Local heroes show community spirit is alive and well...
STORM Emma brought blizzards, snow drifts and chaos to the area.
All of Bridgend county’s 60 schools were forced to close for two days, while driving became treacherous, with some roads becoming impassable.
Arriva Trains Wales also closed some lines and a number of bus services were cancelled.
The travel chaos meant hundreds of people, including nurses, carers, pharmacists and doctors, were left stranded, with many people unable to get to work or even home after a long shift.
But in typical Welsh fashion and in the sense of true community spirit, hundreds of kind-hearted people from across the country joined together to help out those in need.
These are their stories. All the people who volunteered to transport nurses and medical staff...
A number of people, who have 4x4 and off-road vehicles, mucked in to offer transport and support to nurses, medical staff and carers who needed to get to or from hospitals and patients at home.
In Porthcawl Kerry Marlow worked with the local police and town councillors to establish a network of help for the vulnerable and transport for medical staff including midwives, carers and district nurses.
As the area’s Co-Op Member Pioneer – a role established to bring the community together – Kerry used Facebook to enlist the help of people with 4x4 vehicles across Porthcawl and beyond into Neath.
He also worked with councillors Richard Collins in Maesteg and Cheryl Green in Bridgend to get the word out to all areas.
From 6pm last Thursday Kerry matched up workers needing lifts with drivers and believes 98% of local medical staff were able to reach patients.
He said data gathered on vulnerable people living alone during a project to combat loneliness was also used by the police in Porthcawl to ensure they helped those most at risk.
Members from Bonkas 4x4 Wales, a club for people who use 4x4s, also started a Facebook group to help those in need.
The group named Bonkas4x4wales extreme weather assistance was set up “to assist people in an emergency situation, struggling to get about in times of extreme weather, to help the vulnerable members of our communities”.
Dial a Cab in Bridgend also offered a free grocery pick-up service for customers unable to leave their own homes.
They only had to pay for the goods requested. And the cab company also gave discounted rates to all hospital staff.
Tony Cox of Cox Skips in Porthcawl also used his heavy vehicle to ensure streets were cleared.
Coity residents Bill Daniel, Gareth Roberts and Councillor Amanda Williams spent all day Friday ferrying NHS workers too and from work in the snow. ...and those who went to extraordinary lengths to get to work
Care home workers and medical staff also slept in residential homes and hospitals to ensure service was maintained for patients.
Others went to great lengths to ensure they got into work. They included Mandy Baldwin, from Brackla in Bridgend, whose enormous effort was highlighted by her daughter Nicola.
Mandy, 59, a domestic health care assistant at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, left her home at 4.30am on Friday and trudged through heavy snow for an hour and a half to ensure she arrived at the hospital two and a half miles away for her 6.30am shift. The manager who ran a meals on wheels service from their living room...
A meals on wheels service was run out of a manager’s living room while snow paralysed the region, while youth workers walked “a considerable distance” to ensure a drop-in service ran as normal.
Bridgend social workers also stayed near work overnight to be close to service users. And gritter and JCB drivers and so-called hand gangs were also back out moving snow and spreading grit first thing on Friday morning after working 12hour shifts on Thursday.
Bridgend council’s chief executive Darren Mepham praised the authority’s staff for working around the clock.
“Some parts of the UK have had to call in the military because of the severe weather and here in Bridgend county borough a small army of council staff is also working around the clock to protect residents and ease disruption,” he said on Friday.
“Our gritter crews and highway teams are keeping the main road network open and are dealing with problems such as fallen trees and blocked routes. High winds and drifting snow have been a major concern and JCBs and other specialist vehicles have been deployed to help clear these.
“Hand-gangs have been