Binman Chris Harmer had a shock on his rounds when partner Cheryl called to say she had gone into labour. Quick as a flash, Chris raced home and delivered his son before the midwives arrived.

The Yorkshire Museum raised enough money to buy its second gold torc, which was discovered near Towton in 2010. The bracelets are the first items of Iron-Age gold jewellery ever found in Northern England and without public support they might have ended up in a private collection.

Three of the four photographers who were short-listed for Regional Photographer of the Year were from The Press, including Anthony Chappel-Ross who walked away with the prize.

Although youth unemployment remained headline news throughout the year, York’s Nestle announced 2,000 new jobs will be created in a bid to tackle the problem.

Another consequence of the recession has been food poverty.

Harrogate and Ripon Centres for Voluntary Services outlined how serious the issue is in North Yorkshire after surveying charities and public sector organisations.

The findings were shocking with more than 4,000 cases of food poverty recorded in just six months.

More encouragingly, this year marked the 23rd anniversary of The Press Business Awards and with growth the recurrent theme of the evening, all agreed that York has gone one step beyond recovery.

The city was also hailed as a national example by Living Wage campaigners for having the biggest concentration of accredited businesses outside London.

Silly season came early when Patch the Puppy starred on our page three as the dog who looks like Hitler. And when Toffee Crisp turned 50, York’s Chocolate Story produced a giant bar 200 times the weight of a regular Toffee Crisp. Talk about a sweet tooth.
 

In national and international news...

...A decision by defence giants BAE Systems to end shipbuilding in Portsmouth and axe 1,775 jobs sparkled a huge political row; and Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms ever recorded with winds of 200mph, tore through the Philippines. It left more than 3,500 people dead and millions more homeless.

Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious was sent to the Philippines to help with the relief effort.

Nobel Prize-winning writer Doris Lessing died, aged 94; Downing Street rejected calls from a leading public health expert for the age of consent for sex to be lowered to 15; and Scotland’s First minister Alex Salmond launched his 650-page white paper outlining his party’s proposals for an independent Scotland. A referendum on Scottish independence will be held on March 24, 2016.

Ten people were killed when a police helicopter crashed into a Glasgow pub.


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