Look back: How the Beast from the East 2018 hit Winchester

Residents will remember when the first Beast from the East hit the town in February-March 2018 as it caused havoc across the UK and travel disruption in Winchester.

Click on our picture gallery above to relieve some of the moments from 2018.

For two days it caused chaos on the roads, events were cancelled, schools and libraries were closed, offices, shops and restaurants were empty, diggers stood unused and waste collections postponed.

Hospital chiefs were forced to pleading with any staff who could make it in to come to Winchester’s Hospital to help ease the pressure caused by the snow.

For some it meant unexpected journeys to hospital. Actress Sarah Parish, 49, who lives near Alresford, was hospitalised after breaking a leg in a sledging accident. She fell badly after standing on a sledge as if it was a snowboard in her garden.

She posted from the Royal Hampshire County Hospital: “Day 2 in Winchester Hospital. Looks like I’ll be operated on today,” she told fans.

“They’re putting a great big pin right through my shin!! No sleep last night, was on enough Morphine to knock the Navy out but still in pain. Note to self: cheap plastic sledges are for sitting in and gently trundling down primary slopes NOT a substitute for a stand up snowboard.”

The owners of one of Winchester’s oldest buildings had a nasty shock when a car slid into it. The car was spotted by a passer-by who said it had skidded down Blue Ball Hill and crashed into the corner of The Old Blue Boar. The witness added that the corner of the inn, which is on the junction with St John’s Street, was “completely caved in”.

Hampshire’s 5,000 miles of road took a severe beating from the weather - but council leader Roy Perry said the “well-honed machine sprung into action with good partnership working.”

Including 100 farmers kept on a retainer and paid an hourly rate to help out, as well as 400 4x4 volunteers driving key workers to work, Cllr Perry said the £1m spent in 2011 on salt and grit boxes for residential streets had been used properly for the first time.

But one Hampshire hero disagreed - and criticised police, the council highways as well as drivers. Peter Rockall, from Cheriton, said he spent 12 hours battling six-foot snow drifts to help cars stuck in the snow. The pre-school teacher said he was awake at 3am when he realised the severity of the situation . He and friend Peter Sharp spent the rest of Friday towing cars in “really dangerous conditions” along the A272 up from Cheriton to Cheesefoot Head, the 600-foot high hill near Winchester.

He said: “There was a sign to say road closed but people had just pushed it over and were ignoring it. We pulled an elderly woman’s car up to the top of the hill but when I asked her if she was going for a hospital appointment or something but she said she was going for a massage. There were people saying they were going in shopping in Winchester.”

One primary school stayed open on the coldest March day on record and despite chaos on the roads. Children at St Anthony’s in Fareham said they’d had “the best day ever” while hundreds of other schools were shut due to heavy snowfall. Several events at the weekend fell victim before the thaw set in.