REVIEW OF THE YEAR
2009
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Huddersfield Daily Examiner
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
REVIEW ofthe YEAR 2009
PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE January
■ NEW Year’s Day saw the Kirklees announcement of a go-ahead for the development of a complex of industrial units, offices and a retirement village for a site known as Mirfield 25, a green-field site off Leeds Road at Mirfield Moor. ■ BROADBENTS engineers told a third of its work force, 65 people, that they were to lose their jobs. The announcement was hard on the heels of the closure of Woolworths and another bitter blow for Huddersfield employment prospects. ■ POLICE responded to the ‘fear of crime’ phenomenon by saying that actual crime was nowhere near as frequent or severe as people imagined. The worst area? Newsome ward, which includes a large part of the town centre. ■ HALIFAX Road was to be closed for 13 weeks for work on gas mains. The first day of closure caused massive disruption for people coming from and going to the M62 Ainley Top. ■ COLNE Valley MP Kali Mountford said she would leave Parliament at the next general election. The 55-year-old had suffered ill health for some time, but neither she nor her husband Ian Leedham would go into details. ■ THE Tories lost control of Kirklees Council after a vote of no confidence. A Lib-Dem and Labour coalition took over, headed by Labour councillor Mehboob Khan. ■ AND FINALLY ... A rubbish truck powered by the refuse it collected started work in Huddersfield town centre. Its batteries were powered by electricity generated by non-fossil fuel from the Energy from Waste plant at Emerald Street.
■ JANUARY: Preliminary excavations started at Mirfield Moor (top), sheep were photographed as they again invaded the centre of Marsden (above centre), Broadbents (above right) announced job losses, MP Kali Mountford (above) announced her forthcoming retirement and (right) Kirklees Council made a green gesture with its electric truck
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Huddersfield Daily Examiner
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Page 3
REVIEW ofthe YEAR 2009
Lacking a square deal
February ■ MARK Wakeley, manager of the George Hotel, claimed the hotel had lost £150,000 in cancellations and compensation to guests thanks to the redevelopment of St George’s Square. ■ BOGUS driving instructors offering cut price lessons were ripping off motorists all over Huddersfield. Police warned that the conmen were unqualified and were therefore acting illegally. ■ KIRKLEES promised to work with animal charities to find homes for stray dogs that would otherwise be put down. It was announced that the local authority was one of the worst in the country for destroying unwanted animals. ■ A MASKED gang wielding bricks and concrete slabs smashed their way into the Bridge pub at Longroyd Bridge and stole £2,000, most of it from a charity collection for the National Association of Bikes with Disabilities. ■ EMERGENCY supplies of road salt were being shipped into Kirklees as forecasters predicted heavy snow and icy conditions. The salt was coming into Britain by ships sent from Spain and Germany.
■ FEBRUARY: George Hotel manager Mark Wakeley was concerned about work in St George’s Square (top); Nikki Heffron (above) was stranded on black ice at Cross Firs Street, Longwood; our story (left) of newlyweds George Venizelos and Michelle Bartholomew being separated by a blizzard; and (right) retiring caretaker Town boss Gerry Murphy
■ JUST days later, newlyweds George Venizelos and Michelle Bartholomew were separated by a blizzard immediately after their wedding. “We just drifted apart,” joked George. ■ AND FINALLY ... Gerry Murphy, three times the caretaker boss at Huddersfield Town since 1988, retired from the club. His unexpected departure sparked tributes from fans, footballers and former colleagues.
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Huddersfield Daily Examiner
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
REVIEW ofthe YEAR 2009
Lost hope, jobs and sheep
March
■ DESPITE a big battle, parents and teachers at Castle Hall School, Mirfield were told by Kirklees Lib Dems and Labour that their campaign had failed. A £200m plan to reorganise Kirklees education was to go ahead. ■ PLANS to build two multi-million pound Kirklees College campuses stalled because there was not enough money in the kitty. Officials wanted to build a £70m campus at the Waterside development, Folly Hall, Huddersfield, and another in Dewsbury at the former Safeway site in Bradford Road. ■ THE Queensgate revival project was also put on ice. Kirklees wanted private investors to put £50m into the £200m scheme, but the recession had destroyed confidence and the money wasn’t forthcoming. ■ AN agricultural crime wave was sweeping the Holme Valley. In one incident, rustlers stole nine ewes. Farmers were warned to double their guard on livestock. ■ WREKIN Construction, in charge of the £3m redevelopment of St George’s Square, went into administration. The project was already well behind schedule and over budget. ■ THE jobless figures for February were the worst in 12 years, it was announced. They were up by 63% on the previous year and a third of the 9,648 people out of work were youngsters. ■ AND FINALLY ... Huddersfield crown green bowlers were delighted by plans to turn a disused green at the Leeds Road Sports Complex into a floodlit, all-weather green.
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■ MARCH: Parents and teachers at Castle Hall School, Mirfield, were told the campaign to save their school (top) had failed; Wrekin workers in St George’s Square (left) heard their company had gone into administration; and Darren Lees with children Joseph and Jacob Lees (above) were pictured with remaining stock after rustlers struck in the Holme Valley
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Huddersfield Daily Examiner
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
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REVIEW ofthe YEAR 2009
PROTESTS AND TRAGEDIES April
■ CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save Huddersfield Tourist Information Office from closure said they would fight to the bitter end. Protesters said the closure would carve up and weaken centralised services. ■ THE body of Sabina Alam was discovered near a moorland beauty spot 48 hours after she was reported missing by her family. Police were treating her death as murder. ■ IT was revealed Kirklees College had spent £3.5m on feasibility studies in anticipation of a move to a new campus in the Waterfront development, Folly Hall. The irony was that the Learning and Skills Council had announced a month earlier it had run out of cash for the scheme. ■ A GAS blast at Andrew Jones’ pie factory in Old Leeds Road killed David Cole, 37, and injured Marcus Cartwright. The explosion, thought to be in a faulty oven, brought the bake-house roof down. ■ A KIRKLEES planning meeting over a scheme for 190 homes at the former Black Rock Mills site, Linthwaite was halted when the event was disrupted by angry protesters. ■ RUSTLING was still a problem in the Holme Valley. Another 23 sheep went missing from a Cartworth Moor farm, but the owner said the animals’ meat would be poisonous since they had recently been treated to get rid of parasites.
■ APRIL: Protesters (top) Stan Solomons and Eric Cooper vowed to fight the closure of Huddersfield Tourist Information Centre at Albion Street, which closed later in the year; Clr David Ridgeway was met by Black Rock protesters (above left); the body of Sabina Alam was found on moorland (left); and a gas blast at Andrew Jones’ pie factory at Old Leeds Road (above) killed worker David Cole. One bright spot in the month were daffodils in Grange Moor (right).
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Huddersfield Daily Examiner
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
REVIEW ofthe YEAR 2009
FEELING FINE More Sum May
June
■ JAMES Moorhouse, 22, enjoyed a holiday in Mexico but was told to stay away from work on his return because it was feared he had swine flu. “I feel fine,” he said. “But I’m being made to feel like a leper.”
■ WE thought we’d seen the Last Of The Summer Wine, but BBC1 commissioned a further six half-hour episodes to be shown in 2010. ■ CRAGRATS, the award-winning theatre and training company, went into administration with the loss of more than 70 jobs. The café bar at Dunford Road, Holmfirth, was closed, but the brasserie at Sheffield Road in Hepworth stayed open.
■ WEATHER experts were predicting a hot summer for Huddersfield. Average temperatures of 25ºC (77ºF) were expected in June, July and August. It was not to be.
■ HUDDERSFIELD’S notorious ‘death road’, Wakefield Road, was to get 17 speed cameras in a bid to reduce the number of accidents. The worst five-mile stretch had claimed 10 lives in four years.
■ HUDDERSFIELD MP Barry Sheerman celebrated 30 years in Parliament. “It’s the best job in the world,” he said. “But I’m still learning.” ■ A DROPPED cigarette probably caused a fire that devastated 200 acres of Marsden Moor at the height of the nesting season. Curlew, grouse, twite and owls were among species affected.
■ KIRKLEES Council barred the keeping of bees on its allotments because they were ‘livestock’. Bee keeper Jason Clegg, who worked an Oakes allotment, said: “I think this is absolutely crazy”.
■ A SHORTAGE of burial spaces led Kirklees to announce an £8.2m plan for a new cemetery at Fenay Bridge, in which people would be buried two to a grave. ■ ASDA revealed plans for an edge-of-town Huddersfield store that would bring 400 jobs to town. The store was negotiating with Thomas Broadbent’s, engineers, for their Chapel Hill and Queensgate site with an offer to relocate the firm. ■ VANDALS ripped up the Greenhead Park miniature railway tracks but a small army of volunteers worked hard to repair the damage in time for the Bank Holiday weekend. ■ AND FINALLY ...The Examiner asked its MPs to come clean over expenses in the wake of the resignation of Dewsbury MP and Justice Minister Shahid Malik.
■ THE council also came in for ridicule after it advertised for a director of organisational development in words described by the Plain English Campaign and the Taxpayers’ Alliance as ‘gobbledegook’. The job attracted a salary of £119,000 a year. ■ MAY: James Moorhouse (top) was feeling fine despite being told to stay away from work because it was feared he had swine flu; Barry Sheerman (left) said “It’s the best job in the world” after 30 years in parliament; Dewsbury MP Shahid Malik (above) resigned as Justice Minister pending an inquiry into his expenses; and Asda revealed they were negotiating with Thomas Broadbent’s over a new supermarket proposal (below)
■ STRIKING teachers closed Colne Valley High School, sending 1,500 pupils home, after a debate between the NUT and school bosses over plans for a staffing restructure. ■ THREE masked raiders carrying a hammer and a machete stole cash from the Westbourne Road, Marsh, branch of the HSBC. Police arrested three men in Manchester after a chase. ■ AND FINALLY ... Dean Hoyle took control of Huddersfield Town, the club he’d supported for 30 years, replacing Ken Davy as chairman.
■ JUNE: New episodes of Last Of The Summer Wine were commissioned and the cast (top) are pictured filming later in the year; bee keeper Jason Clegg (above) said it was crazy his bees were banned on his allotment and Dean Hoyle (right) took control of Huddersfield Town and got in trim with director of business development Sean Jarvis for a long-distance cycle ride
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Huddersfield Daily Examiner
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Page 7
REVIEW ofthe YEAR 2009
ARCTIC TIME July
■ INTREPID pals Matthew Greaves and Bruce Smith got ready to drive to the Arctic in an £80 car to raise cash for the Mind mental health charity. The madcap pair took part in the Scally Rally, driving to Norway to raise more than £1,400. ■ A STRETCH of Roman Road was discovered in Outlane. The Huddersfield and District Archeological Society was searching for ‘missing links’ between Roman forts at Slack and Castleshaw. ■ JULY: Matthew Greaves and Bruce Smith (above) got ready to drive to the Arctic and (below) motorbike ace Jamie Whitham was awarded an honorary doctorate at Huddersfield University
■ SWINE flu claimed its first deaths in Kirklees. Nine-year-old Asmaa Hussain and 42-yearold Abdullah Patel, both of Dewsbury, died after showing symptoms of the virus. Tragic Asmaa had been a pupil at Newsome’s Castle Hill School for children with severe and complex learning disabilities. ■ FORMER Kirklees social worker Christopher Hardman was taken to a tribunal for persuading teenage girls to pose topless for bogus modelling agencies. He was later struck off. ■ PAEDOPHILE Daniel Buckley-Mellor, of Dalton, was jailed indefinitely for a series of rapes and abuse on girls as young as six. Judge Jonathan Rose described BuckleyMellor as “vile and disturbed” for his crimes which spanned a decade. ■ TAXPAYERS learned they would pay £1,000 a week to keep St George’s Square fountains in clean water. ■ GRAVE vandals and thieves targeted a fourth memorial in weeks. ■ AND FINALLY ... Motorbike racing ace Jamie Whitham, whose accolades include the 1993 British Superbike, Championship, was awarded an honorary doctorate at Huddersfield University.
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Huddersfield Daily Examiner
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
REVIEW ofthe YEAR 2009
Giants trip to Wembley August
■ THE GIANTS played Warrington Wolves in the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium. They lost 25-16 after a lacklustre performance in their second Challenge Cup final in four years. Huddersfield last won the trophy in 1953. ■ FILMING for the 31st series Last of the Summer Wine began in Holmfirth. The series, yet to be screened, stars Russ Abbot, June Whitfield and Burt Kwouk. Summer Wine fans from across the globe had feared the sitcom’s 30th series had been its last. ■ ELEANOR Cuttel, of Edgerton, celebrated her 106th birthday. Miss Cuttel, of Thornhill Nursing Home, at Thornhill Road in Edgerton, worked at Hinchliffe Mill for her entire working life. In her interview with the Examiner, Eleanor, believed to Huddersfield’s oldest person, joked: “It’s about time you were going. I’ll be 107 by the time you’re done!” ■ AUGUST: Stephen Wild (above) salutes the Giants’ Wembley fans (right); Eleanor Cuttel (left) celebrated 106 years; and other events in the month included Bark in the Park visited by Reece Bevan (below) and the Food and Drinks Festival in St George’s Square (below left)
■ STEVIE Cameron was killed in self-defence, the Crown Prosecution Service and police ruled. Stevie, 22, died in a disturbance at a party at Tintern Avenue, Milnsbridge, in the early hours of February 1, 2009. ■ A DOCTOR in Kirklees was found to be earning more than £320,000 a year. But the Government defended the unnamed Dewsbury GP. ■ AND FINALLY... A Cher lookalike was sought by police after buying goods with bouncing cheques at six shops, including a charity shop. A Cleckheaton woman was later arrested in connection with the frauds around Marsh and Lindley.
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Huddersfield Daily Examiner
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
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REVIEW ofthe YEAR 2009
...and help crash victim
September ■ TEENAGER Callum Parkinson, 13, of Fenay Bridge, learned to walk again after suffering serious head injuries when he was knocked down by a vehicle near his home. Callum defied doctors’ warnings and survived the accident. ■ RAIL passengers welcomed plans for a train service to transport travellers from Huddersfield to London without having to change trains. The service could start in under five years. ■ EDUCATION officials welcomed a £85m cash boost for Kirklees College. It was feared the college would not receive the Learning and Skills Council money to build the new ‘waterfront’ campus, off Chapel Hill. ■ THE BODY of car dealer Christopher Hartley was found shot dead at a notorious sex spot in Clayton West. Mr Hartley is later found to have links to a seedy sex tourist website.
■ SEPTEMBER: Callum Parkinson (above) was guest-of-honour at a civic reception for Huddersfield Giants as he started to learn to walk again after injuries in an accident in June (left); there was a cash boost for the proposed Kirklees College ‘waterside’ campus (below left) and police inquiries began after the body of car dealer Christopher Hartley was found near Clayton West
■ FEARS for thousands of Kirklees Council employees spread after a document suggesting the council must save £400m by 2015. Kirklees officials said there would be “many hundreds” of redundancies and budget cuts would be at least £250m. ■ AND FINALLY... Villagers celebrated after supermarket giant Tesco withdraws its bid to build a store in Holmfirth. A Tesco spokeswoman confirmed the company had withdrawn for the time being, but said the firm remained committed to an investment in the town.
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Huddersfield Daily Examiner
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
REVIEW ofthe YEAR 2009
THE COMPLETED SQUARE
October
■ THE new St George’s Square, with its water feature and new lighting, was finished after 550 days and £4m. ■ RAPPING maths teacher Jonathan Heeley aka MC Protractor, from Netherhall Learning Campus, Rawthorpe, was named teacher of the year at the Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Awards. ■ GIANTS star Paul Whatuira was taken to a secure psychiatric unit after attacking two men at St Thomas’ Road, Longroyd Bridge. Whatuira, who had been a patient at St Luke’s Hospital, had left the hospital early on October 13 shortly before the attacks. No charges were made against him. ■ COUPLE David and Jennifer Palliser, of Almondbury, received a postcard – mailed 40 years ago. ■ KILLER Naveed Naeem, of Milnsbridge, was jailed for life for murdering his girlfriend Sabira Alam, 20, of Greenhead. Callous Naeem was spotted on CCTV, after her death, withdrawing cash from Sabira’s account before spending money on a prostitute. ■ INJURED toddler Charlie Senior, of Golcar, was given an astronaut-like decompression helmet to help repair damaged brain cells. Charlie suffered brain damage when he was shaken by his father. ■ AND FINALLY... farmer Ronald Norcliffe, of Scammonden, was fined £150 for keeping a cow and her calf in the dark. Norcliffe, a farmer of 30 years, kept the animals in a barn with no lights below his house. Magistrates told Norcliffe he could keep his cows.
■ OCTOBER: Teacher Jonathan Heeley (above) of the Netherhall Learning Campus, Rawthorpe, was teacher of the year at the Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Awards; four-year-old Connor Jackson (below) opened the new-look St George’s Square and turned on the fountains; and injured toddler Charlie Senior (left), pictured with his mum Joanne, was given an astronaut-like decompression helmet
Huddersfield Daily Examiner
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Page 11
REVIEW ofthe YEAR 2009
He’s a jolly good fellow
November ■ EX-TOWN Striker Andy Booth received an honorary fellowship from Huddersfield University. An icon of Huddersfield sport – Booth is the third highest goal scorer in the history of Town – he also enjoyed a successful spell in the Premiership with Sheffield Wednesday. ■ ROAD gritters refused to work after Kirklees Council announced a pay cut. The highways employees went on duty in time for the start of the ‘gritting season’ after they and their union Unison agreed a new pay deal with the council. ■ YOBS burned down a £30,000 gym at Salendine Nook High School. Five pupils were arrested on suspicion of arson in what was believed to have been part of a ‘postcode war’.
■ NOVEMBER: Ex-Town Striker Andy Booth (above) received an honorary fellowship from vice-chancellor Prof Bob Cryan and chancellor Patrick Stewart at Huddersfield University; Archbishop Desmond Tutu (left) visited Mirfield; 82-year-old Denis Riley’s ‘hot hatch’ was stolen (right); road gritting crews reached a deal after refusing to work (below); and arrests were made after a £30,000 gym at Salendine Nook High School was burned down (below right)
■ ARCHBISHOP Desmond Tutu made a special visit to Mirfield to lay the foundation stone of a new monastry. ■ A CORONER criticised social services after a newborn baby suffocated while in bed with her heroin-addict parents. Mia Tessa Greenoff-Davies, of Milnsbridge, was just 29 days when she was accidently asphyxiated by her sleeping father. ■ AND FINALLY...An 82-year-old fast car fan, Denis Riley, of Newsome, had to put his petrol-headed fun on hold after his ‘hot hatch’ Vauxhall Astra VXR was stolen from his garage. Denis had owned a string of fast cars including a three-litre Ford Capri and a Lotus Cortina.
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REVIEW ofthe YEAR 2009
The end of a decade
■ DECEMBER: The St George’s Square tree (above); Bruce and Pauline Pedder and their Fenay Bridge lights (below left); Jodie Whittaker in Cranford (below centre); and (below right) Sameena Smith and Sally Brennan brave the freeze at Merrie England in Huddersfield town centre
December ■ A 40-FOOT Christmas tree provided the finishing touch to the new-look St George’s Square. ■ FENAY BRIDGE couple Bruce and Pauline Pedder put on their final big display of lights at their home at Penistone Road.
■ SHOPPERS hit the skids after a pre-Christmas weekend of heavy snow hit in the area – said to the worst December snow in 20 years. ■ HUDDERSFIELD actress Jodie Whittaker was on our TV screens in a Christmas special of the hit drama Cranford and earlier in the month had been at a glittering London premiere as a star of St Trinians 2, The Legend of Fritton’s Gold.