THE BEAST from the East snarled and turned into Storm Emma over Ledbury last Thursday and throughout the night into the following morning, as more than a foot of snow fell on the market town.

Community spirit was already in evidence last Friday morning, before the second heavy snowfall came, as residents broke out the shovels and tried to clear roads in areas, including Bye Street.

Here, several motorists were given shoves to get them on their way, towards the High Street, while the car wheels spun and slipped.

The High Street had clearly been gritted, but other roads in Ledbury, including Bye Street, appeared not to have been gritted at all.

A Herefordshire Council spokesman said of the gritting in the county: "Specific figures are unavailable. Herefordshire Council in partnership with Balfour Beatty Living Places has been delivering constant winter maintenance services across the Herefordshire network during the recent, extreme weather conditions.

"Over 1,000 miles of roads were gritted in preparation for the cold weather front and the network was ploughed on an ongoing basis. Salt was spread once carriageways were in a suitable condition and our winter maintenance teams cleared some B roads which were blocked by snow drifts. Our snow contractors also worked around the county on our more rural, single-lane network."

The spokesman added: "Footpaths in Ledbury were also pre-treated with salt, however the extensive amount of snow, together with the high winds meant that snow drifts soon formed and only essential travel was advised during the weekend due to the hazardous weather conditions."

On social media, there were various reports of farmers breaking out tractors to help clear snowed-in roads and lanes.

On the outskirts of Ledbury, Withers Fruit Farm used a tractor to clear Burtons Lane and other lanes in the Wellington Heath area.

On Thursday morning, in advance of significant snowfall, many schools including the John Masefield High School and Ledbury Primary had decided to open.

But parents were rung to collect their children from the high school at 11am, as poor weather conditions set in, and Ledbury Primary made the same call to parents by 1pm.

Following this, there were widespread schools closures throughout Herefordshire last Friday.

Most Ledbury residents, commenting on social media, decided the schools had made the correct decision to open on the Thursday, despite the early closures.

Ledbury resident, Sara Manns Pedlingham, posting on the Voice of Ledbury said: "I think they were right to open and try and stay open as long as possible; especially with exams being so close for the older students."

Early on Friday morning last week, the BBC was reporting no direct train services from Birmingham and Hereford.

And the official advice by noon was still that "trains between Hereford and Birmingham may be cancelled or delayed".

Some train disruption was still being reported on Saturday morning, March 3.

The snowfall also had an impact on local businesses in the number, with a number of shops staying shut on the Friday.

Aldi supermarket in Ledbury was open last Friday, but managers took the decision to close early, at around 3.30pm, due to the heavy snowfall that was, by then, underway.