LETTER: Heavy snow brought out the best in Pendle residents

Lancashire’s highways team often comes in for stick, but they really pulled out the stops in the badly affected Pendle villages.

We had almost half of the county’s gritters in our area, along with 10 diggers and two snow blowers. They could not have worked any faster or harder in harsh, and at times scary, conditions.

Of course it took a while to get round, but that didn’t stop them.

This snow was unprecedented. Just up from my house in Emmott Lane, Laneshaw Bridge, there was a wall of 12ft of snow, and full credit must go to the highways teams who worked almost non stop from Thursday, March 21st, through to Monday, March 25th.

It was great also to see the community spirit of our villages come together in abundance. Farmers in Laneshaw Bridge, Trawden and Wycoller took to their tractors in an attempt to clear routes. Neighbours helped each other to dig out cars, pubs took in stranded motorists and people mucked together to drag cars to safety.

For me as a councillor, what I found really interesting was social media. Via Twitter and Facebook I was able to keep people updated and get information from local residents throughout the weekend, and a whole new community spirit appeared online. It made those cut off feel like they knew what was going on as live information was shared with them. Thank you to everyone who helped Boulsworth residents and those stuck in wider Pendle in whatever capacity. You did us proud.

PAUL WHITE

Boulsworth Ward Councillor