Looking back at stories which made the headlines between January and June 2014

January

STORMY weather started the year with gale force winds and rain causing the closure of Penarth Esplanade as roads began to resemble lakes and high tides battered the pier.

The Vale Council’s piermaster Peter Andrews called the flooding the most severe he had ever seen.

The fiancee of a Penarth marine who died during a training exercise in 2012 reached her fundraising target of £13,000.

Sian Earls, who changed her surname to Woodland in tribute to her fiance Paul, raised £13,000 which in addition to £26,500 raised by friends of Paul went to the Royal Marine Association, Royal Marine Charitable Trust Fund, Royal British Legion, and Devonshire Air Ambulance.

The issue of street lighting raises its head in Llandough where residents urged the council to reconsider their newly installed LED lights. One member of the Neighbourhood Watch team likened the dark streets of Uplands Crescent to a return to Dickensian times, warning that it had become unsafe for the elderly.

Also in January, rumours - which later proved to be true - surfaced that singer Katherine Jenkins was looking to move into a £1,795,000 property in the village, just two doors away from fellow diva Charlotte Church.

February

A BLAZE broke out at Penarth Leisure Centre, spreading from the sauna and causing extensive damage. Around 25 people were evacuated from the building and no one was injured.

The Leisure centre ended up remaining closed for several weeks, before partially reopening. The swimming pool remains closed and in October it was revealed that health suite - sauna, steam room, Jacuzzi and showers - would be demolished a rebuilt.

Plans for a £7million restoration of the Marine Buildings on the Penarth side of the Cardiff Bay Barrage into a 55-bedroom four-star hotel were shelved until 2015 at the earliest.

Work on the Grade II-listed building was put on hold after the death of the father of developer Tanny Martinez.

More celebrity news in February came in the form of an amazing offer from BBC2 Egghead CJ de Mooi to host a charity quiz night in aid of Alfie Porter-Smith, a 20-month-old boy born with a rare form of cerebral palsy.

Celebrity quizzer CJ read about Fiona and Rod’s fundraising in aid of 20-month-old Alfie Porter-Smith in the Penarth Times after the story was tweeted by his friend and celebrity chef James Sommerin.

March

TRAGEDY struck in March, when well known community figure Gareth Williams, owner of Penarth taxi firm K-Tax, died after crashing into a road sign on Cog Road.

Friends and colleagues paid tribute to Gareth, 69, with his family describing him as someone who lived life to the full.

“He was the head of our family who adored his grand-children and we will cherish all the good times and memories he gave us," they said.

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A power failure in Penarth town centre left many shops without electricity, with many having to close for the day.

Another famous face appeared in the Penarth times this month when Welsh rugby star Leigh Halfpenny officially opened a brand new hydrotherapy pool at the Ty Hafan children’s hospice.

April

A SPA was transformed into a makeshift delivery room when a woman went into labour while enjoying a relaxation treatment.

Staff at "ener-chi" leapt into action to support Kerry Willis as they waited for paramedics to arrive. Kerry was taken to hospital where she gave birth to Dylan Willis, weighing 6 lb 4 oz.

Penarth Pier began what was to become a theme for the year, when it when it was named "Pier of the Year" by members of the National Pier Society.

Elsewhere on the seafront, hundreds of visitors had a lucky escape when a 150 tonne cliff landslide that "sounded like an earthquake" resulted in part of Penarth beach being cordoned off.

In Penarth town centre people reacted with anger when it was announced that pizza chain Domino’s has been granted planning permission to open a store in the former Blockbuster’s branch.

One resident said he was concerned about the rubbish it would create as well as "the noise pollution" and "the various smells of pizza wafting down into our gardens”.

May

IN a row that is still raging at the end of 2014 protestors came out in opposition to plans to reduce Penarth library's opening hours libraries and to change Sully and Dinas Powys into volunteer run libraries.

Also in Dinas Powys this month, a syndicate from a Bowling Club hit the jackpot after scooping more than £1.1million in the national lottery. Each member of the 50-strong syndicate pocketed around £22,400.

Gale force winds whipped across Penarth, with damage caused across the town, trees blown over and two people escaping serious injury when a shop sign fell onto them.

Dave Taylor, owner of Kitchener and Thomas on Windsor Road was helping a woman who had been hit by his shop sign when the other half fell onto him.

Penarth schoolgirl Jodi Bird made a national splash when she reached the semi-finals of Britain's Got Talent. Jodi wowed the judges and audiences all over the UK with her rendition of Frozen meg-hit Let It Go.

June

AN 84-year-old shopkeeper fought off two armed robbers who entered the Spar on Stanwell Road with a crowbar and a knife attempting to steal 200 cigarettes and a quantity of cash.

Dennis Trouce, who has owned the shop for 25 years, refused to be intimidated and manhandled the empty handed robbers out of his shop.

“They dressed as menacing as they could but they weren’t that scary,” he said.

Tributes were paid following the death of Penarth's adopted vagrant Gary Cooper.

Gareth Cooper, who was well-known in the town for sleeping in "Tels" doorway and redecorating Cosmeston bus stop into a Santa’s Grotto, died at the age of 52.

Penarth was visited by the most expensive footballer in the world, Welsh superstar Gareth Bale, who filmed an advert for BT Sport at the pier.

Look out for our second half of the year's review in the first edition of 2015 on January 1.