Winters were fierce in the valley. Winds blew relentlessly, piling up the snow in great rifts. Sometimes these drifts were six foot high on the sides of the road and as much as twenty feet in the fields and on the smaller roads burrowing up into the hills. Many of the daygirls who lived in places like Brithdir, Dinas Mawddwy and Llanfachreth were completely cut off and missed a week in the winter season.

Clothing - layers of it - was our main protection against the bitter cold. The flannel blouses came into their own and in addition, for the most junior, liberty bodices. There were white cotton knicker linings as well as warm woollen knickers and long black woollen stockings and when we were outside, boots. Even so many girls suffered badly from chilblains and the smell of wintergreen was all-pervasive.