Religious groups come together to bless LCC’s gritters and road users across Lincolnshire.
With the depths of winter just around the corner it’s time for the county’s annual gritter blessing. And this year the super salting set have been given an early festive gift with specific messages of faith and goodwill from religious groups in Lincolnshire.
Five religious representatives visited LCC’s Ancaster depot for the first multi-faith coming together to share prayers and positivity about keeping the roads open. The groups good wishes were spread across the gritting fleet machines, materials, staff and road users ahead of the wintry temperature drop that’s due to arrive soon.
Stuart Cradduck, Rector of St Wulfram’s Grantham, Gandō Seiko Garrod, Sōtō Zen Buddhist Monk, Nina Champman Lay Hindu Chaplain at University of Lincoln and Jan Phillips and Ruth Williams from the Lincolnshire Jewish Community gathered to spread the good word on the good salt.
Father Cradduck said: “It’s lovely to be part of this blessing for the gritters in the county. The team work very hard in all sorts of very bad weather to keep road users like me safe and it’s very much appreciated.”
Jan Phillips added: “We are very grateful for the work that the gritters and everyone who works in the team do. To be able to be here and be a part of the annual blessing is a welcome way to pass on a message about this work and a wider message about being safe in the winter.”
Nina Chapman wanted to add in a further message to the blessing prayer ritual she performed on a huge gritting machine, saying: “Gritting the roads where we live is very important in order to keep people as safe as possible, but it’s also important to think about being kind, considerate and aware of other road users when traveling.”
Reverend Gandō Seiko Garrod was appreciative of the gritting team heading out when the weather is at its worst. He said: “The gritting team has a tough job to do, and they do it well, we have gratitude for that and for those that do the work.”
The annual blessing gives a chance for the religious groups and LCC to spread the message of being careful on the road during the winter months, and underline the plea to everyone traveling to drive to the conditions and give the gritters the space they need when they are out gritting the county’s roads.
Darrel Redford, gritter boss at LCC added: “This has been our first multi-faith blessing for the gritters, team and road users and it’s been a real joy to be a part of.
“We’re very thankful to everyone who has come to the depot to help spread the word ahead of the colder conditions coming in. It really marks the start of the winter proper for us and reminds us all, and the wider community, about the need to be thankful and considerate when getting about in sometimes perilous conditions.”
The recent cold snap – by the numbers
In just five days of recent cold weather that plunged thermometers to as low –7 in the county, LCC gritters covered a staggering 29,892 miles keeping vital routes open and safe in Lincolnshire. That’s more mileage on the road in one county than it takes to go all the way around the Earth!
During those 387 runs held across a working week, the team put down 2,664 tonnes of salt which cost around £140,000 in materials alone.
For more information about gritting in Lincolnshire, including what we grit, when we grit, gritting routes and why roads might still be icy, visit www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/gritting.