our uniform was a cotton blouse and polyester pinafore! We had to wear tights and shoes. The only concession our manager made was to send around strong orange squash in the afternoons.
No air conditioning in the store, just 2 double doors at the front and one at the back. At 18 you can put up with a lot if you are making money.

My 2 year old tried to give his 4 month old twin brothers an ice lolly?

This was the year I left school and started my very first job in a sewing factory. Can still remember having cold drinks brought to us every half hour.
The weeks between leaving school and starting work were spent sunbathing with friends.

DD1 was born in January so I was at home with her-happy days, she was such an easy baby after an easy pregnancy and confinement-at home. On a new estate making friends with others in the same boat.
DH used to tell me which plants I was to our washing up water on during the day ?

My Dd1 was born in September 1976 ? as soon as I brought her home it rained ??‍♀️

We went on holiday to Budleigh Salterton right at the beginning of the heatwave.When we left home it was snowing and my 13 month old was bundled up in jumpers and long,thick trousers and all we packed were winter clothes.When we went to our room the sign in the bathroom said please use only six inches of water in the bath.When we asked what the problem was we were told no rain for six weeks.We went into town to buy some lighter clothes,but we were told'we don't have children In Budleigh madam',so it was a trip to Torquay!

Went camping with a group of other single parents, using a couple of old scouts tents formerly used by army in WW11. Great time Then. Thunderstorm. Tents pitched on beach. Everyone’s blew down. Couldn’t find my 4 kids but one appeared from under a tent saying it’s brothers were curled up asleep around the only tent pole left standing. Remembered that last year when the same kid told his grandchildren that when he was young he could sleep anywhere!

Yes! A holiday job after my A-levels, picking non-stop strawberries in that long hot summer meant that my trainers were stained pink, and I was as brown as a berry and I earned enough to have a glorious holiday with friends in Pwllheli and Abersoch afterwards - Fabulous memories!

I remember it well. I moved to Plymouth in May with a new job and met my future husband. We used to go swimming at Whitsands Bay after work. I thought I was in Heaven.

Teaching in Hemel Hempstead during the 1976 heatwave meant that we held many classes outdoors in the shade of trees.

I left school in the summer of 1976 met my husband then and started work all in one year! Busy year and ye sit was so hot we lived it!

Commuted into central London all Summer so remember hot trains so packed you could fall asleep on your feet then fall over when people off!

Left the job and given a leaving do with lots of drinks and just a few nibbles then going home and leaving the cool building into the heat which hit me like a brick. I was a bit drunk and getting on a bus and hanging onto a pole as it set off before I'd sat down!

My daughter was born feb 1976 and spent all that summer outside in her pram . Do people do that now? Babies were always put outside as much as possible then .

Luckygirl3

Swathes of dead ladybirds washed up on the tideline on the Somerset coast. Instead of the usual green of the seaweed the tideline - about 8 feet wide - was bright red. Utterly macabre.

Oh yes - and giving birth in the August after weeks of lumbering about like a lump of hot sweaty lard.

I remember carpets of ladybirds when on holiday in Saltburn. There was a huge number that year.

2nd June 1976 - my birthday and we had just moved into a new house in Northamptonshire. We opened the blinds to a snowfall but by lunchtime there was glorious sunshine and a slushy pavement. The heatwave seemed to go on for ever during that summer and I remember the joy of it finally coming to an end with a thunderstorm.

I was living in London and pregnant with my second due in October. Most days I pushed two toddlers in my double pushchair to the park where there was a children’s play area. One toddler belonged to a friend whose baby was due 2 months before mine so it gave her a chance to rest.
We lived in a tiny upstairs flat with no access to a garden so I would fill a bucket with water and plonk her in it to keep cool on the front steps. Happy days and I can’t remember minding the heat at all.
Very different now. As soon as it goes over about 32 degrees I feel wiped out.

Sitting my O Levels in a gymnasium . Kids passing out every now and then . ?