That was the year that was!

GARETH BUTTERFIELD with the stories that made local headlines this year: July to December.

A traffic survey concluded the only way to ease town congestion was... an A515 bypass

JULY

THE water shortage that crippled the town and surrounding villages in the spring returned to haunt us in the summer.

A surge in demand during a heatwave led to a four-day shortage, which affected farms, homes and businesses.

The searing heat also led to a series of wild fires breaking out across the country and, closer to home, firefighters were battling with a blaze at the popular Staffordshire Moorlands beauty spot, Dimmingsdale.

Council bosses admitted there was a “pressing urgency” to find a permanent home for a family of travellers, after plans were ditched to use a piece of land at Watery Lane.

The family had stayed at 52 unauthorised encampments in 52 years, costing the council thousands of pounds in legal bills.

World Cup football fever spread through Ashbourne as England beat Sweden in the quarter-finals. Robin Cantellow of Church Street turned his white house into a huge St George’s cross, using a cross of red ribbon.

Derbyshire Dales District Council announced plans to hike parking fees in the new year and roses were flourishing in the otherwise parched landscape as the hot and dry weather tightened its grip.

Ashbourne Sheep Fair returned to the Market Place, attracting hundreds of visitors, and Ashbourne Festival drew to a close with a fabulous and well-supported picnic in the park.

Married MP Andrew Griffiths, whose constituency covers Ashbourne’s East Staffordshire villages, hit the headlines after sending a series of lewd texts to a barmaid and Martin Farr, a PE teacher at QEGS for 37 years, retired.

Ashbourne joined the nation in celebrating the 70th anniversary of the NHS and villagers in Fenny Bentley started campaigning for safety measures on the busy A515.

AUGUST

THERE was more work in store for the troubled Severn Trent Water after a burst pipe flooded two town centre shops, including Ashbourne Bakehouse’s cellar, closing the bakery for weeks, as the flour stocks turned to batter.

The long heatwave of 2018 came to an end just in time for the Y-not Festival, and the series of wet days that followed put the event’s new venue to the test.

A new bar and bottle shop, Maison Du Biere, opened in Church Street and Ashbourne’s foodbank was running short on supplies, prompting an appeal for donations.

A traffic survey commissioned by Derbyshire County Council came to a rather obvious conclusion – that the only way to ease congestion in the town was to build an A515 bypass.

August was also the month that Freedom Leisure, a non-profit organisation, took over the running of Ashbourne Leisure Centre, and “exciting” plans were announced.

Manifold Show was blessed with a return to fine weather for its 39th show but conditions were milder for Ashbourne Show’s 127th event – which enjoyed a record attendance.

Ashbourne’s firefighters missed out on their station’s open day after being called to help with continuing wildfires at The Roaches, in Leek.

Five potential routes were unveiled for Ashbourne’s A515 bypass and we learned of a plan by Derbyshire Dales District Council to extend bin collection cycles up to three-weekly or even monthly. Ashbourne was hailed the best place to raise a family by a national estate agency firm and GCSE and A-level students at QEGS posted a stunning set of results. Firefighter Paul Holmes was given an award in recognition for his 20 years leading the Park Road fire station and Ashbourne’s standard was paraded at Ypres during a three-day pilgrimage to remember the soldiers lost at war.

SEPTEMBER

WE started September with the sad news that “true Ashburnian” Tony Millward had died at the age of 73. The former mayor had become involved in so many organisations in the town and was frequently rewarded for his decades of charity work.

David Wood, of Bamford, was crowned the new Champion of the Dales at the Dovedale Sheepdog Trials and Rams heroes Roger Davies and Roy Mcfarland called into see town football legend Sean Griffiths, 98.

Ashbourne Beer and Cider Festival filled the town hall with merriment over its four days, with 2,372 pints of beer and cider sunk during the event and Matlock Bath Illuminations got off to its usual busy start.

Ashbourne’s branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland was to close, it was announced, and we were to also lose the monthly artisan markets – which had been trading for just one year.

Following the loss of the artisan market, through lack of support, a new hope sprung up for the town’s regular market as plans were put in place to form a Community Interest Company to take it on.

Carsington Water was raising eyebrows with its water level looking worryingly low following a long, hot summer, but Severn Trent insisted the level was perfectly normal for the time of year.

And shamed MP Andrew

Griffiths said he wanted to stand for his Burton and Uttoxeter seat at the next election, despite protesters urging him to step down from the party.

OCTOBER

A PUB was finally opened in the Green Man complex, nearly five years after the St John Street building

was bought by businessman Colin Wright.

Ashbourne and District Animal Welfare Society celebrated its 30th Anniversary and former Ashbourne photographer Ray Sherratt turned 100.

Tributes were paid to Sean Griffin, a local football legend who died at the age of 98, weeks after meeting Derby County heroes Roger Davies and Roy Mcfarland.

Brailsford Ploughing Match took place in Osmaston this year and enjoyed reasonable weather, attracting thousands of visitors and dozens of competitors.

As part of a consultation into a possible change in the way bins are collected in the district, councillors learned most residents had already filled their black bins after two weeks, putting plans to change to three or four-weekly collections in doubt.

Dynamic Duo Caz Harris and Kay Platt staged another of their hugely popular women-only Glitz and Glamour balls in Osmaston Park, filling the marquee with more than 500 revellers and raising thousands of pounds.

Bakery chain Greggs finally admitted it would be setting up shop in Ashbourne, weeks ahead of its neighbour, a new Co-operative convenience store, opening up at a former motorhome showroom in Blenheim Road.

Blind veteran Simon Mahoney took on a tandem cycling challenge at Derby Arena and Dig Street curry house Anayas scooped another big award.

A row erupted over plans to turn a former toilet block in Union Street into an “adult gaming centre” and bodybuilder Charly Wright prepared to travel to Miami to compete in a world championship just six weeks after setting out in the sport.

The town was beginning to fill with poppies ahead of what promised to be the biggest remembrance festival Ashbourne had ever seen and TV presenter Catie Munnings spent the day at Airways Airsports filming scenes for a children’s television programme.

NOVEMBER

NOVEMBER began with news that councillors had met at a “quietly convened” meeting to discuss sending a family of travellers about to be evicted from Bakewell to camp on Ashbourne’s Fishpond Meadow overspill car park. The family chose to move of their own accord hours before the notice was served, but the truth of the council’s original intentions had been outed by the News Telegraph. Hundreds of runners took part in a hugely successful Dovedale Dash and a new Ashbourne gin was unveiled by St John Street cafe-bar Artisan. Ashbourne’s remembrance parade proved to be the biggest the town had ever seen as the community commemorated 100 years since the armistice that ended World War One. However, the town made national headlines for more negative reasons, after motorists were handed parking fines during the service.

A new micropub called the

Queen’s Vaults opened up in the former News Telegraph offices in Market Place, toe Wrestling World Champion Alan “Nasty” Nash revealed he had once tried to insure his prize-winning toes for £1 million and three people were killed in four tragic days on the area’s roads.

Vandals damaged a pair of special goals owned by the town’s football clubs and Glitz and Glamour duo Caz Harris and Kay Platt announced that they had raised more than £30,000 from their fundraising endeavours.

And the run-up to the festive season officially began in November, as two competition winners were given the honour of switching on the town’s Christmas lights.

DECEMBER

WE began the final month of the year with news of the travellers that had set up camp in the town in early November.

The family were due to be encouraged to move to a “temporary tolerated” site in Matlock Bath, which had been agreed upon at a heated meeting.

However, instead of moving to Matlock Bath, at an overspill car park sandwiched between a rifle range and a railway track, they moved just half a mile across town to the leisure centre car park.

One of the town’s oldest pubs, The Horns, was put on the market and Derbyshire Dales District Council decided against extending bin collections to four-weekly, opting instead to introduce a charge for green bin garden waste collections.

A woman’s body was found near to a submerged car at a ford in Watery Lane, Clifton, and councillors allowed development to begin on Ashbourne’s airfield before a link road was put in on its southern side.

Late Night Shopping 2018 was hailed a success, beginning with its better-than-ever curtain-raiser the lantern parade and pets flooded St Oswald’s Church for the annual celebration of animals service.

Hundreds of knitted angels were spread across the town as part of a festive gesture by Ashbourne Methodist Church and Ednaston Business Park officially opened its new centre, in the former St Mary’s Nursing Home. And in our last paper of the year we exclusively revealed the two people who would turn up this year’s Ashbourne Royal Shrovetide Footballs in March.

Businessman Paul Harrison and firefighter Paul Holmes each said they were “surprised and honoured” to have been chosen for this year’s event, on Tuesday March 5 and Wednesday March 7.

A row erupted over plans to turn a former toilet block into an ‘adult gaming centre’