IN a year which witnessed the death of a Princess, a Labour election victory and the dawning of 'girl power' and the Teletubbies - here in Lancaster and Morecambe we had our fair share of both comedy and controversy.

Reporter Paul Wilkinson looks back at the last 12 months which started with the Home Office eyeing up Middleton as a potential prison site and ended with Mr Blobby 'gunging' Lancaster City Council in the courts.

January

The people of Middleton were stir crazy at Home Office plans to turn the derelict holiday campsite into a prison for petty criminals. With the nation's prison population rising rapidly, the bods at Whitehall realised that if they took a few bars off the windows Fred Pontin's pleasure dome would be just the trick for up to 700 lags.

Morecambe's favourite daughter, Dame Thora Hird, stirred up passions in the resort when she appeared on 'This is Your Life' to proclaim the town was "half-dead." Tourism chief, Cllr Derrick Stanley, offered Dame Thora a guided tour and reminded readers that "There are elderly people who live in a time warp only seeing things as they were."

February

Morecambe Neighbourhood Council were amazed when they offered local community groups a share of a £1,000 windfall and the police put in a bid to buy a mobile phone. The committee thought the police should be funded from elsewhere but a constabulary spokesman explained that in this age of enterprise they were encouraged to get money from wherever they could.

Staff at Lancaster's flagship Adult College expressed fears for their future when a £320,000 cut in their funding was announced but plans to link Lancaster Canal with the rest of the county's waterways were awash with cash after landing a £2.7 million Lottery grant.

Lancaster was the toast of the tabloids as big city hacks homed in on a saucy story about a teenage stripper and red-faced boys in blue. A Lancaster lass took down her particulars during a stag party at police HQ and was filmed cavorting with officers by local strippagram boss Brian Grove. Mr Grove was facing vice charges at the time and a full enquiry was launched.

March

Do you remember 'Black Monday?' For a couple of hours on March 20 Lancaster buzzed with the sound of sirens as the emergency services coped with a collapsed building, fires and the fatal fall of a workman at the Town Hall. Shoppers stood aghast as Outdoor Pursuits in Penny Street literally crashed to the ground and devastated a BMW parked outside. Miraculously, no one was injured but a workman fell 70ft to his death in Dalton Square minutes later. Around 100 pupils from five different schools joined local residents, hospital workers and governors to kick up a stink about Nightingale Hall Farm's plans to build five new incinerators to burn BSE infected cattle. Their protests were supported by the likes of prospective parliamentary candidate, Hilton Dawson, and Emmerdale Farm's Jan Glover (local actress Roberta Kerr)

Police officers in Lancaster and Morecambe were issued with CS gas in their fight against crime and tears were shed as news broke that Happy Mount Park's famous illuminations were doomed.

April

The illuminations were saved for at least another season thanks to a bunch of dinosaurs! No, it wasn't a council initiative but a plan by local entrepreneurs to bring a 'Jurassic Zoo' exhibition to Happy Mount Park.

Councillors had plenty to say when the Dukes expressed an interest in showing the controversial movie 'Crash.' They decided to ban it but were reminded by a council legal eagle that they would have to see it first.

As election fever hotted up Morecambe MP Mark Lennox-Boyd told the Citizen that he was "very confident of victory" and the Government did itself no favours when outraged Middleton residents heard of plans to dump 45,000 tonnes of BSE infected meat at the former ICI fertiliser store. The Government backed down but the inclusion of "for now" in their assurance did nothing to dispel fears.

May

A red tide flooded the Lune Valley as local electors joined the rest of the country in kicking the Tories out of office. City councillors Hilton Dawson and Geraldine Smith were two of the more unexpected winners on a historic night which saw Morecambe go Labour for the first time ever.

Geraldine had to give up her job at the Post Office to take on her new role as MP. Lady Luck shined on Lancaster's Williamson Park when they were given £700,000 of Lottery cash to restore the park to its Edwardian glory and in the same month £1.4 million was given to St Martins College to build a state-of-the-art sports complex. A cobbled Roman yard and pottery was discovered by archaeologists on the site of a proposed £30 million business park on Caton Road, where Whitebread announced plans to build a £3 million super pub, another in a flurry of new pubs in Lancaster.

June

Lancaster University was left reeling by a report which slammed a series of top-level decisions which led the university into 'deep financial difficulty.' Despite having one of the country's leading management schools, the university management embarked on a series of big money schemes which left the finances in a 'perilous' state. Bosses admitted "they bit off more than they could chew" but despite the candid report, job cuts and severe austerity measures no resignations were offered.

Over at the Town Hall it was a case of "Has anyone seen the Town Clerk, he's not at his desk?" Officially, John Burrows had decided his post was "voluntarily redundant" but the substantial pay-off, gagging clause and agreement to stay away from the Town Hall, even though he remained Town Clerk for six months, raised more than a few eyebrows. Independent Councillor Geoff Wilson said: "It's a complete charade. The City Council has become a cloak and dagger operation. "The following week the Citizen revealed that the total cost of Mr Burrow's departure was around £100,000.

Scenes which made Lancaster look more like Beirut appeared on national television as Mal Hussain's shop in Ryelands was petrol bombed. Five youths, aged between 12 and 15, were detained for a total of 24 years.

July

That'll do nicely! Leader of the Council, Stanley Henig, voted himself a massive 640 per cent increase in his special responsibility allowance. As controversy over Mr Burrows departure raged the Citizen was inundated by calls and letters from the public to say thank you for challenging the council line. The approved increase in allowances meant tax payers had to cough up an extra £38,000.

It went from bad to worse for the council when another Citizen exclusive revealed that £20,000 of public money went down the drain after they failed to fix a leaky shower. A judge at the county court described the council's actions as "incompetent, inefficient and bungling" and said "I hope someone looks into this waste of public money." A punk festival left onlookers on Morecambe Prom looking 'pretty vacant' as punks from across Europe visited the resort and the council's licensing committee got a bit hot under the collar when they set up a sneak preview of the sexual fetish movie 'Crash.'

August

A local soldier and Morecambe man were jailed for life for battering to death a father of four as he walked home from the pub. The horrific killing shocked the local community as details emerged that Alan Curtis was killed for a 'dare.'

Temperatures were sky high after David Beckham brought the love of his life 'Posh Spice' to the Giant Axe for a pre-season friendly against Lancaster City. Beckham scored twice during the 4-0 victory then shot off with Victoria in a black Mercedes for his hat trick.

Strippagram boss Brian Grove was released from prison after just a month claiming that new evidence would prove his innocence and embarrass the police. A helicopter plunged from the sky and crashed in Nether Kellet killing two men and there were claims that radioactive waste was dumped in Morecambe Bay in the 70s. The district's sporting facilities finally came into the 20th century with the opening of Salt Ayre Swimming Pool but just a couple of weeks after the new pool opened a man needed hospital treatment after banging his head while coming down the water slide.

September

Plans to burn tallow to fuel the boilers at Nightingale Hall Farm angered local residents who felt it posed a potential health risk and a scathing 12-page dossier accusing the council of breaking planning regulations and ignoring public opinion was sent to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

Morecambe FC started the season in style with superb results putting them at the top of the Vauxhall Conference. The club also received a £200,000 interest-free loan from the council to help them build a new stand.

A series of rapes and sex attacks in Morecambe led police to issue warnings to women to take extra care for their personal safety.

October

The contractors who built Salt Ayre made a splash by asking for £1.3 million above the original quote. Council chiefs were incensed that the Citizen had gone public with the 'confidential' information and set about plugging the increasing number of leaks from inside the Town Hall.

A Director at Lancaster City FC, Ian Sharpe, was a jackpot lottery winner scooping more than £2 million and in the same week a Morecambe grandmother also struck it lucky winning £106,000 at the bingo.

Thanks to the Citizen, a punk band called the 'Dead Dianas' who had received international media attention were exposed as a publicity stunt.

Lancaster's famous Waring and Gillows showroom was given a new lease of life thanks to businessman Trevor Bargh who revealed plans to turn the listed building into a pub, restaurant and nightclub.

November

Elderly residents on the troubled Ryelands estate called the Citizen to speak of their fear after attacks by young hooligans. The elderly couple said they "feared for their lives."

Royal Lancaster Infirmary forked out £1.4 million after a child starved of oxygen at birth was left with cerebral palsy and another council scandal hit the headlines when it was revealed that officers failed to collect £270,000 in market rents. Council leader Stanley Henig said the situation was "deplorable" but once again the 'buck' was passed and exact details were kept from public scrutiny. Lancaster MP Hilton Dawson had a joke backfire when he told reporters that he had never heard of the Spice Girls and it was splashed across the national newspapers but it was no laughing matter when leaked papers revealed that Lancaster City Council was bracing itself for an expected £2 million shortfall in next year's budget.

A Lancaster man who edited a 'radical' magazine aimed at environment protesters was jailed for three years in a landmark case in Hampshire. Stephen Booth was found guilty of 'conspiracy to incite others to commit criminal damage' but supporters claim it was a showcase trial to discourage anti-road protests.

December

There was a riot at Lancaster Prison after warders turned off the television and there was widespread discontent across the district following news that the long-running Crinkley Bottom saga would cost local tax payers well over £1 million. Council legal experts backed out of a court battle with Noel Edmonds and Mr Blobby and decided to settle up and apologise. There was no 'Noel' from Noel who instead launched a personal attack on Cllr Henig and described the whole episode as "one of the greatest local government scandals of modern times." Yet again, no heads rolled - the debacle ended a costly year for LCC. Owen Oyston lost his appeal against his rape conviction and faced a £500,000 civil action from the model he was accused of raping. And to cap an enthralling year, storms brought down power lines which pulled the plug for thousands across the district on Christmas Day.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.