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Rattery bonfire and fireworks 2011
Picture by Carole Whelan

Rattery bonfire and fireworks 2011
Picture by Carole Whelan

Rattery bonfire and fireworks 2011
Picture by Carole Whelan

Rattery bonfire and fireworks 2011
Picture by Carole Whelan

Rattery bonfire and fireworks 2011
Picture by Carole Whelan

Rattery bonfire and fireworks 2011
Picture by Carole Whelan

Saturday 18 December 2010

Saturday 18 December 2010

Saturday 18 December 2010

Saturday 18 December 2010

Saturday 18 December 2010

Saturday 18 December 2010

WINTER COMES EARLY TO RATTERY

The coldest December anyone can remember has certainly caught us all out. Several years of very mild winters with hardly a frozen puddle or snowflake in sight have lulled us into a false sense of security that whatever the downside of global warming might be, the positive side would mean an end to cold winters. That assumption would appear wrong now, as winter 2010/11 started to get cold in November with early hard frosts (Ice in November to bear a duck, the rest of the winter will be slush and muck!) The ice on some of the puddles I saw in November would have carried a herd of elephants, let alone a duck. We then of course had the coldest December on record.

A lot of people have started to make comparisons with the winter of 1962/63, which also started early, with a lot of hard frosts pre Christmas followed by a very heavy fall of snow on Boxing day. So much snow fell that the lanes were totally choked, no vehicles could move except Tony Coakers crawler (tracked) tractor, and a piercing easterly wind whipped the snow off the fields and refilled the lanes within hours of them being cleared. At first the snow was so deep in the lanes the only way people could move around was by walking on the tops of the hedges. This was followed by weeks of freezing temperatures in January and February, no school bus for 3 weeks, and general misery and hard work for everyone, there being far less mechanisation on farms 50 years ago. The thaw did not come until late February

At the time of writing it is pouring with rain, and temperatures have risen to a balmy 11deg C. It looks like we have escaped a record cold winter for now, but as my Grandmother used to say, “As the days lengthen so the cold strengthens” , so there could be more to come. It is important to see what lessons we can learn from the recent spell of snow and icy roads. Any help from Devon County Council in the form of gritting and snow clearance is going to be restricted to the major road network, as now. They will fill the salt bins, of which there are 4 in the parish ( with more planned) but once that is used up we are on our own. Neil Coaker our “snow warden” was busy spreading salt, and the Murrays at Pennywell did a grand job keeping Pennywell hill clear. Others, like myself and Chris Palk, managed to clear various other problem places so that there was always at least one clear route into the village.

Looking forward, as a Parish Council we would like to agree future arrangements so that people who have the equipment to clear snow know which hills and bends are priorities to clear.We are also currently looking at ways of mechanising the spreading of salt, and possibly buying and storing some salt for use in the Parish. I am sure that guidance rules on how to do this will come from National and County sources, we may also be able to co-operate with other Parishes.

Peter Smerdon, Parish Council Chairman, Rattery - February 2011.

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