Kate WalshJANUARY: THERE was a quiet start to 2004. But by the end of the first week of January two shocking sets of figures featured in the Advertiser's headlines.

The festive blitz on drink drivers had netted 25, twice the previous year's arrest total.

And it was revealed that Swindon council had been shelling out an average of £100 million a year for equipment, without anyone being sure how the money was spent. Coun Mike Bawden was appalled that there was no central purchasing department to keep tabs on spending.

Tragedy hit the family of 16-year-old Kate Walsh of Highworth. She was found dead at a squat in Manchester Road from a drugs overdose.

Later in the month 13-year-old Gary Perring died after sniffing aerosol spray. His devastated grandparents, with whom he lived, later began a campaign to warn other youngsters of the danger.

Adam Twine, the man behind the controversial wind farm project for Watchfield, proposed painting the turbines in rainbow hues and said a splash of colour would cheer up drizzly skies. However VWH district council didn't agree.

Highworth actor, community theatre director and voice coach John Williams earned praise from the Bristol Diocesan newspaper Three Crowns for teaching vicars how to get their sermons across.

In mid-January, three months after saying there would be no redundancies, Swindon Pressings announced 330 jobs would go.

But 45-year-old mother of two Debbie Wakefield was celebrating after winning £202,000 at a Swindon bingo club. Debbie, who admitted she spent £100 on the game every week, said she would split the prize with her friend Jackie Cox, 43, with whom she played bingo regularly.

Swindon dancer Nikki Wheeler, who had appeared with Robbie Williams, married her boyfriend Jonathan Wilkes at the superstar's pad in Los Angeles. Nikki's grandma Connie, who was home in Eldene while the ceremony took place, said she was thrilled for her.

Former Swindon Town footballer Neil Ruddock, otherwise known as Razor, appeared on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.

Melanie Day of Ashton Keynes gave birth to her third child, without having known she was pregnant. Stephen arrived six weeks prematurely, weighing 4lb 3oz.

FEBRUARY: THE month got off to a cold and gusty start as strong winds battered the Swindon area. Trees were brought down, the A419 was blocked and hundreds of homes were left The big blow even overturned a lorry on the M4.

The walls of the Princess Margaret Hospital buildings at Okus began to come down as demolition men started clearing the site for redevelopment.

But the reputation of Wanborough Primary School soared. It was named among 400 of the country's best.

Swindon's citizens rejoiced as plans were announced for a £150 million redevelopment and extension of the shopping centre. The town was promised 100 quality shops, a ten screen cinema complex, coffee shops, restaurants, an 800-seater food court and car parks for 1,400 vehicles.

Coun Lisa Hawkes (Cons, Highworth), criticised other borough councillors as "overly sentimental" after they rejected the advice of officers and approved an application by John and Shirley Gunter to turn an old barn on their farm at Blunsdon into a retirement bungalow. The couple said they wanted to keep generations of Gunters together on land that had been farmed by generations of their family.

Tim Bryan, 44-year-old acting manager and founder curator of the Steam museum, shocked railway buffs by announcing his decision to go off the rails and on to the roads. He left town after more than two decades of involvement with Swindon's railway history to run the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon, Warwickshire.

It was a good job experienced first aider Michael Wolf knew what to do when his pregnant partner Becky Wolf went into premature labour on St Valentine's Day. His son Alfie arrived so quickly that Michael had to deliver him on the living room floor at their home in Queen's Drive.

A 39-year-old sales manager, Julian Alder, was jailed for eight years after admitting a catalogue of sex crimes against children. His defence lawyer had described him in court as "a ticking time bomb".

Singer Gilbert O'Sullivan, who grew up in Swindon, asked his old friend Ken White to design covers for a boxed set of his CDs. "We go back a long way," said Ken, who lives in The Mall. His work has adorned everything from external walls in his hometown to Sir Richard Branson's Virgin aircraft.

Student Kirsty Saull, 20, of Highworth, who suffers from ME and had frequently had to miss lectures, was nominated for an achievement award after scoring top A-level grades in philosophy, English literature and sociology and winning a place at Durham university.

And Elaine Clements of Nythe won a Hyundai Getz car by staying awake for 67 hours. She was the last one standing out of ten competitors in a contest at the Designer Outlet Centre.

MARCH: THE end of winter meant the end of a 23-year wait for 55-year-old Open University student John Bartlett of Dorcan. He completed a course he had begun when his daughter Alyson was only a toddler. John, who left school at 16, learned in early March that he would receive his BSc degree in geology and earth sciences just a month before 25-year-old Alyson's own graduation. She studied medicine at Sheffield.

Solicitor General Harriet Harman came to Swindon as a VIP guest at a conference on domestic violence and appealed to police, social services and other agencies to share information. She said it could save lives.

A Shrivenham florist made the wedding of Kate and John Bridgeman at Cricklade Hotel and Country Club a happy event by stepping in after Swindon firm House of Flowers failed to deliver the bride's bouquet and 30 buttonholes for guests. The Swindon shop was part of the George Davis group which had gone into liquidation

Teenage diva Charlotte Church, Voice of an Angel, was spotted at the Brunel Rooms, where UK garage singer/songwriter boyfriend was performing live.Brunel spokeswoman Zoe Miller said: "She was having a great night, dancing with her friends."

Unruly behaviour by unaccompanied children, some as young as eight, forced Liden Library to introduce a ticket entry system, which meant only people with library car

A golden coach, one of four new single deck buses to join Thamesdown Transport's fleet, took to the roads of Swindon in March. The special paint job was to celebrate the company's 100th anniversary.

Crisp eaters Mark Smith of Welcombe Avenue and Glenn Dance of Grange Park were also celebrating. Within days of each other they opened packets of Walkers crisps to find winning tickets in a nationwide promotion with new Ford cars as prizes.

Runaway schoolgirl Joanna Ludlow was foundat a friend's house three days after going missing from her father's home in Swindon.

Buyers cleared shelves at Sainsbury's supermarkets of a pomegranate juice drink developed by a former Wroughton man, James Brett.

And Swindon Town boss Andy King was presented with the Tissot Managers Performance League Award.

A Pinehurst family had a lucky escape after a six-year-old set fire to his bedclothes with a lighter he found in his mum's bedroom. "I just wanted to see what would happen," said young Charlie Messan.

A 9-ft snake spent the night sleeping rough at in the Stagecoach lost property department after being found on one of the company's buses.

The red boa constrictor was later rehomed in Aldershot, where it joined between 40 and 50 snakes being looked after by grandmother Lynn Byfield.

There was good news for the Swindon family of young Joshua Pedder-Jones. The nine-year-old was given the all clear after a course of radiotherapy following surgery for a potentially fatal brain tumour.