It's always a bad idea to base a winter on past memories, because I
would have said that the winter of 1978-79 was colder than this winter
here in South Devon!

But guess what, surprise, surprise when I checked the data for Exeter
Airport, available from 1973 http://www.tutiempo.net/clima/Exeter...1979/38390.htm
if you understand the lingo & have time to download into Excel.

The average temperature for winter 1978-79 was +3.6c
The average temperature for winter 2009-10 was +3.4c

for the record

The average temperature for winter 1981-82 was +5.3c
The average temperature for winter 1984-85 was +4.1c
The average temperature for winter 1985-86 was +4.5c
The average temperature for winter 1986-87 was +4.8c