January l Generous Sutton residents raised over £1million to help people affected by last year's Tsunami.

In total, £1.3million was donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) to help rebuild infrastructure in the seven affected countries.

Sam Goonetillake, a Carshalton businessman and the Chief executive of charity Help Lanka, went out to his grandmother's home town in Sri Lanka, Moratuwa, where he distributed donations. During his visit a formal twinning of Moratuwa with Sutton took place.

l Senior managers were blamed following revelations that patients' safety could be at risk at St Helier and Epsom hospitals.

In a letter to the director of clinical operations at the hospitals' trust, Patricia Wright, the two doctors called for an urgent review. Concerns were that patients were not being seen quickly enough and acceptable standards were only being maintained by the hard work and good will of the staff.

The move came before plans were announced to see acute services concentrated on one site, St Helier. Later, St Helier hospital was named as the site for a new accident and emergency department - plans which still remain unclear at present.

February l A tearful Lionel Blair hit the headlines after his prized dog went missing, feared stolen. The dancer was reduced to tears by the suspected theft of his beloved dog Florence from Nonsuch Park.

The 10-year-old crossbreed collie disappeared while walking with Mr Blair's wife, Sue, in the Warren Farm area of the beauty spot.

Mr Blair, from Ewell, admitted he couldn't stop crying, saying Florence was like another child and had been part of the family for 10 years. After one sighting officers searched a property in Tadworth but failed to find the collie. Mrs Blair left details on dogslost.co.uk and put up posters in the surrounding area.

l Sutton got a royal wave as Princess Alexandra descended to open Wilson School's new facilities, which included a maths, computing and media centre, a state-of-the-art lecture theatre and a sports hall.

The new facilities at the school in Mollison Drive, were part of a £3.4million project to improve opportunities and promote innovative teaching and learning.

March l Detectives launched one of the biggest DNA screenings in Metropolitan Police history in a bid to catch the killer of aspiring model Sally Anne Bowman.

A temporary screening centre was set up for men to voluntarily offer a DNA sample to police. Detectives hoped that as many men as possible would come forward so they could be eliminated from the investigation.

Mrs Bowman, Sally's mother, who lives in Sutton, was delighted by the amount of men that came forward and urged more to get behind the initiative.

April l The winners of the Guardian's Little Angels competition were announced, after hundreds of votes floodedin.

The Child of the Year Competition, organised with St Nicholas Centre and Fraser Portraits, attracted interest across the borough. Winners were Lenny Hooper, Mason Cox, Hollie Dowsett, Demi, Brooke and Alysia Alade.

The competition raised hundreds of pounds for the Guardian's New Life Appeal, which helped buy the latest equipment for premature and sick babies at St Helier hospital.

May l A crash victim who was left disabled for life after being hit by a car as she ran across a dual carriageway was awarded £750,000 by the High Court.

Louise Grant, of Barrow Hedges Close in Carshalton Beeches, was aged 14 when a car ploughed into her as she crossed the busy A24 with a group of friends at Westhumble, near Dorking in 1995.

l A hapless thief who stole hundreds of pounds from tills during a campaign of burglary across Epsom and Banstead was jailed for four years after mistakenly giving his name during one of the raids.

Christopher Jones, 28, of the Fairway, Leatherhead, blurted out the information while forcing his way into Coral bookmakers in Ashtead in December 2005.

As a result police were able to link Jones to seven thefts and a robbery which took place over a two-month period.

l Three schoolboys earned praise for helping to rescue a disabled shopkeeper from a burning flat during their lunch break.

Abu Ogogo, Jon White and Scott Roberts, then aged 16, were returning to the Beacon School on a Tuesday afternoon when they spotted clouds of smoke enveloping a shopping parade.

Closer inspection revealed a man dangling from a window to escape a serious fire at a flat above Tattenham Way News in Burgh Heath.

The year 11 students quickly fetched three ladders from a building site in a nearby front garden. Two customers then left a Ladbrokes shop to climb up and rescue the trapped newsagent.

June l The parents of a baby saved hours after her identical twin died in the womb spoke of their fears about maternity services being downgraded at Epsom General Hospital.

John Bland, then 36, and his wife, Dawn, then 37, said they were convinced surgeons would have failed to deliver their baby daughter, Holly, had intensive care services been removed.

Under NHS proposals - still being considered - midwives will lead the Epsom birthing unit, meaning mothers with pregnancy complications would be rushed to St Helier Hospital in mid-labour.

Mr Bland, an IT consultant, told the Epsom Guardian: "The proposed removal of maternity and neo-natal services is not like removing a car production from one factory to another - you are talking about directly impacting a lot of families and making their lives a lot more difficult at an already very stressful time."

The couple from Epsom Downs were told they had lost one twin, Gemma, after a routine 30-week scan on April 19.

As their other daughter showed signs of foetal distress, surgeons at Epsom hospital performed an emergency Caesarean section. Baby Holly was safely delivered 10 weeks early and, at the time, weighed a healthy 4lb 8oz.

July l The Sutton Guardian said a huge thank you to readers and Sutton residents after generous donations and dedicated fund raising efforts helped smash the £52,000 target for the New Life Appeal in aid of the neo-natal unit at St Helier Hospital.

It took 14 months to raise the money thanks to fantastic support from readers who were touched by the work carried out by the dedicated doctors and nurses at the specialist baby care unit.

Wallington and Carshalton Ladies' Circle stepped up with a cheque for £2,150 that lifted the total over the £50,000 target.

Delighted staff at the unit expressed their gratitude for the funds and for raising awareness.

In addition, £2000 was pledged from the proceeds of the concert extravaganza, Music in the Park, which was held on June 24 in Beddington Park.

l A man was charged with the murder of teenage model Sally Anne Bowman.

Mark Dixie, a chef, was arrested and appeared in court charged with the murder of the 18-year-old. Dixie, 35, of no fixed address, pleaded not guilty and he faces trial on March 12, 2007.

August l A former magazine editor won the distinction of being Britain's first on-the-run blogger after absconding from Downview prison in Banstead.

With devastating audacity Farah Damji advertised her freedom on Myspace.com until detectives closed the net on her in Plymouth.

The mother-of-two went on the run after being released on July 22 to attend an Open University tutorial at London School of Economics.

At the time she boasted: "Seems I am the cause for great consternation because I have apparently absconded'. I don't think you can call it that.

"It feels incredibly strange to be allowed this taste of freedom again. It's the silly things I missed: my Pratesi bed linen, the smell of my daughter's golden brown hair and the way the sun dances in her eyes like fire in a forest.

"It's not the people - very few I even want to keep contact with."

Damji, then 39, has since returned to the prison, where she is serving a three-and-a-half-year sentence for theft and perverting the course of justice.

September l Proving its green credentials Sutton beat 10 other London boroughs to be the first area in Britain to pilot a new £5million transport scheme to cut down on carbon emissions.

The new Transport for London (TFL) funded-project was launched by Mayor of London Ken Livingstone.

The aim of the scheme was to develop transport links which would suit everyone and reduce the number of cars on the road.

Work will involve 30 major employers and five industrial and retail estates to encourage sustainable travel, including getting children to walk to school.

October l The area commander for east Surrey apologised for driving in hazardous conditions while talking on his mobile phone.

An aggrieved motorist had trailed Chief Superintendent Guy Darby for seven miles on a Friday afternoon after spotting him with one hand on the steering wheel.

When the officer pulled into Reigate police station in heavy rain, Leon Donohue, the driver who witnessed the offence demanded justice.

Two days later Chief Supt Darby showed contrition, issuing a statement in which he admitted to a serious error of judgement.

l About 5,000 campaigners brought Epsom town centre to a halt as they marched to demonstrate their anger at cuts to the area's health services.

Wheelchair users, pensioners leaning on walking sticks and mothers cradling babies all joined the march to Epsom General Hospital, thought to be the biggest seen in the town.

The march and rally took place just hours after a memo was sent to ambulance crews ordering them to divert seriously sick and injured patients needing emergency surgery from Epsom hospital to neighbouring hospitals.

November l Thousands joined in hospital protest against cuts and closures at St Helier. The march is thought to be the biggest demonstration in living memory in Sutton.

About 2,000 people turned up at Rosehill Recreation Ground to march to the hospital in Wrythe Lane in Carshalton to rally up support for the troubled hospital, hit by cost cutting reduction of services over the past three months.

A petition was started by the MPs in October when the cuts began, and persistent lobbying of Secretary of State for Health, Patricia Hewitt continues.

l Sutton's environmental heroes were awarded at the first ever Green Guardian Awards.

Leanne Marlow, of Greenshaw High, marked turning 12 by being named the Young Environmentalist of the Year for south west London.

Futures Supplies and Support Services won highly commended in the Green Business of the Year category, Laraine Brown received a commendation in the Green Champion category and Richmond Green Social Club were commended in the Best New Green Project category.

Perpetuating Sutton's green reputation Bob the builder came to fix it in Sutton, turning on the town centre's new economically viable Christmas lights.

December l A stunt co-ordinator in Tadworth told how he staged the crash in which 007's Aston Martin is blasted by a nitrogen cannon in the new James Bond movie Casino Royale.

Gary Powell, 43, helped to set a Guinness World Record for rolling the vehicle through seven-and-three-quarter-turns.

In some ways it seemed he had been born for the moment. Gary's father, Nosher, his brother, Greg, and his uncle Dinny were stuntmen and, between them, the Powell clan can claim to have worked on all 21 films in the Bond series.

Gary said: "Adam Kirley was the stunt driver of the Aston Martin DS. He had an extremely difficult job. His judgement at hitting the button to release the cannon had to be perfect - this while driving at about 80mph."