1976: A major storm on this day did considerable damage to the cathedral; four pinnacles and half of the spire at the south-west corner were blown down. The repairs took four years, with four new pinnacles matching the damaged ones carved and placed into position and the damaged stonework at the base of the spire repaired. (Harper-Tee, John, 'The Peterborough Story', Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 1992)
Taken from The Peterborough Book of Days by Brian Jones, The History Press, 2014.
On Monday 17th February a group of school boys left their homes in Stanground to attend school in Peterborough. The weather was freezing and was so bad that the rivers and streams had frozen over. The boys decided that they could make the most of the wintry weather by skating along Back River and the River Nene to reach Peterborough, but it was not the adventure they hoped it would be.
The ice was not as thick as they had hoped and soon began to crack. All but one of the boys returned safely to the river bank. Thomas Andrews slipped through the ice and drowned, the coroner returning a verdict of 'accidentally drowned' at his inquest.
A Thomas Andrews was baptised in July 1833. Presuming this is the same boy, then he was possibly only 11 at the time of his death.
References
'Peterborough', Cambridge General Advertiser, 26 February 1845, p. 3.
Baptism of Thomas Andrews, 7 July 1833, St John the Baptist, Stanground, Huntingdonshire
