That was 1997, that was

JANUARY

The year began with campaigns -- to get more money for Harrow Council, specifically for education in the borough, and to save Edgware General Hospital.

A delegation of councillors visited local government minister Sir Paul Beresford to ask for more funding and voluntary groups presented a 20,000-signature petition to Harrow's MPs demanding more money.

An independent review of Edgware General Hospital services was suggested ahead of the planned closure of its accident and emergency department in April.

Three months after the completion of the Wealdstone by-pass, traders said it had blighted their businesses.

Harrow School confirmed it was planning a far eastern outpost, in Thailand.

The first students moved in to new residences at Westminster University's Harrow campus as part of a £40 million pound redevelopment.

It was announced that almost 50 jobs would be lost with the closure of RAF Stanmore Park as an operational base in April, after nearly 60 years.

FEBRUARY

Hundreds of protesters demonstrated outside Edgware General demanding the retention of emergency services until a full inquiry into its future was carried out.

In the first of three royal visits to Harrow, Prince Philip was at John Lyon School in Harrow-on-the-Hill for the opening of its £2.5 million sports complex and library.

Council tax bills were set to soar by 15 per cent from April, it was announced.

MARCH

The big news for March was the launch of the Harrow Times Series by the award-winning Hendon Times Group.

Our first front page included a picture of the the Queen visiting Kingsbury High School to launch the Royal Family's web site at the school's computer centre.

Mystery surrounded the death of Adam Wayne Henderson, 26, of Hawkins Close, West Harrow, who was found dead in a cell at Uxbridge police station.

Lecturers and students at Stanmore College demonstrated against plans to cut jobs and courses.

Thousands of residents in Harrow and Brent were forced to boil their drinking water for two weeks when supplies were infected by the bug cryptosporidium. Schools closed after health warnings were issued by the water company Three Valleys. Of 262 people struck down by the bug, 74 lived in the two boroughs. The Times Series launched a campaign demanding each household affected be paid £20 compensation.

The run down of Edgware General began. Times Series local government columnist Bill Montgomery chaired a debate on the hospital. Harrow East MP Hugh Dykes and his prospective opponents in the coming general election took part.

London Underground offered a £1,000 reward for the capture of muggers who boarded a train in Wealdstone before robbing eight women at gunpoint.

A Kingsbury schoolboy was fined £1,200 for hacking into US defence missile systems.

Harrow Leisure Centre re-opened after a two-year revamp.

APRIL

Edgware General's accident and emergency department closed.

A pitched battle broke out between two rival gangs of travellers at Watling Farm caravan site in Stanmore.

Monster Raving Loony Party leader Screaming Lord Sutch pulled out of the general election to look after his sick mother, who lived in South Harrow.

Councils condemned the £10 compensation paid by Three Valleys to domestic customers hit by the polution scare and called for a public inquiry.

Plans for a new Jewish primary school in Harrow were given the go-ahead.

Fury was sparked among Northwick Park Hospital consultants when the loss of 66 jobs was announced.

Stanmore College lecturers voted in favour of strike action over cuts in jobs and courses.

The RAF launched an inquiry into allegations of security breaches and drug abuse at Bentley Priory in Stanmore.

MAY

As the red tide swept across north London in the general election, there were sensational victories for Labour candidates in Harrow and Brent. Gareth Thomas and Tony McNulty ousted Tories Robert Hughes and Hugh Dykes in Harrow West and East, respectively, and Barry Gardiner unseated Dr Sir Rhodes Boyson in Brent North.

The Harrow Federation of Parent Teacher Associations was revived to lobby the council and the Government over education cuts.

Annie Sutch, mother of Screaming Lord Sutch, died and Monster Raving Loonies and rockers gathered at her funeral in South Harrow.

The Mayor of Harrow, Councillor Alan Hamlin, died of a heart attack the day before he was due to resign from the post, aged 63. The mayor-making ceremony was postponed for a week.

Liberal Democrat councillor Dick Hains died, aged 52, of cancer.

Northwick Park bosses warned that patient care was being threatened by a lack of resources and a flood of emergencies.

The Government's honeymoon was short-lived in Edgware and Harrow East when the new Labour MPs were condemned over the announcement that Edgware General would not be included in the London-wide review of hospital services and an A&E department would not be re-introduced to the site.

Colourful councillor Keith Toms was welcomed as the new Mayor of Harrow.

JUNE

Asda announced plans for a massive, multi-million redevelopment scheme for Wealdstone, while Sainsbury's confirmed it was looking for a site for a new store in Stanmore.

Harrow town centre traders put forward an ambitious plan to roof the St Ann's Road precinct.

Teachers' morale plummeted because of redundancies.

It was announced that Wealdstone FC might move to playing fields in Edgware if plans for a Lottery bid went ahead.

Children on school visits to farms were warned to wash their hands after a six-year-old Edgware girl contracted the deadly E-coli bug after such a visit to a farm in Hertfordshire.

People pressing Three Valleys for compensation after March's water contamination scandal were offered as much as £350.

JULY

More cuts were announced by Brent and Harrow Health Authority and local health trusts to meet a £10 million overspend.

Northwick Park Hospital's Robo-nurse, Britain's first automated hospital worker, was given the sack.

The Middlesex and Herts Country Club in Harrow Weald was closed and re-possessed by the owners of the freehold.

Seven pupils at Harrow school were expelled for possessing cannabis.

Manesh Patel, 16, of Stanmore died after being attacked in Kenton. Two teenagers were charged.

Fergus Pollard, retiring principal of Greenhill College in Harrow, announced two redundancies of his most senior lecturers and three non-teaching staff.

Plans for a third shopping centre in Harrow were revealed.

The closure of Edgware General was blamed for Northwick Park returning the worst performance figures in the country for operations cancelled.

Cyril Harrison won the Harrow Council Wealdstone by-election for Labour.

Diana, Princess of Wales, made her last official public appearance in Britain at Northwick Park Hospital to lay the foundation stone for its new children's casualty unit.

Sainsbury's confirmed it was closing its Kingsbury branch.

AUGUST

Northwick Park Hospital chiefs denied reports of a merger with the Central Middlesex Hospital in Park Royal.

Thousands of mourners gathered for the funeral of Stanmore teenager Manish Patel who died after a street fight in Kenton.

Exhibitions of Asda's plan for Wealdstone went on show.

The chief executive of Harrow Council sent a begging letter for more cash to the Government, pre-empting the allocation of money for the next financial year.

Brent found a town twinning partner, South Dublin County.

The Times Series launched an appeal for Lianne Bunker, a Kenton girl with cerebral palsy who needed a computer to be able to communicate with her family.

SEPTEMBER

Harrow and Brent came to a standstill for the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. Residents flocked to lay flowers at places she visited in both boroughs and to sign books of condolence.

A series of meetings began on the future of the Edgware General site. There was controversy over whether part of it should be sold to Tesco.

Asda's dream of a new superstore in Wealdstone was put on hold for an "urgent review".

It was announced that a third of Harrow's community health clinics were to close.

Labour won two Harrow Council by-elections, with Brian Gates taking the Ridgeway seat and Jerry Miles Roxeth, ending Liberal Democrat control of the council.

Pupils at Gayton High School, Harrow, started the autumn term with security passes as part of a pioneering scheme to keep intruders out.

The Middlesex and Herts Country Club was sold to a housing developer.

OCTOBER

A £240 million redevelopment plan for Wembley Stadium and a £250 million scheme for the regeneration of surrounding areas was agreed.

Sainsbury's confirmed it had bought the old AA site in Stanmore for a supermarket.

A company donated a computer to Lianne Bunker and £1,000 was raised by generous Times Series readers touched by her story.

The 112 people who died in the Wealdstone train disaster of 1952 were officially commemorated for the first time with the unveiling of a plaque on its 45th anniversary.

Harrow Council became the first local authority to sign a private finance initiative contract.

Every lecturer at Greenhill College in Harrow faced redundancy as new principal Simon Kitchener announced a massive cost-cutting staff review.

The Vintry pub opened in Stanmore after much controversy.

Keith Burchell won Stanmore South for Labour in a Harrow Council by-election.

Plans for a third shopping mall in Harrow were dropped as retailers showed no interest.

Jennifer Benarczyk of Kingsbury was found dead in her garden shed, and her husband was arrested.

NOVEMBER

Middlesex and Herts Country Club re-opened with lap dancers who, Harrow Council ruled, must not be naked.

A team of fundraisers from a Stanmore charity team missed the Luxor massacre in Egypt by hours.

Greenhill lecturers facing redundancy were told they could stay until June.

Harrow came third in London and in the top five nationally in GCSE league tables, but debate continued over their usefulness. Brent came 85th nationally.

Up to 40 jobs losses were announced at Kodak in Wealdstone as part of world-wide wave of redundancies.

The Wealdstone Asda plan was revived.

The world's first Sikh university outside India opened in Harrow.

Rudi King from Kingsbury was killed in a gangland murder.

Teachers went on strike at Wembley High School for equal pay.

Wembley Hospital's closure was announced.

DECEMBER

Harrow and Brent faced cuts in services and big rises in council tax.

Harrow and Wembley police announced officers were to be trained in the use of CS.

Almost every primary school in Brent was poised for new year strikes over the ending of early retirement and backdated pay cuts for specialists.

Environment Secretary John Prescott gave outline permission for a housing estate on North Wembley's GEC playing fields.

Greenhill College made fewer job cuts among lecturers than had been feared.

Plans to radically alter mental health services in Brent were dropped following a rebellion by Brent Community Health Council, but two care homes are to be axed in Harrow as the council tried to balance its budget.

The future of the Edgware General site was finally agreed. Up to half would be sold to help fund a community hospital.

Christmas gifts donated by Times Series readers were distributed to the needy in Brent and Harrow.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.