January was the 20th anniversary of the UK’s first mobile phone call, made between Newbury and London. New £25 parking permits were introduced in West Fields, and Shearer Properties was chosen to build the £120m Park Way shopping centre. Crisis talks on West Berkshire Council’s outsourcing contract with Amey got underway. The Newbury Weekly News went tabloid to near universal acclaim.

February

The looming General Election kicks off in earnest with Lib Dem Leader Charles Kennedy visiting Newbury, while west Reading MP Martin Salter attacks the council over the £500,000 cinema subsidy. Bartholomew Street pancake race is cancelled over health and safety concerns, and our story that violent crime, sex attacks and burglaries are on the rise provokes fierce debate.

March

Newbury.net revealed details of Market Street redevelopment plans, while West Berkshire Council agrees a 3.9% tax increase, after receiving an 11% grant increase from the Treasury. Controversial plans to remove the car park and install a daytime car ban in the Market Place gather pace, while Caffe Nero takes up residence in the Kennet Centre.

April

Cyclists join the growing band of people against the Market Place revamp, while town centre manager Mitch Roberts urges us to ignore the army of chuggers in Northbrook Street. The fraught Newbury election contest sees Tory candidate Richard Benyon in hot water after changing the ‘Beynon’ sign above Caffe Uno to spell his surname, with the Lib Dems not seeing the funny side. Laura Ashley opens its doors, while Newbury Racecourse’s centenary year celebrations get underway.

May

The Conservatives chalk up a double over their old Lib Dem rivals, by taking the parliamentary seat and control of West Berkshire Council on the same night. A new mosaic charting the history of Newbury is unveiled in the Wharf, and the Kennet Centre car park gets a £100,000 makeover, including pay-as-you-leave machines. Newbury also gets another website, with NewburyToday launched by the NWN. Vodafone announces record profits, while new MP Richard Benyon makes his first speech in the Commons.

June

A new consultation on the Market Place gets underway under the Tories, while the Amey contract is wound up. The Watermill is put up for sale, while sales at the new Waitrose in Newbury have gone through the roof in its first year. Research says Newbury’s traffic has reached pre-bypass levels in just five years. Well known Newbury traffic warden Mandy Bell retired, and Camp Hopson opens a new 100-seater restaurant.

July

War veterans staged a VJ Day 60th anniversary parade through Newbury, while bailiffs arrive at struggling AFC Newbury. We reveal that a new gas pipeline for the town means the new paving in Bartholomew Street will have to be dug up. Newbury’s sculpture project suffered a blow with town planners vetoing plans for a statue on the St John’s Roundabout. The racecourse lands the King George VI Stakes while Ascot is refurbished, and five Newbury schools get new bikesheds to stop the school run choking local roads.

August

The Kennet & Avon Canal is impassable overnight after an outsize barge gets stuck at Newbury Lock. We also reveal that the Vodafone ball is moved to London, and invitations cut by 30% to 7,000, and report on further delays to the planned cinema. Serious overcrowding on local train services forces First Great Western to add extra carriages at peak times, while Newbury Primary Care Trust announces it’s to merge with Wokingham and Reading counterparts to save 15% in overheads. More new shops open up in town with the arrival of Tchibo and O2 and Animal surfwear.

September

Glamour girl Jordan and fiancé Peter Andre tie the knot at Highclere Castle, with ex-SAS guards hired to protect the couple’s lucrative photo deal with OK magazine from prying paparazzi. The Slug & Lettuce wine bar closes after going bust, just as new drinking laws come in, extending pub opening for up to 24 hours in the town centre. A winter ban on trailbiking on the Ridgeway is introduced after taxpayers fund £100,000 of repairs to the ancient track. A new policy to protect Newbury’s suburbs from overdevelopment is launched, just as we reveal a scheme to redevelop the Sterling industrial estate. The town’s top website also breaks stories on job losses at Vodafone, an apparent 75% support for the Market Place plan, and the struggle to turn Pinchington Lane into a dual carriageway to cope with the booming retail park.

October

Newbury Racecourse announces plans to sell off more land for housing, as well as install a four star hotel and horsetraining school. Bookshop Ottakers pulls out of a deal to take one of Camp Hopson’s new shops after being taken over by rival Waterstones, while we also revealed that the Costa coffee shop will soon be selling Cornish pasties. Locals react angrily to NHS cuts which have led to the closure of the much-loved Charles Clore cancer unit. Ann Summers opens in Northbrook Street, while the new Tory Council gives the thumbs-up to five years of roadworks, starting with resurfacing Northbrook Street early 2006. Good news comes from AWE, which expects to create 2000 new jobs with a £1bn increase in government funding. Cinema talks are back on after new owners take on the Kennet Centre, and Lib Dem suffering continues when former Newbury mayor Mike Rodger quits amid too much party bickering.

November

The Market Place furore refuses to die down, with 1300 signatures calling for the scheme to be scrapped handed to West Berkshire Council by new MP Richard Benyon. Lambourn horse Trabolgan wins the Hennessy at Newbury, while Vodafone scraps its shirt sponsorship with Manchester United two years early.

December

The Old Bell at Wash Common falls foul of new licensing laws, and is shut down by the council. More big names sign up for the retail park, prompting fears that the traditional high street is a thing of the past. Cat burglars steal £30,000 of crystal from Camp Hopson, just as police announce a crackdown on burglars over Christmas. Plans to make Donnington Grove Golf Club safer by rerouting footpaths are thrown out by a Tory councillor, putting a question mark over the future viability of the club. Falkland School comes out top of the class in school league tables again, while newbury.net reveals five storey plans for the redevelopment of the bus station. Highclere Castle is to host another celebrity wedding, with popstar Cheryl Tweedy and footballer Ashley Cole tying the knot next summer.

Newbury.net aims to give the local community the best website possible, and wouldn’t be able to achieve this without the contributions of dozens of townsfolk in all walks of life. We’d like to thank everyone who’s helped us get all these stories into the public eye, and wish everyone a happy and prosperous 2006.