THE outstanding work carried out by community minded volunteers during the four days that the Benarty area was battered by the Beast of the East has been praised by local councillor Lea McLelland.

When the blizzards struck the villages of Glencraig, Crosshill, Lochore and Ballingry the Benarty Emergency Response Group was set up and immediately set about dealing with situations as they occurred.

Claire Graham and Tom Kinnaird co-ordinated the Facebook page and it allowed a number of difficult happenings to be dealt with.

Councillor McLelland said this week: "The Response Group was established soon after the Red Warning was flagged up on Wednesday afternoon and it proved to be a godsend.

"It meant that if some snow clearing help was needed it was supplied and equipment failure could be tackled by plumbers and electricians.

"Being able to provide some sort of transportation despite the awful conditions was important and Ian Bruce, Donald Finnie and Frankie Hodge did an unbelievable job and they deserve to be warmly thanked.

"Our local farmers were excellent too in being on hand to provide help and being able to get the machinery necessary to make a difference was so important.

"So many people were ready to get their spades and shovels out and start moving snow which was really so helpful.

"Getting prescriptions delivered was so important to many people."

Lea added: "This episode how valuable social media can be at organising support for needs but at the end of the day the community spirit shown in Benarty was simply unbelievable and I thank everyone involved."

Meanwhile in Kelty 'it was like living in Ice station Zebra'.

Tom Fox said that he and his wife's home in Blair Drive, to the south west of the village, was virtually cut off for around six days.

Said Tom: "The snow was so difficult, it just kept piling up and the wind caused drifts which made the road totally impassable.

"Literally you had 30 homes cut off and the added issue is that most of the residents are over 65.

"From Tuesday night to Sunday night we could not get out of the street. It was particularly a problem for my wife who had a couple of appointments at the Queen Margaret Hospital, in Dunfermline, which she missed and I had a similar situation at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.

"On Sunday I called Councillor Alex Campbell in a last hope that something could be done and he managed to get a JCB come and dig us out of trouble and we thank him and the driver of the machine for their help."

But on Tuesday morning problems re-emerged for Tom and his wife when the snow returned for a spell.

Meanwhile in Cardenden single mum Stacie Miller, 30, had a terrible time of it.

The diabetic stays in Carden Castle Park with sons Logan, 6, and Lewis, 5, but the council tenant has had problems with her heating system on and off and on the Tuesday it shut down.

It meant that she faced a difficult couple of days which was made worse with son Lewis suffering from asthma.

The gas engineer said that Stacie's heating system needed a new part and while every effort mas made to get it as soon as possible she faced a difficult time.

Meanwhile also in Cardenden Alex Burns praised the work of volunteers in part of Carden Castle Park for their snow clearing exploits on Saturday.

He said: "The snow was very bad for several days and left quite a difficult situation.

"On Saturday they volunteers arrived and what a job they did and I cannot thank them enough."