Community spirit shown when winter bares its teeth
How do some of the most isolated communities in the Yorkshire Dales survive the harshest of winters? Grace Newton went to find out.
STOCKPILING FOOD, relying on farmers to clear roads, and occasional helicopter supply drops. This is the reality for some of the most remote villages in Yorkshire when the weather turns nasty in winter, as it did in 2013.
Residents of the Dales and North York Moors have come to rely on community spirit, co-operation and the unexpected lifeline of Tesco deliveries to sustain them when heavy snow leaves them cut off.
Rodney Beresford is the epitome of the self-reliant Dales farmer.
He lives in a farmhouse on Newby Head Pass, between Hawes and Ingleton. when the local council stopped travelling to this forbidding part of Wensleydale to remove snow, he shifted it himself with his plough from the treacherous local roads – some of the highest in England.
He is now paid by the council to clear and grit the routes for his neighbours.
Winters up here are so challenging that the RAF sometimes have to drop supplies to cut-off farmers by helicopter.
Rodney and his son Thomas battle through mountain passes that become ‘mini-Matterhorns’ when snow falls, and their vehicles are also capable of hauling stranded cars that have left the road to safety.
Rodney said: “Fleet Moss is probably the very worst place to clear. Thomas even rescued a council gritting wagon there.”
He and his son began snow ploughing through frustration. “Now we work for North Yorkshire County Council, Skipton area – snow ploughing and gritting right on the county council’s extremity.”
Thomas also works as a coach driver for Bibby’s of Ingleton, who are happy for him to take time off for his ploughing duties, as it prevents their buses from becoming trapped in difficult conditions.
“One of the worst winters up here was 1947. Old-timers remember it was a bad summer before that notoriously bad winter. The army had to use flame throwers in an attempt to blast through drifts on the Settle-Carlisle railway.”
Drinkers were stranded at the Tan Hill Inn, near Keld, in Swaledale, on New Year’s Day in 2010, after heavy overnight snowfall trapped revellers at England’s highest pub inside.
They were stuck along with the staff for three days until rescue came.
Former landlady Louise Peace, who has since sold the business, spoke about the 2009-10 winter as being one of the worst in memory. “When it starts you can be knee-deep in two hours, but that year was particularly bad. I had gone out to help rescue stranded drivers and ended up being snowed out of the pub.
“There was no way I could get back and the next morning was no better. We had 60 guests up there and just two members of staff. I rang them up and said: Right there is no way you can deal with them on your own’. I told them to get five of the guests together and set up a working party. That’s what they did and they had a whale of a time for three days...”
For some in the Dales and North York Moors, the nearest supermarket is in Catterick.
A local farmer in his 70s who lost his livelihood to the food-and-mouth disease outbreak has taken on the daunting task of driving Tesco delivery vans from the garrison town to the remote reaches of the Dales in all weathers.
One Upper Wensleydale resident, David, who did not want to give his full name, knows all about the community spirit. He said: “There is a developed sense of community and self-reliance and people just generally look out for each other. When newcomers arrive they will be welcomed and given the opportunity to engage with locals and community events, most of which might seem a little odd to people coming from an urban area.”