AS the snow advances a lonely animal found some friends this week

FREEZING temperatures came to Suffolk and Essex this week, with parts of the region experiencing snowfall.

Weather warnings were in place, and doctors urged people to stay warm as experts are predicting a prolonged cold snap.

The arctic blast that arrived in the region at the start of the week has continued throughout the week. Suffolk County Council warned that it was “imperative” motorists did all they could to regularly check the weather forecast, drive to the conditions and stay safe on the county’s roads.

Inspired by the glistening white scenes outside their front doors, our iwitnesses have been stirred into action this week.

Our on-the-scene reporters have been sending in photos of the snowfall from the four corners of Suffolk, as well as further afield in Essex and Norfolk.

Sufffolk’s agricultural community gathered to mark the official start of the farming season this week. A plough and tractor were blessed on Cathedral Green, in Bury St Edmunds, to acknowledge Plough Sunday.

Details were announced this week of the 91st Sudbury Festival of Performing Arts. Beginning on February 16 at Ormiston Sudbury Academy, the event will feature talented people of all ages from across East Anglia and will open with the dance category.

A headteacher has praised staff and students this week after a recent Ofsted inspection rated the school as “good” with “outstanding” features.

Mendlesham Community Primary School has been assessed with the standard of teaching, pupil behaviour and leadership all being highlighted.

Chilton Commununity Primary School in Stowmarket was also celebrating after inspectors revealed it had shown improvement with its new ‘good’ rating compared to ‘satisfactory’ in 2009.

More than 60 children celebrated Bangladesh Victory Day with an art competition. The Ipswich Bangladeshi Cultural Group held the event at St Helen’s Primary School. The focus of the day was to engage the younger generation and scores of children took part in the art session.

While many of us have chosen to avoid the biting winds this week, a few hardy souls took advantage on the Suffolk coast.

A group of paragliding enthusiasts were captured soaring along the cliffs at Corton, near Lowestoft, by one of our many iwitness subscribers.

Students at a town academy welcomed a former Paralympian. Wendy Smith paid a visit to Ipswich Academy on Friday as part of the 21st Century Legacy programme to get sports personalities into schools to help inspire youngsters. Wendy went to Athens in 2004 with Paralympics GB where she played wheelchair basketball.

A new roller skating club held its first gala and awards celebrations this week. The Skatecrazy Skating School, run by former ten-time British Championship winner and international coach Ashley Moore and wife Angela – also a championship winner - held the event at the Bury St Edmunds Sports and Leisure Centre.

One of the world’s top cycling races will pass through East Anglia next year, it has been revealed this week.

The 2014 Tour De France will feature a stage from Cambridge to London, which will snake south through Essex, east of the M11. It will pass close to Great Abington – about 10 miles from Haverhill – before working its way past Saffron Walden, Takeley, Epping and onto the Olympic Park and central London.

National Trust shepherd Andrew Capell discovered a lost and lonely, a young red deer while counting his flock at Dunwich Heath.

The little deer appears to have become separated from his herd before attaching himself to the first group of animals he came across, Andrew’s flock of sheep. He has been living, eating and sleeping with his 100 new friends for about two weeks now, and shows no sign of leaving.