The unswerving courage of two brave girls during the fierce winter snows is being celebrated by a farming community.

Best friends Ashleigh Costello and Francesca Oldfield, both aged 24, were part of a team that ran the gauntlet to beat the vicious ‘Beast from the East’ by helping stranded drivers.

And at one point, helped by locals, they both dug with their bare hands to free a driver trapped on a treacherous, snowbound Saddleworth road.

Ashleigh Costello, a tractor driver for Grains Bar-based Rowan Ashworth Limited was helped by Francesca Oldfield, from Dobcross, who acted as co-pilot, worked tirelessly alongside other teams braving the appalling weather conditions.

Francesca, website manager for Naylor’s Equestrian, Rochdale, said: “The teams spent days and nights making the main roads passable and freeing stranded drivers.

“Ashleigh and I are friends and I accompanied her at night to help. It was a terrific community effort by everyone - we didn’t mind getting stuck in.”

Ashleigh said:“There were memorable nights on rescue missions involved towing lorries up the A62 Standedge road.

“We cleared the road up to the M62 during the time the motorway was closed. We kept finding cars and drivers who had slid off the road and become stuck for up to four hours — as well as retrieving a stranded gritting lorry.”

The main Denshaw and Ripponden roads were impassable but as one night shift was drawing to an end, they saw a car wedged at the roadside.

“We couldn’t get the snow plough close enough to create a track to pull him out so we got out and dug with our bare hands alongside local residents,” she recalled.

“People thought we were crazy pulling back in to the yard after some very lengthy shifts.

“But we were still smiling —- and, after all, keeping the community moving is what it’s all about.”

And the girls were both back on board as part of a colourful charity tractor run which raised £1,000 for the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital.

Twenty eight machines from the Saddleworth Tractor Group turned out to travel in convoy round the villages where, only a few months ago, they were aiding stranded locals.

And the vehicles were shown off to visitors at The Church Inn, Uppermill.

A spokesman for the event said: “The run gave everyone time to share mutual interests and raise money for a very worthwhile cause.”

Meantime, Councillor Arooj Shah, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods Services, said described the work dine by the winter tractor teams as “a great example of working in partnership.

“We always try to work with local businesses and organisations to provide the best services and deliver the best results for residents.

“Rowan Ashworth Limited was contracted by us during the extreme weather conditions and were coordinated as part of our team as we worked tirelessly to get everyone home safe.

“We thank everyone for their efforts in such challenging circumstances which saw us battle blizzards and severe snow drifts.”