This January the snow fell over Crawley leaving it looking like something from a post card at Christmas.

The people of Crawley woke to at least five inches of snow on Wednesday 6th January 2010. In true tradition most of Crawley made their way to Tilgate Park to sledge down the hills, on the slopes of the underpaths at Broadfield or wherever there was a slope covered in soft fluffy glistening snow.

The snow bought fun and snowball fights but it also bought dangers to those who are elderly or disabled. The community showed true spirit by checking in on their neighbours and making sure they were stocked up with essentials and were keeping warm. We kept in touch with Crawley via our Facebook page and were touched at the amount of people going out of their way to help others. Here are some of the comments: -

Andrea Daniels Roberts said “Did the neighbours path, husband took someone home, leaving her car stranded.  But one thing, why are people ambling into the road???  When it is likely a car cannot stop!  Please be careful”

Fiona Keelan said “we have been helping our neighbors get their cars out of the street bless em. I’m lucky I have no car only my legs ”

Tricia Harding said “my two young sons were out the back of our house earlier and they helped push a mans car off some ice and they are only 9 and 11 years old he was very grateful to them bless them and they managed it xx”

Helen Wenban said “I popped to my neighbour to see if he was ok and he asked me for some milk, if only they knew how hard that is to find in crawley, I searched for ages, got some in the end”.

Tricia Harding said “its like my mum would say “its the spirit of the blitz” people always come to the aid of others when the chips are down and times are hard xx”

Graham Harding said “a group of youngsters helped me push my car out of tilgate park last night when I got stuck. Who says youngsters in Crawley (and hoodys) are all bad. The girls were pretty too. I felt bad pelting them with snow from my wheels. THANKS YOU GUYS AND GALS ”

Anita Parker said “TWO MEN HELPED ME YESTERDAY GOT STUCK IN SOUTHGATE THANK YOU GUYS XX”

Helen Wenban said “I HAVE to go out and get some milk so I can have my cuppa, I will be calling in on my neighbours to see if they need anything, I did get stuck yesterday twice in the deep snow and got helped out”.

Jackie Finch said “my hubby cleared our path,neighbours paths and most of our street, well done baby xxx”

It soon became apparent local shops as well as the big supermarkets were running low on bread and milk. So we encouraged the community to let us know where they bought theirs from and how much was left so we could notify people therefore saving them a wasted journey.

It really was a teamwork situation and made us very proud to see so many people helping others and being informative. We believe this is not a one off and we should make provisions for next year. So we are going to set up a ‘Snow Hot Line’ for the elderly and disabled to call if they need anything, and are going to ask all the local shops and supermarkets to send us an email when they are out of stocks. This may go towards helping people and will hopefully stop panic buying. Anyone who would like to be on the ‘Helpers List’ please send us your details to editor@crawleyhappytimes.co.uk.

Crawley Happy Times would like to send their thanks to those who went out of their way to help others and would like to see if this community spirit can stay alive for the rest of the year!

YOUR SNOWY PICTURES