Look back at how the Evening Telegraph reported on the emotional highs and lows of another turbulent 12 months

JANUARY

The year opened with the hope of peace and goodwill when hundreds from the white and Asian communities got together to celebrate January 1 and Eid at a special lunch in Blackburn.

It wasn't long before adventurous kids were getting in a scrape. Three youngsters, Anthony Macken, Dominic Cain and Declan Ainsworth, were rescued by police and firemen after they became stranded on an island at Foxhill Bank Lodge, Oswaldtwistle.

Three blocks of flats at Queen's Park, Blackburn, were reduced to 20,000 tonnes of rubble in just seconds, to make way for new housing.

FEBRUARY

Lancashire County Council announced it was to close 35 of its 48 care homes, a move which caused a widespread outcry, with protesters organising demonstrations, marches and lobbies. Later in the year, the authority agreed to halt closure when campaigners, seeking a judicial review, appealed to the High Court for a deferment.

Moorhead High School, Accrington, hit the headlines when police were called in to investigate a brawl, which resulted in six pupils being charged with affray, eight receiving a final warning and 19 being suspended.

A new pensions centre brought 300 jobs to Simonstone.

Police were investigating the rape of a teenager in Great Harwood by a man who forced his way into her home.

The A682 between Gisburn and Nelson was named the ninth worst accident blackspot in the country by the AA.

MARCH

Major Burnley employer Michelin closed. The last of almost two million tyres came off the production line and 452 people lost their jobs. 100 redundancies were also announced at car fabric manufacturer Viktor Achter.

Oswaldtwistle-based Stuart Engineering, run by this year's Burnley Mayor Coun Gordon Birtwistle, closed with the loss of 44 jobs

However, the rejuvenation of India Mill in Darwen, into a modern business centre, to kick-start the rejuvenation of the town, attracted new firms and created hundreds of jobs.

Blackburn with Darwen Council was celebrating after being named the best in the country, winning the Council of the Year accolade from the Local Government Association. It didn't, however, prevent the town missing out on its bid to gain city status for the second time in two years.

Eleven members of a criminal gang, known as The Firm, which flooded the north west with Class A drugs, were jailed for a total of 101 years at Preston Crown Court. They included gang mastermind Matthew Glover, of Cliviger, who received 25 years after being convicted of dealing in drugs worth £1.6million.

The go-ahead was given for a £90million super hospital at Queen's Park, Blackburn.

APRIL

Sixteen lucky workers at James Hargreaves plumbers' merchant, Burnley, scooped £1.3million on the Lottery, after playing for just three weeks.

Denise Hendry, wife of former Blackburn Rovers' star Colin, battled for life, and won, against a serious blood infection following a routine cosmetic operation.

Tony Blair made a whistle-stop tour to highlight a government pledge to regenerate housing.

MAY

The local council elections saw the far right send a political shock wave across the country after three BNP candidates, David Edwards, Carol Hughes and Terry Grogan, were elected to Burnley Council.

May saw the death of Baroness Castle, of Blackburn, described as the most formidable woman politician of the 20th century, aged 91. As Barbara Castle, she was Blackburn's MP for 34 years, from 1945 until 1979 and was made a life peer in 1990.

A major blaze halted production at the 150-year-old J H Birtwistle textile mill in Haslingden. The fire caused more than £500,000 damage to machinery and Grane Road was closed for six hours.

And in Nelson, a gas explosion ripped through two flats and a neighbouring house at the corner of Burns Street. Two elderly residents were rescued by firefighters.

Axe killer Jan Charlton went to jail for five years at Leeds Crown Court after she was found guilty of the manslaughter of her lover Danny O'Brien, a former Rossendale businessman.

Golf ball diver Mark Collinson, of Chorley, jailed for six months for theft, after retrieving lost golf balls from course lakes, was released after serving 10 days and his sentence quashed by the Court of Appeal, after the case caused a national outcry.

JUNE

Another 48 speed cameras arrived across Lancashire, paving the way for 320 to be installed by 2004.

Rossendale Council was in the news when it was branded the worst of its kind in the country. A radical overhaul of senior management was urged after an inspection by the Audit Commission revealed the authority was ranked 237 out of 237 councils, based on the way it delivers services.

It was party time when the people of east Lancashire took to the streets in the wind and rain for a four-day party to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee.

Bus driver Anthony Carter brought the roof down when he took his empty double-decker under a low bridge in Galligreaves St, Blackburn.

JULY

Solicitor Yasin Mohamed, of Blackburn, who masterminded the distribution of stolen travellers cheques after a £1.2million theft, started an 18-month jail sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to handle stolen goods at Minshull St Crown Court, Manchester.

Evil doctor Harold Shipman murdered 215 of his patients - and he started his killing spree in Todmorden, the official inquiry decided.

A blaze at Mayfield Chicks at Haslingden, the UK's biggest independent hatchery, destroyed more than three million chick eggs. Fought by 100 firefighters, it took four to bring under control. The company ceased trading in November with the loss of 25 jobs.

Alpacas were once again grazing by the A59 at Whalley, after breeder James Graham re-introduced the animal from the Andes, following the foot and mouth outbreak which wiped out his previous flock.

AUGUST

Cafe boss David Wilson opened an Amsterdam-style coffee shop, Real Jerk Cafe, in Ewood, allowing customers to smoke cannabis.

Five tiny, nine-week-old puppies were left for dead when they were buried alive in a field off Lytham Road, Blackburn. There was a happy ending, however, when they were rescued by teenager Murad Khan.

More than 20,000 homes, businesses and schools across East Lancashire were thrown into chaos when a high voltage fault sparked an electricity black-out.

Bus bosses were left red faced when Burnley's new £3million bus station directed passengers to some oddly named destinations -- Hampton, Pandleside and Worsthore. They should, of course, have spelled Hapton, Pendleside and Worsthorne.

SEPTEMBER

An earthquake measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale shook large parts of the county.

The man who master-minded a worldwide fake marriage racket, Ismail Purbhai, was beginning a six-year jail sentence. Six other people in the operation, based in Blackburn but stretching as far as Bombay, also received prison sentences.

Mark Harrington was detained under the Mental Health Act for killing 18-year-old Anthony Rigby at his flat in Swift Close, Larkhill. A court was told he had drawn up a 'hit list' of other people he may have intended to target.

And we discovered who ate all the pies - 95-year-old John Cropper, of Accrington, who admitted he had munched one a day since 1916.

OCTOBER

Contractors working on an aircraft hangar for an £11million plane were left red-faced when 200 cars parked at BAE Systems at Samlesbury were covered in high-tech paint, after being blown by a high wind.

Gareth Horton of Darwen started a life sentence for murder after being convicted of the killing of Charlotte Flanagan, also from the town, in her London flat at the start of the year.

Blackburn shopping centre was put up for sale by owners Standard Life, just as Stannifer Developments, the new owners of Burnley shopping centre unveiled multi-million-pound plans to create more space for big retailers.

Accrington rolled out the red carpet for Princess Anne.

Plans for a new retail park on land off Bolton Road, Blackburn, were unveiled with the likelihood of 300 jobs.

NOVEMBER

The firefighters took industrial action and only five hours after their first strike, an 81-year-old grandad died after being dragged from his smoke-filled home in Harle Syke, by soldiers. Green goddesses were on alert throughout East Lancashire.

John Mark Riding, five, the 1998 Lancashire Evening Telegraph baby of the year, died from a brain tumour with his family by his bedside.

Blackburn was in shock after the town elected its first BNP councillor, after Robin Evans claimed victory in Mill Hill.

Plans were unveiled for a leisure complex, including a 10-screen cinema, next to Blackburn railway station, which could create more than 200 new jobs.

DECEMBER

Generous East Lancashire people broke all records to raise £200,000 for an endoscopic ultrasound scanner in just six months. With the Lancashire Evening Telegraph Magic Eye Appeal standing at £222,943, the fund-raising committee agreed to continue collecting for more advanced equipment.

The year closed on a bad note for 100 workers at Riley's Leisure in Burnley when the firm folded.

Teachers at Queens Park Technology College, Blackburn, were pioneering the latest weapon in the war against truancy - mobile phone text messages to pupils.