Two north Essex schools have met the gritters they chose names for in a competition.

East Anglian Daily Times: Staff and pupils from Silver End Primary School with county councillor Ray Gooding and Alexander the GritStaff and pupils from Silver End Primary School with county councillor Ray Gooding and Alexander the Grit (Image: Archant)

Essex County Council invited youngsters to suggest names for ten of the lorries which spread sat on the roads during the winter months.

Now the winning entries have been branded on the lorries, which have been visiting the schools which named them.

The winners were chosen by Ray Gooding, county councillor for education, and Eddie Johnson, county councillor for highways delivery.

Alexander Andrews at Silver End Primary School chose the name Alexander the Grit, while Big G was the suggestion by Keira Crisp at Lexden Primary School, Colchester. Both schools were visited this week.

Year six at Frinton Primary School, who chose Rory, will be visited by their gritter next month.

The winning schools will also have an ice and fire workshop this term, courtesy of the Essex Country Parks Outdoor Learning Team.

Mr Johnson said: “Our fleet of gritters plays a vital role in keeping the county moving. While this winter has been unusually mild, the gritters have still completed 31 operations, spreading 5,948 tonnes of salt mix.

“I hope this competition has been good fun for the pupils involved and also taught them a bit more about road safety and what we do to keep our roads safe in icy weather.”

Mr Gooding added: “We received some excellent and very imaginative entries from school pupils across Essex. I thoroughly enjoyed reviewing them all.”