CHILDREN across Herefordshire may be gearing up to return to the classroom next week as coronavirus lockdown restrictions start to be relaxed. But three years ago, in 2018, they were sent home from the classroom for altogether different reasons, as the Beast from the East brought heavy snow to the country. Freezing air from Russia gripped the UK in what was the coldest late February in years. Hereford Cathedral The frozen Wye. Karen Friedman Schools and roads were closed after Hereford s streets disappeared under a blanket of snow on, while drifts as tall as a person built on rural roads. High drifts near Bromyard