County and City Councillor Kathy Williams; who said that communities need to pull together in a winter the likes of which we haven’t seen for a while; put out a call to local people. As a result, armed with no more than shovels and woolly hats, good Samaritans braved the icy conditions to grit the pathway in Church Road to ensure people could get to the doctors, library and other vital services!
“We’re in a crisis, so people need to get out and do something for themselves, and stop being so dependent,” she said. “We were offered the option of getting some bags of grit and doing it ourselves, and I hope this will prompt other people to do the same.”
Meanwhile Pensioner Catherine Crosbie, 87, said she was full of praise for her paperboy Connor Slade, 14, who helped her this week. The Churchdown School pupil has never missed a delivery in two years and always checks to see if she is OK. “He was here by 10am even with all the snow. He’s such a lovely young man.”
Across Gloucestershire, there were tales of people going the extra mile for others from helping stranded motorists move their cars to giving lifts to colleagues and taking shopping to vulnerable neighbours.
Whiteshill resident Roger Harrington wants to say a big thank you to the Central Networks engineers, who were up in that horrible weather trying to sort it out. “They worked their socks off all night and all day, so I think they deserve thanks.” Parts of Whiteshill, Pitchcombe and Painswick, near Stroud, were without power for several hours.
However one report of residents stealing grit from council bins has detracted from all these glowing reports of community spirit. Parish councillor and snow warden Carol Tilling (Longhope FOD) said that there were reports of people coming and taking buckets full for their own footpaths. She said “I do think it’s selfish, it’s supposed to be for the roads so people can get out, so I want to ask people to stop.”
