January

Residents of Northfield Road were finally beginning to move back home after six months living in caravans on their driveways following the devastating floods of July 2007.

The family of pensioner Winnie Priestley spoke out as evil gunman Derek Hyslop was jailed. Hyslop had gone on the rampage in Doncaster several months earlier, and had held Winnie and her husband Bill at gunpoint to steal their car.

The couple, who were also flood victims, were traumatised by the event and Winnie died just weeks later from the shock. Hyslop died of cancer later in the year.

February

Sprotbrough's historic Rectory, once the home of WWII flying ace Douglas Bader, was put on the market for £900,000.

Owner Trevor Miller dubbed it his heartbreak hotel. After transforming the Old Rectory into a luxury guesthouse, Trevor split up with his partner Jan Hopton and decided he could no longer continue with the business alone.

March

There was anger among library assistants and their customers as the village library - along with every other library in the borough - was closed on World Book Day and staff were told how to reapply for their own jobs as part of Doncaster Council's "restructuring" plan. Many went on to leave the service in disgust.

In a happier tale, binman Allen Buxton of Scawsby raised more than £1,000 for the NSPCC by dying his hair and beard green to match the charity's logo, and then having a sponsored shave.

April

In a sad month two untimely deaths left the community in mourning.

Copley School pupil eight-year-old Rachel Brown died suddenly of a massive, undiagnosed brain tumour, and Cusworth mother-of-two Julie Port lost her life at 44 after a long battle against breast cancer.

May

Sportswomen from the area were making their mark with Rebecca Hudson playing golf for England in the European Ladies Cup, footballer Nicola Devine helped the national team triumph in the British University Games, and paralympic swimmer Zoe Clayton was named as Yorkshire's Young Female Achiever of the Year at the Disability Sports Awards.

June

A row continued between supporters of a scheme to build an Abbeyfield Home for the elderly on Green Belt land off Cadeby Road, and protesters led by the local Green Party who wanted to keep the land free of development.

Meanwhile two Cosmonauts visited schools in the area to tell pupils about the thrills and spills of space travel.

July

The annual Sprotbrough Scouts Gala and road race was a great success, despite high winds which almost blew the big top down.

But other young people with an anti-social outlook were regularly running riot around the village, starting fires and leaving bottles and cans in their wake. Police patrols were stepped up to tackle the troublemakers.

August

Doncaster Council was slammed for its treatment of travellers at the official Nursery Lane caravan site. Campaigning caravanner Roy Squires proved that the authority had failed to spend a £50,000 Government grant given two years earlier to upgrade the Sprotbrough site, and had put children's health at risk by installing a diesel generator which gave off noxious fumes instead of providing mains electricity for the site.

September

Businessman Karl Pagin was buried in the grounds of the Cadeby Road mansion which he had spent the previous two years building. Karl and his son Redmond had moved into their brand new eco-friendly home just weeks earlier. Forty-three-year-old Karl was electrocuted in a workplace accident.

October

The region's best skaters and BMX-ers rolled into Sprotbrough to take part in an extreme sports contest at the village skatepark. Plans were being drawn up to extend and improve the skatepark, and perhaps even add an indoor facility if funding could be found.

November

Doncaster Mayor Martin Winter denied all responsibility for a policy which has led to chaos in the library service reducing opening hours in village libraries, including Sprotbrough's, and decimating the number of qualified staff available to assist customers.