JANUARY

Furness General Hospital welcomed five babies on the first day of the year. The first to be born was Nevaeh Eilish McAllister at 2.07am.

The cash-starved trust that runs Furness General Hospital was forced to take out a £28.3m emergency loan to pay doctors and nurses, other staff and suppliers.

Dog lover Tom Graham from Askam was invited to judge the Sussex Spaniel class at Crufts for the second time.

There was a bid to breathe new life into Barrow town centre as businesses came together to launch the BID campaign.

Tributes flooded in following the death of local music legend Bobby Rigg as a rock ‘n’ roll funeral was planned.

Tight-necked tops gave Raiders fans a headache as they attempted to squeeze into the 2016 replica shirts.

Furness General Hospital junior doctors took the difficult decision to join the national 24-hour strike over proposed contract changes.

The shocking scale of the "biblical" floods was revealed to Cumbria County Council in the aftermath of December’s Storm Desmond. Work to re-open the A591 would take months.

GCSE pupils at Ulverston Victoria High School watched Major Tim Peake’s historic spacewalk live from their classrooms. UVHS had been accepted to receive the seeds from the space to experiment on.

The Evening Mail took to the streets on "Blue Monday" to spread a little cheer by handing out free gifts.

It was announced that Steve Coogan would play Stan Laurel in the upcoming film Stan and Ollie. Production would start later in the year.

Remarking caused delight as St Bernard’s Catholic High School, Furness Academy and UVHS’ record GCSE pass rates got even better.

Zoo inspectors claimed that the public would be at risk as their report revealed lapses in standards at South Lakes Safari Zoo.

The Red Belgian Hare owned by Kevin Coulter of Dalton was to be renamed Patricia as she had starred with Patricia Routledge in a documentary about Beatrix Potter.

David Cameron visited South Cumbria to unveil a £3m package to promote tourism. This caused a storm as over £460m would be needed to repair flood damaged roads and bridges.

NuGen launched a global competition to design a state-of-the-art power plant for the moorside site. They appealed to the world’s greatest design companies to create a show-stopping piece of architecture.

FEBRUARY

The Sun Inn in Ulverston got a new look at it reopened after a complete refurbishment aiming to be more like a country-style pub.

Author Gill Jepson became Patron of Reading at three local schools as part of a national scheme to encourage reading.

South Lakes firm Playdale Playgrounds won National Business Exporter of the Year Award at the Federation of Small Businesses Worldpay UK Business Awards.

Silverdale Street supported housing project, which works with vulnerable people aged 16 to 25 in Barrow, announced its closure.

New state-of-the-art maternity unit plans were unveiled. If the unit got the go-ahead it would be open by the end of 2017 at a cost of £13m.

Gourmet lovers were treated royally at the fourth annual Lake District Farmers Armstrong Family Charitable Fund event at Clarence House Hotel.

The Wordsworth Trust received £4.75m from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The money was to be used to rejuvenate areas around Dove Cottage in Grasmere, home of William Wordsworth.

County Council chiefs overturned their decision to close Walney Fire Station, saving the jobs of the part-time fire crew.

Teacher Stephanie Noblet was overwhelmed by donations of children’s clothes, shoes and toys following an appeal for her trip to Zambia in March.

Bands from across the county featured on a compilation CD, “Rock for Recovery”, to help raise funds for those hit by the devastating floods that hit the county in December.

Louise Kirkland won a Halifax Giving Extra Award for her voluntary work with children with physical and learning difficulties and the Leonard Cheshire Disability Association and Autism Barrow.

A new state-of-the-art MRI scanner was now operational at Furness General Hospital in Barrow. At a cost of £900,000, it provided clearer images than ever before.

Residents of Great Urswick were now able to shop local at a new store on the car park of the General Burgoyne following the cancellation of the free supermarket bus.

Marathon runner Ben Smith visited Barrow and was joined by local runners at Furness Abbey as he set off on his 165th run route in his record breaking attempt to run 401 marathons in 401 days.

MARCH

Government patient safety expert Dr Bill Kirkup was frustrated at the slow pace of change on the first anniversary of his report on failures at Furness General Hospital’s maternity unit.

Pressure was building to fix the flooding at the “Lindal dip” as almost £300,000 of public money had already been spent on surveys and preventative measure to no avail.

Louise Danson, a singer and dancer from Barrow, appeared in a Little Mix music video in Los Angeles.

Bride-to-be Natalie Davey inspired her community to bring St Patrick’s Church, Barrow Island, back to life. She hoped to become an events co-ordinator for the venue.

Holker Hall was awarded Garden of the Year in the prestigious BBC Countryfile magazine awards.

Cumbria was provided with a stunning display of colour as the Northern Lights shone brightly over the county.

The Love Barrow Supplement was published by the Evening Mail and included finalists in the Love Barrow Awards which celebrate unsung community heroes.

It was Great British Pie Week and Higginsons of Grange, named Britain’s Best Butchers, were making 2,500 pies each week, including Celebration Pies popular for weddings.

Psychedelic biro artist, Malcolm Tyson, 72, opened his first exhibition at the Coach House, Ulverston.

Jemma Burrell, 19, from Ulverston donated stem cells in memory of her friend Alice Pyne.

The fortieth South Cumbria Musical Festival got under way as talented youngsters took to the stage at the Coronation Hall in Ulverston.

Hoad Monument was bathed in pink light as LED specialists Marl International tested new equipment. It was hoped funding could be found to keep the iconic monument colourful.

The "world’s most advanced" nuclear submarine was commissioned at Faslane. HMS Artful was built at Barrow then moved to undergo sea trials off the west coast of Scotland.

It was announced that direct trains to Manchester Airport would be cut until 2018 due to lack of available rolling stock.

A report highlighted the shocking failings in mental health care in Cumbria. Bosses were ordered to make urgent improvements.

Kathleen Wise from Walney was selected to attend the Royal Maundy service at Windsor as a reward for her contribution to her community and church.

Popular music maestro Gilbert Uren celebrated his centenary. He was born and lived in Dalton and still played the piano every day.