“Since moving to Co. Cork, Fermoy and living on a farm in early 1973, I see big changes. We had severe winters, burst pipes, water frozen and power cuts in those years, but not now”

In the days before we knew about global warming, weather patterns were very different to today. Much more variations between Seasons. Summers long, hot and dryer. Summer began in April and we still had a scorching August, which was the main month for seaside holidays in Ireland. I remember lots of summer dresses and everyday was a day for a picnic. I lived in town then – Mountrath, Co. Laoise and we had large walled gardens full of roses for months. Banana sandwiches and homemade Lemonade was the highlight of picnics. Locally we had the River Nore and all the children of the town spent afternoons swimming in the river which was free of pollution.

One of the best weather indicators in our house was the old Barometer in The Hall. The onset of Autumn was indicated by the Foamy Cuckoo Spit on the thistle. After that evenings got shorter. In 1978 we had heavy snow in May. The winters were much colder with lower rainfall. Wool coats, hats and scarf were the order of the day. Lots of people knitted their own hats and scarf and also wool socks for men. I remember every year at the start of winter getting a new pair of Fur Boots, lamb's wool. I also remember getting chilblains on my toes.

In 1950, there was heavy snow that remained on the ground for several weeks. Favourite pastime was skating on frozen pool. Children had great freedom then.

One of the big changes I notice is the amount of wind we got. We really only got a lot of wind in the month of March, East wind but now we get it all through the year.

Since moving to Co. Cork, Fermoy and living on a farm in early 1973, I see big changes. We had severe winters, burst pipes, water frozen and power cuts in those years, but not now. Animals sheltered under hedges and trees and there was very little pollution or sickness in animals. The Birds and Bee numbers have reduced greatly. We still have flooding here on fields beside the river Blackwater. In 1986 we had Hurricane Charlie which caused extensive flooding. We have not had anything like that since. River Blackwater in Fermoy froze in 2010 and remained frozen for 10 days. It is supposed to have happened previously in 1940. Ireland is not as susceptible to Climate Change as other countries except for erosion of the coastline.