5:04pm Wednesday 20th January 2010
By Community Correspondent Rachel Bowen The beginning of the New Year saw Purley covered in one of the heaviest snowfalls in living memory. Causing massive disruptions – schools closed, work cancelled or delayed, people unable to leave their drives – many were completely unprepared for the sheer magnitude of the weather. Walking through the town, it seemed a completely different place. With the roads deserted, people dressed in heavy coats and wellies or snowboots, and the thick covering of snow was over everything, Purley was transformed into a scene from a Christmas card, complete with requisite glowing windows and snowballers!
It took barely a couple of days for life to get back to normal: roads were quickly gritted, the snow turned to dirty slush and the only real signs of the extent of the weather were the snowmen, towering up to seven or eight feet tall. But for many in the community, those few days held real significance as the first time they had ever experienced real snow to that extent – reflected, perhaps, in the vast numbers playing in it! Certainly, as a way to start 2010 – a new year, and a brand new decade – the deepest snow seen in such a long time was a perfect beginnin
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