1962...2023....its always been wet(or cold) in Calderdale....thanks A...Arak

 Mothing Evening July 10th 1962.

Mothing is a chancy business. The rain started about 4 o’clock. “If only it will clear” we said, “this may be a good night!”.

I phoned Bill Collinson. We met at 7.20pm and he ran us out in his car to see if anyone had turned up at 7.30.

Since it started, the rain had been a continuous downpour, and it just kept on. As we turned to go up the valley we saw a stream of water coming down the gutter, a wide stream. Higher up, water was pouring onto the road from the hillside in white torrents, and the cataracts at the roadside obscured all drains and rushed down more than a yard wide and was striped with foam.

Stone steps beside a house were now a waterfall. Every field and drain added its quota, in many places debris was spread across the road and we had to slow down to crash through rivers flowing from one side of the road to the other.

We kept on to the Clay Pits beyond the Carr. Here we got out. Everything was dripping wet and grey clouds obscured the hilltops, one arm of the cloud almost reaching down to Scout Hall.

The valley was covered, like a lid on a bowl, with ragged rainclouds. They continued to drop fatness upon the earth so we dived back into the car and sped for home.

(But as we parted we had a good chat on the Natural History of our project).