As 2016 draws to a close, we look back at the year and some of its best stories. 

January

St Albans & Harpenden Review:

John Horsfield, chairman of the Save Butterfly World group

January celebrated a grandmother who was awarded a British Empire Medal for her decades of fundraising for a hospice. Between 1994 and 2013, Mary Cutler and her friend Margaret Hill managed to raise more than £40,000 for Grove House Hospice. After Margaret died in 2013, Mrs Cutler carried on fundraising, and in January, the total was £52,000.

Pupils at Sandringham School became some of the first people to speak to British astronaut Tim Peake aboard the International Space Station. During an amateur radio call on January 8, pupils were able to ask Mr Peake a series of questions that were streamed live on the web by the UK Space Agency. Year 10 pupil Jessica Leigh, who passed her radio exams in January, initiated the phone call to Mr Peake and operated the radio to allow other pupils to talk to him.

The mutilated bodies of a snake and lizard were found at a popular beauty spot. The royal python and monitor lizard were found by a passer-by in a wooded area of Park Street Lane. Both animals, each around a metre in length, had clean incisions all the way along the undersides of their bodies and their internal organs were missing. The python’s head and the monitor’s back legs were also missing.

Support to save a butterfly centre gained worldwide support in January. Campaigners fighting for Butterfly World to reopen managed to secure more than 50,000 signatures on a petition in six weeks. The decision to close the centre came at the end of 2015, following falling visitor numbers and a failed bid to secure finding for a giant dome to house 10,000 butterflies.

February

St Albans & Harpenden Review:

The shop in Chequer Street, St Albans

February saw a police community support officer convicted for carrying out an indecent act behind the wheel of his car, while watching a teenage girl walk down the street. Kelvin Mackenzie, 49, denied committing the act which outraged public decency in St Albans, claiming it was not him or his car. But a jury of eight men and four women at Chelmsford Crown Court took just over an hour to reach their guilty verdict.

A biomedical scientist was awarded the Queen’s Ebola Medal for his life-saving work in Sierra Leone. David Anti, 45, volunteered at Ebola treatment centres across the West African country, helping to test blood samples. His work reduced the time it took to turn around five blood tests from five days to less than 24 hours.

The opening of a new school was delayed by a year in February. The development of Harpenden Secondary Free School was postponed less than 12 months after the government announced backing for it. The project was approved by the Department of Education in May 2014, but the Harpenden Secondary Education Trust wrote to parents in February to tell them the delay was “unavoidable”.

Thousands of pounds’ worth of fundraising stock was destroyed in a fire in a charity shop in St Albans. Several roads were closed after the incident at the Oxfam shop in Chequer Street. Volunteers estimated that between £10,000 and £15,000 worth of stuck was ruined in the blaze.

March

St Albans & Harpenden Review:

Dominic Gentle. Picture: Phil Davison

Families were incensed in March when plans for a free school in Radlett were scrapped. Education Minister Lord Nash decided that Harperbury Free School would not open because the chosen site was too small.

The widow of a man killed by an elderly motorist when she pressed the accelerator instead of the brake pedal, called for elderly drivers to be tested more regularly. Yvonne Moxley was speaking at the sentencing of 83-year-old Joan Mitchelmore, who accidentally killed her husband Colin Moxley, 67.

Animal lovers were horrified when dead puppies were abandoned on the side of a road in March. The RSPCA released pictures of nine puppies that were dumped in the undergrowth, alongside rubbish on a verge in Hogg End lane.

Football fans mourned the death of a former St Albans City player in March. The football world showed its respects after Dominic Gentle died aged 44, after an aggressive brain tumour. Dominic spent the 1998-99 season with the Saints, following in the footsteps of his younger brother Justin who played for the team in 1997.

April

St Albans & Harpenden Review:

Matt Damon with Ray Smyth of Redbourn Cricket Club

A family from Rickmansworth became heroes after saving an elderly man who had crashed into a lake on his bike. Greg Barrow and his family were walking at Rickmansworth Aquadrome when they saw 71-year-old Colin Marks about to go under the water. Mr Barrow, 44 and his son Harrison, 14, jumped into rescue him while the other family members raised the alarm.

Tributes poured in for a “well-respected” and popular family man who died in a three-car crash on the M25, near London Colney. Kevin Heffernan, 49, who lived with his wife Patricia and six-year-old son, died after losing control of his grey BMW X5 that overturned in the incident.

A father and son were fined more than £3000 – for selling dodgy mattresses. The crooks, Fred and Elias Stanley, 56 and 30, pleaded guilty to selling mattresses with the “Dream” trademark on, despite having no affiliation with the company.

Pub-goers thought they had had one too many when they spotted a Hollywood actor in their local pub. Matt Damon – famous for his role in the Bourne film series - paid a surprise visit to Chequers Inn before setting off in his private jet from Luton airport. He apparently drank four pints of Guinness in the three hours he spent there.

May 

St Albans & Harpenden Review:

Families let down by council

A schoolboy who died in the Hillsborough disaster was unlawfully killed, a jury concluded. 16-year-old Kester Ball was one of 96 supporters to lose their life on April 15, 1989. Kester had travelled to the game with his father Roy, who died a week before inquest verdict was delivered.

Families felt let down by the county council after it failed to provide places at primary schools of their choice. A total of 63 families slammed Hertfordshire County Council for failing to provide their child with a place from one of their four ranked and chosen schools.

Children from a nursery in Harpenden became an internet sensation after they made a funny film – about death. In less than 24 hours, the film produced by Keech Hospice Care, racked up more than 20,000 views across social media. It was shared by Harry Judd from McBusted and national charities including MacMillan.

Portable toilets were stolen during a six-day spate of thefts. Eight toilets were stolen from across St Albans and Harpenden, between May 11 and May 17. Detectives believe they were all loaded into a white van.

June

St Albans & Harpenden Review:

Johnny Maloney

A serial killer lost her High Court claim for damages for human rights violations after being placed in solitary confinement in jail. Joanna Dennehy, 33, was given a life sentence at the Old Bailey for murdering three men and stabbing two more. She became the third woman in history to be given a whole-life prison term – Myra Hindley and Rose West were the other two.

Archaeologists unearthed the oldest handwritten documents in Britain – which included a reference to St Albans, dating back nearly 2,000 years. The wooden tablets were described as “the email of the Roman world”, communicating business and legal dealings.

A man who was the victim of modern-day slavery, admitted to being a homeless alcoholic who voluntarily moved in with a family of travellers. Cameron Biggar, 43, was living on the streets of London in 2004 when he agreed to work for Johnny Moloney from St Albans. He was made to carry out unpaid blockpaving and building work for up to 14 hours a day, seven days a week for ten years.

A mum was furious when her son was the only person in his year denied a place at his first-choice school. Billy Twigg, 11, applied to go to Roundwood Park School with his friends – the other 27 pupils in his year were offered a place, but he was told he would be attending Astley Cooper School in Hemel Hempstead instead.

St Albans MP was unfazed by local voters’ Remain choice in the EU referendum. MP Anne Main said she was “very happy” with Britain’s decision to leave the EU despite her own constituency voting to remain. The referendum on June 23 saw 62.7 per cent of people from St Albans vote to remain, compared to 37.3 per cent who wanted to leave.

July

St Albans & Harpenden Review:

Jessica Leigh and Tim Peake

Naked images of three and four-year-old girls were discovered on the iPhone of a former Harpenden teacher. When Ben Lewis, 26, was investigated by the police, a pair of child’s knickers were found next to one of his laptops. Lewis was a former teacher at St Dominic Catholic Primary School.

A schoolboy won a competition to create a new roof design for an iconic car. Pupils from St Albans were invited by Stephen James Enfield Mini to design ‘a roof that rocks’. Sam Jarman created the winning design for the Mini Clubman with his Mini Madness artwork.

Nature-lovers were outraged by a thick, black, smelly substance that blighted a St Albans tourist attraction. The lake, in the centre of St Albans Verulamium Park, started to “smell like a sewer”. Residents said the council should have done more, but it blamed the issue on a build-up of silt on bird droppings, leaves and fertilisers from nearby football pitches.

A student was over the moon after meeting astronaut Tim Peake. Jessica Leigh, a year 10 student from Sandringham School, was invited to Downing Street where Theresa May welcomed the astronaut home after his six-month mission to the International Space Station.

August

St Albans & Harpenden Review:

Toby L'Estrange

A 10-year-old speed-reading prodigy finished Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in just 59 minutes. Toby L’Estrange, from Wheathampstead, was challenged by Amazon to produce the first review of the new Potter Story. The schoolboy can read an average 400-page book in under two hour, using techniques he grandmother taught him.

Residents became frustrated with the county council’s lack of action over the growing problem of weeds in gutters and pavements. People complained that the city had become an eyesore because grass was left far too long before being cut.

Three men who lured a teenager into prostitution were sentenced to a combined total of 13 years in prison. Police described the child exploitation by Alistair Spagnoletti, Curtis Walker and Callum Ward, as the worst they had ever seen.

A mum urged a supermarket giant to take action after a kitchen firm took £2,000 from her children but never delivered the product. Jyoti Chauhan’s sons bought the kitchen from Home Improvement World, a company operating inside Watford’s Tesco Extra.

It was the end of an era when BHS closed its doors for the final time. The store in St Peter’s Street saw its final set of customers on August 28, eight days after the final closing date for most other branches.

September

St Albans & Harpenden Review:

There were floods across the county

GPS in Hertfordshire were told to not refer patients to West Herts Trust hospitals – including St Albans City Hospital – in a bid to control soaring waiting times. NHS Herts Valley CCG told GPs to refrain from referring patients for non-urgent appointments whenever was possible – particularly for certain specialities including cardiology, ENT, pain and general surgery.

People were appalled when thieves targeted guide dogs’ training unit. After forcing open a padlock, thieves managed to damage a unit and get off with six duvets, costing the charity more than £500.

September saw torrential rain and flash floods sweep across the county and firefighters felt the pressure. Flood warnings were issued across St Albans, and firefighters attended a number of homes that had been damaged by the floods.

And people were outraged when a puppy was tied up and abandoned on the hottest day in September. The four-month-old malnourished lurcher was found in the scorching 30C heat by a passer-by.

October

St Albans & Harpenden Review:

Luke Godfrey of Godfrey's

Four families forced out of their homes because of a massive sinkhole, grew impatient in October, after spending more than a year in temporary accommodation. Thee 33ft deep hole appeared in Fontmell Close on October 1, 2015.

The Review also helped drivers avoid unnecessary costs by revealing the city’s most expensive car park. Christopher Place Car Park, in Upper Dagnall Street, charged drivers £2 for one hour, £8 for six and £21 for 24 hours.

A fish and chip shop battered all other competition and managed to be shortlisted as one of the best in Britain. After a series of inspections and mystery shoppers, Godfrey’s in High Street, was named one of the best ten in the country.

And a marketing stunt backfired when suspicious residents called police after finding free toilet rolls outside their homes. Residents were advised to avoid using the loo roll until police had completed their investigation – but concern turned to amusement when it turned out they were part of a promotion.

November

St Albans & Harpenden Review:

Neighbours celebrate as ribbon is cut

A petition to keep a butterfly garden open gathered more than 60,000 signatures. Butterfly World, in Chiswell Green, closed in December 2015, but volunteers, charity workers and friends of the project tried to save the centre from closure.

A suspected drug smuggler was arrested in Spain. The man, who was not named, was wanted in connection with the seizure of more than three and a half tonnes of cannabis resin worth £4.6m.

Neighbours rocked by a sinkhole celebrated the official reopening of their road – more than a year after the hole appeared. Families living on Fontmell Close and Bridle Close were finally able to move back home, after the 33ft deep hole was filled with foamed concrete.

And a St Albans woman’s view of her garden made it into the top 10 for horrible views across the UK. Claire Montgomery became a finalist in the competition after submitted a photo she took from her lounge.

December

St Albans & Harpenden Review:

Newsquest London's own finance team took part in the sleepout

More than 330 sleepers stayed out under the stars to help homeless charities. The Sleepout at St Albans Abbey, in its 23rd year, saw more sleepers than ever before, including the mayor of St Albans and staff from Newsquest London.

Commuters angered by delays to their trains staged a demonstration at St Albans City Station. More than 40 disgruntled users protested at platform 4 after months of chaos caused by Govia.

A pub with its own Santa’s grotto was awarded the Festive Pub of the Year 2016 after mystery drinkers visited the best decorated pubs to decide on a winner. The Rose and Crown, in St Michael’s Street, impressed with wood panels and a grotto in the back.