JANUARY

SHAP entered the record books in the first week of the year as the coldest village in England. Mercury levels plunged to minus 10.6 degrees Celsius on Shap Fell, making it the coldest recorded temperature of the winter.

TRIBUTES came flooding in from all over the world for a teacher who tragically plunged 70 metres to his death while walking on a Lake District fell. Paul Percy, 44, taught chemistry at Queen Elizabeth School, in Kirkby Lonsdale. He had been walking in poor weather conditions at Dungeon Gyhll, Great Langdale.

SLEDDALE Hall, near Shap, made famous by the cult 1980s film Withnail and I as Uncle Mounty’s Cottage, was put up for sale by United Utilities. More than 500 bids came in for the property, some from as far away as Australia and Botswana.

THRIVING discount store Home Bargains revealed it would fill the spot Woolworth left behind in Stricklandgate, Kendal, following weeks of speculation. A spokesman for the store said it would offer 30 new jobs and be a welcome boost to the town’s economy.

FEBRUARY

PLANS to pay tribute to one of Kendal’s most favourite sons, Alfred Wainwright, were unveiled. A bronze statue of the fell walker, writer and artist will be designed by sculptor Graham Ibbeson, and there are plans for it to take pride of place in Kendal.

HUNDREDS of staff from South Lakeland District Council were called into an emergency meeting to be told 50 jobs were to be axed as the authority tried to save £1.75 million. Employees were asked to consider voluntary redundancy, retirement, and flexible working hours.

SEDBERGH School was hit with Oscars fever as a former schoolboy scooped one of the prized bronze statuettes. Simon Beaufoy picked up an Academy Award for best screen play as his smash-hit movie Slumdog Millionaire swept the board.

LANGDALE and Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team endured its busiest-ever week as walkers ignored signs warning of severe weather conditions on the fells. They were called out ten times, with some rescuers missing sleep and meals to save lives.

MARCH

TOURISM chiefs launched plans to promote the Lake District as a training ground for athletes before they compete in the 2012 Olympics. A bid was submitted to the London Olympic committee promoting the region as an ideal environment for mountain bikers, long-distance runners, open-water swimmers and sailors.

POACHERS were found to be travelling from hundreds of miles away to South Lakeland to take a share of an estimated £500,000 black market for illegally-poached deer. Using night vision equipment, and specially-bred attack dogs, up to 17 deer a week have been killed in some poaching hotspots.

THE green light was given to Booths to build a brand new supermarket in Grange-over-Sands, despite impassioned pleas from concerned residents and retailers who fear the store will take trade away from small shops.

ULVERSTON Victoria High School was taken out of ‘special measures’ after rapidly improving its educational standards. After a two-day inspection, OFSTED praised acting head teacher Dennis Fay, his staff, and students, for helping to turn the school around.

APRIL

A BUSINESSMAN who netted more than £2.7million on the National Lottery pledged to continue working at the factory which has been his workplace since he left school. Graham Forrest, managing director of a Kendal snuff and tobacco manufacturers, won the money on a double roll over with the same numbers he has played since 1994.

TWO landmark Kendal pubs went up for sale in the same week. The Cock and Dolphin, in Milnthorpe Road, and the Ring o’Bells, in Kirkland, were sold by pub chain Punch Taverns.

A BRONZE statue of comedy duo Laurel and Hardy was unveiled by Ken Dodd before 2,000 cheering fans in County Square, Ulverston, after 17 years of campaigning by the town’s residents. Stan Laurel was born in the town in 1890.

MAY

A BID was launched to move Kendal Auction Mart to an out-of-town site along the A590 at Crooklands. Its current Appleby Road site - which it has occupied for 100 years - would be released for possible housing.

AN earthquake which struck South Lake-land and north Lancashire was the biggest in Cumbria for 30 years. Measuring 3.7 on the Richter scale, the British Geological Survey’s epicentre was 8.8km under the sea between Ulverston and Flookburgh.

MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale Tim Farron put all receipts for his £16,433 expenses claim under the scrutiny of The Westmorland Gazette. He was ranked 94 out of 165 MPs for the amount he claimed between 2007/08 and said all his expenses were legitimate.

A RECORD 16,000 people basked in the sunshine at Cartmel races, and 10,000 flocked to the Westmorland County Show for their first-ever Country Fest food lovers weekend.

JUNE

A FATHER saved his daughter’s life after she almost drowned in the freezing waters of the River Kent. Seven-year-old Nadia Regulski had slipped off a ledge at Sandy Bottoms and had been under the water for a minute before her father, Borys, came to her rescue.

DAIRY farmers in South Lakeland and Eden were left thousands of pounds out of pocket after the collapse of a milk co-operative. Dozens of farmers had invested money in the Dairy Farmers of Britain, which went into receivership owing an estimated £50 million to its 1,800 members.

SKATEBOARDERS in Ulverston were jumping for joy after a £75,000 purpose-built skateboard park opened in Lightburn Park. Over 60 skaters gathered to take part in a competition after it was officially opened by Coun Norman Bishop-Rowe.

ONE of the Lake District’s best-known hotels enjoyed an injection of rock and roll when Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher was airlifted by helicopter into the grounds of Miller Howe, Windermere, for a lunchtime drink. He was joined by Tom Meighan, of Kasabian, who he had been touring with.

JULY

EDEN’s high profile MP who has represented the area for nearly 30 years announced he would be stepping down this year due to health reasons. David Maclean was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 13 years ago and will stand down at the next general election.

LITTLE Skye Wilson arrived home safe and well after undergoing a heart transplant operation at Newcastle’s Freeman hospital. Doctors had originally believed that the six-year-old had been suffering from a bug when she originally complained of a stomach ache. She is now back at St Thomas’ Primary School, in Kendal, and enjoying playing with her friends.

FOUR teenagers from Kirkby Lonsdale saved two trainee outdoor instructors from drowning in a whirlpool on the river Doe near Ingleton. The men, who had gone gorge walking in the flooded river, were thrown a rope by the boys and dragged to safety.

COMEDIANS Rory McGrath and Paddy McGuinness battled it out in a Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling competition at Ambleside Sports while filming for a new BBC programme on traditional British sports.

AUGUST

A £100 million pound development plan to transform a run-down area of central Kendal was unveiled. The 20-acre scheme at Canal Head on the old Lancaster Canal will provide shops, restaurants, 700 underground parking spaces and affordable housing if it gets the go ahead.

HISTORY was made at The Westmorland Gazette as the newspaper changed from a traditional broadsheet after 191 years to a compact.

A FRISKY Friesian cow survived a 12ft fall after chasing a farmer she had taken a fancy to around a field. Ten firefighters from Barrow were sent to winch the cow to safety after it had landed upside down between a garage wall and a hedge in Dalton-in-Furness.

AN ambitious bid by Kendal College to transform the north end of Kendal town centre into a cultural and creative hub suffered a major set back with the withdrawal of £8m funding from the Learning and Skills Council. However, in December the North West Regional Development Agency gave a £1m grant, which will allow the Wildman Street element of the scheme to go ahead.

SEPTEMBER

A VALUABLE antique clock worth £200,00 was stolen from Levens Hall. The rare Thomas Tompion table clock dates from the 1690s and was taken in an early morning raid. Police believed it to be the work of a sophisticated criminal gang.

THE Great North Swim on Windermere saw over 6,000 people enter the lake’s chilly waters over two days for a charity one mile swim. The event celebrated its second birthday this year and has become one of the most popular swimming events in the country.

A RECORD-breaking number of visitors packed on to the Crooklands show field for the most successful Westmorland County Show ever. But record number of visitors also meant two-hour queues for motorists at Brettagh Holt roundabout and on the A591 as traffic backed up around the show ground.

UFOs were spotted over Kendal by nine readers of The Westmorland Gazette who contacted the paper to say they had seen bright yellow and orange lights travelling at speed.

OCTOBER

A WOMAN who fell 30 feet from the top of Striding Edge, on Helvellyn, was air-lifted to safety in one of the most daring and skilful rescues ever seen in the Lakes. Eileen Garby was just metres from a 300ft drop but pilot Steve Graham of the Great North Air Ambulance managed to land on a six feet wide part of the ridge, enabling paramedics to reach her.

A FORMER diplomat, adventurer and author was chosen as the Conservative candidate to fight the Penrith and the Border constituency at the next general election. Rory Stewart, a former professor of human rights at Harvard University, won a US-style open primary at Penrith auction mart beating off five other candidates.

HUNDREDS of motorists are to be deprived of free town centre parking after South Lakeland District Council voted to transform The New Road car park, by the River Kent, into an attractive riverside spot for tourists. The decision has angered many town centre workers who say they have no alternative but to drive to work.

NOVEMBER

ENERGY company E.on announced plans to build nine, 110-metre tall wind turbines on farmland over-looking Kirkby Lonsdale. The site at Longfield Tarn lies about 700m away from houses at High Biggins off the A65.

AS a ‘one in one thousand year’ flood hit South Lakeland, homes and businesses suffered millions of pounds worth of damage. One of the worst hit areas was Bowness where 20 boats capsized and hotels flooded to a height of five feet, forcing them to close.

RADICAL schemes to totally overhaul Bowness Bay and to revamp Waterhead, Ambleside, were put forward by the Lake District National Park Authority. Plans include pedestrianising the Glebe, creating an amphitheatre and buiding a new hotel on the waterfront.

DECEMBER

THE University of Cumbria announced its plans to close its Ambleside campus’s under-graduate teaching in a bid to save £2m a year. Students are to continue their studies at the Carlisle or Lancaster campus and up to 140 jobs may be lost.

SOUTH Lakeland’s cancer patients will soon be able to receive treatment at Westmorland General Hospital in Kendal as money was secured to provide a chemotherapy unit. Patients currently have to travel to Lancaster, Barrow and Preston for treatment.

A THREE-month public consultation period over the proposed expansion of the Yorkshire Dales and Lake District National Park began. Planned changes include the incorporation of the Howgills, and the Lyth and Lune valleys.

HEAVY snowfall over the weekend before Christmas caused one of the busiest weekends of the year for South Lakeland’s emergency services with 800 reported falls in the snow. Tragically Brian William Metcalfe, 21, died in a freak accident which police believe happened when the mechanic slipped on ice near to the Parker and Parker garage in Kendal.