Review of the Year

MAY

CROWDS flocked to Lawn woods on May Day morning to greet the dawn chorus and get the Swindon Festival of Literature started in style with music, dance displays, skirls of bagpipes and even juggling.

It was revealed that special constables, who don't get paid for helping to police Swindon's streets, had made more than 90 arrests during the preceding 12 months.

Swindon Town manager Iffy Onuora thanked his players and the team's supporters for their "monumental efforts" as Town faced relegation after drawing 1-1 with Bristol City in the last game of the season.

Days later Onuora was sacked by Town's board and claimed he had lost his job because it wanted a big name in the post. Chelsea and England star Dennis Wise was appointed with his former Blues teammate Gus Poyet as his assistant. But he left in October.

Mother-of-two Lucy Simons, who is deaf herself, marked National Deaf Children's Week by announcing plans to set up a support group for youngsters with seriously impaired hearing.

The Great Western Hospital announced that in 12 months 23,500 patients had failed to keep their appointments, costing the hospital trust £2.6m.

MP and Grumpy Old Woman Ann Widdecombe complained that a guard at Swindon railway station had refused to let her on a train for Paddington, even though she arrived 30 seconds before it was due to leave. She had been in Swindon to talk at the Festival of Literature about her new book, Father Figure. An employee said the guard was obeying a First Great Western company rule.

Parents who want to help their children with their homework were urged not to be afraid of the way modern maths is taught, and were offered courses designed to help them master the subject themselves.

Lord Joffe, the Liddington life peer who has sought changes in the law that would permit assisted suicide for incurably ill people, had his controversial Right to Die Bill blocked by the House of Lords.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, was among the Bill's leading opponents.

Lord Joffe said he would probably reintroduce it during a future parliamentary session.

Students on a media make-up and beauty therapy course at Swindon College showed some wacky faces at their end-of-term show. Tutor Ellie Baskerville said she was confident some of the students would go on to work in TV and films.

Michelle Williamson, whose six-year-old son was almost knocked down by a car outside Catherine Wayte Primary School, received support from North Swindon MP Michael Wills on her campaign to get a zebra crossing outside the school. He said Swindon Council, which had refused parents' requests, should change its mind and make the road safer for the children of Abbey Meads.

But the council was unimpressed by Mr Wills' critical comments on another matter. He claimed in the House of Commons that the town's record on recycling was disappointing. Environment Minister Ben Bradshaw went further and described it as "depressing".

The council retorted that it was working towards its targets.

A Swindon court learned that an illegal immigrant had been sent to the town to peddle fake DVDs by Chinese gangmasters, who had brought him to Britain.

The man, 36-year-old Xing Xiu, was jailed for three months.

Police said they were sending extra patrols to Wroughton after teenagers leaving Ridgeway School were beaten up by a gang of men who had leapt from two cars.

Accountants KPMG reported that bankruptcies in Swindon had doubled since the middle of May last year. But Swindon-based Nationwide notched up a record nine per cent increase in profits.

Gardener Philip Osman won an award at the Malvern Spring Show for his Garden of Celebration and said his entry would be transported to Prospect Hospice, with help from Swindon College students. Fellow gardener Gill Blackman of Drove Road won a Royal Horticultural Society silver medal at the show.

Broome Manor professional Barry Sandry received one of golf's highest accolades when he won the Golf Foundation Sinclair Award for his outstanding contribution to junior golf.

But Brunel shopping centre director Nick Beaumont-Jones was less happy as the month ended. He said his company had to spend £1,000 a week cleaning up graffiti, which were deterring visitors from coming to the shopping centre.

JUNE

THERE was a bright start to the month for two good causes. Revellers at the Butterfly Ball at Barbury Castle racecourse raised a total of £14,600 for Macmillan Cancer Relief and CLIC Sargent, a charity for children diagnosed with cancer.

Swindon Council's housing department also had a happy start to June. A survey of almost 650 of its tenants found 88 per cent were satisfied and 56 per cent were very satisfied with their homes.

Police warned that children who were leaping across a 40ft-high gap between the old Cock Robin pub and a Co-op shop at Cavendish Square. And following an Advertiser story, council workmen moved in to demolish the former Priory Road doctor's surgery, which was said to be dangerous Three expensive cars - a Porsche 911, a TVR Tuscan and a Mercedes - were wrecked in an accident on the road from Wanborough to Covingham. Police were seeking the driver of a blue hatchback who failed to stop.

A £56,000 grant from the Big Lottery enabled the Millen charity advice point to reopen, three years after withdrawal of council funding forced its closure. It specialises in helping people who don't speak English.

Meanwhile, the council's coffers were boosted after it brought in the bailiffs to chase people who owed arrears of their rent and council tax.

Swindon's first Test cricketer Jon Lewis took a wicket with only his third ball in the match between England and Sri Lanka at Trent Bridge.

Stagecoach said its acquisition of new buses worth £1.3m would mean a better deal for passengers. The move was part of a Government scheme to boost services between Swindon and Chippenham.

Crowds flocked to Lydiard Park for a free festival on the first hot day of a baking summer.

And the UK Corporate Games brought 150 teams with a total of 6,200 competitors to Swindon. Director Esther Nicholls said the event would be seen as a flagship for future games in the town.

Self-confessed Big Brother fanatic Stuart Boyer, 29, started a campaign to get dance teacher Grace Short ousted from the BB house after she described a new arrival, blonde model Aisleyne, was "a bird who looks like she belongs in Swindon or Slough."

He said he would like to show Grace around his home town and 67-year-old Moira Titcombe supported him. She said: "It's ridiculous that the town keeps getting continually knocked."

The Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust, which runs Great Western Hospital, was £1m in the red. It was named as among 30 per cent of health trusts that had overspent.

Six-year-old Christopher Mearing and his big brother Thomas, eight, earned praise from Wiltshire Ambulance Service for summoning help when their mum Samantha cut her arm badly with a knife.

They stemmed the flow of blood and dialled 999. The boys, who also looked after their younger brother Ben and baby sister Ellie during the crisis, were rewarded with a behind the scenes tour of the county's emergency services.

James Gray, Conservative MP for North Wiltshire, claimed service personnel aboard a Hercules aircraft from Lyneham which had been shot down over Iraq could have been saved if vital firefighting equipment had been fitted. He urged the Defence Secretary to take action over the issue.

Reg Clarke, co-founder of Swindon's twinning link with Salzgitter, was honoured on his 50th visit to the German town at the age of 86.

Widow Susan Wright, 72, was bemused to receive two letters from Thames Water. One thought she was dead. The other wanted to provide her with a water meter.

Days later Vivienne and Paul Miles and their small daughter were made homeless and neighbours' children at Abbey Meads had to be rescued when water from an underground reservoir at Blunsdon burst through concrete flooding the area.

Breast cancer sufferer Ann Marie Rogers was relieved and delighted when health watchdogs urged the NHS to make herceptin available for women in the early stages of the disease.

She had taken her case to the High Court after Swindon Primary Care Trust refused her the drug.

Doors closed for the last time at the old Central Library huts in Regent Circus as work began on a long-awaited new library Labour councillor Peter Mallinson crossed the council chamber floor at the Civic Offices and joined the Tories.

Gorse Hill mum Rebecca Gambles received a heart transplant. She had feared she might not live to see her baby son Josh grow up.

Football fever swept the town as England competed in the World Cup in Germany. Rachel Swatton, who said she wasn't a big football fan, won two tickets for the quarter-final of the competition.