From the Beast of the East to Berwick Kaler's final panto outing MAXINE GORDON tells the York's story of 2018 in 12 photographs

JANUARY: The scaffolding comes down after restoration of the East Window at York Minster.

FEBRUARY: Members of the University and College Union (UCU) start 14 days of strike action over a pensions row, with a picket installed outside the University of York’s Heslington Hall.

MARCH: The Beast of the East strikes and snow proves no obstacle to circus skills expert Stuart Priest who came to work in York on his skis.

APRIL: The city strikes a pose as the first York Fashion Week begins, starting with a catwalk show by York designer Antonia Houston at Bettys tearooms.

MAY: Spark:York opens its doors, offering a range of shops, bars, cafes and community space housed in reused shipping containers in Piccadilly.

JUNE: The curtain goes up on Shakespeare's Rose Theatre in the Castle Car Park, which is to show four of the Bard's plays throughout summer.

JULY: In what is shaping up to be one of the hottest summers on record, local farmer Rodger Hobson makes national news with a story about a threat to the carrot harvest.

AUGUST: Long-awaited plans for the York Central development get the go-ahead.

SEPTEMBER: York mother-of-three Lorna Tong says she is ready to live life to the full again, only months after her husband donated part of his liver so she could have a transplant.

OCTOBER: A ferocious fire destroys the B&M Store at Clifton Moor, York.

NOVEMBER: York cements its reputation as a location for filmmakers as the cameras roll again, this time capturing Suranne Jones in Gentleman Jack.

DECEMBER: Berwick Kaler steps out as panto dame at York Theatre Royal, after 40 years of entertaining local audiences.