Winter Warmers Accompanying Book

Winter Warmers calls upon material from dozens of tape-recorded interviews carried out in south and east London, along with a few written pieces. Many of the reminiscences are from the inter-war years, but there are also post-war memories, particularly of immigrants from Asia and the Caribbean. For the great majority of these new arrivals, snow, ice, biting winds and freezing pipes were all totally new and not entirely welcome experiences.

Now the single open fire or stove has mostly given way to central heating; double-glazing keeps out the drafts and the days of the icy outside toilets have almost passed. With home, school and workplace no longer as cold as they used to be, there is no longer the necessity for winter diet to be dominated by the traditional winter foods – the suet puddings and endless stews.