BURY shivered and slithered as the borough was gripped by Arctic weather conditions early this week.

However, only four schools decided to shut while council gritters were deployed throughout Sunday and Monday nights to keep the main roads clear of snow and passable.

While weather experts dubbed the countrywide blanket of snow the “heaviest in 18 years”, Bury and the rest of Greater Manchester escaped the worst of the white-out.

The adverse conditions forced the closure of Wesley Methodist primary school in Radcliffe and Heaton Park primary on Monday. On Tuesday, Fairfield Primary in Bury and Mersey Drive Primary in Whitefield closed their doors.

Bury Council gritters worked continuously from 9pm on Sunday until 6.20am the following day, spreading 137 tonnes of rock salt across the borough’s highways. They were out again later and were able to target side streets to help refuse collections.

Weathermen were predicting the cold weather to continue into the weekend, with further possible snowfall today or tomorrow.