Basingstoke's 2016 in Review: Part Two

Reporters TIM BIRKBECK and CLIVE HAMMOND look back on what has been an eventful 2016 in the borough.

JULY

JULY saw the return of the Cheese and Chilli Festival. With an array of tastes and colours on offer, the weekend tasteathon provided fun for all the family. After being inundated with people attending 2015's edition, organisers went bigger and better, displaying cheese and chillies from around the world. Held at War Memorial Park, guests were treated to live music, arts and crafts stalls, a range of homemade and internationally renowned cheeses as well as mouth-watering chillis. It all got too much for some. 

IT WAS also the month were campaigns to save community centres and local clubs took force. After Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council announced its new 'Top of The Town redevelopment plan', patrons and owners of two community centres in the town faced an uncertain future. It appeared the Irish Community Centre and Basingstoke Carnival Hall Community Centre would be forced to close and merge in a new building as part of the plan. Hundreds turned out to support the Irish Centre and a campaign was launched to preserve its future. Fast-forward to December and both centres' futures were resolved and were instead granted a share of £420,000 to spend on maintenance work for the buildings. 

JULY 2016 will forever be remembered for the month a worldwide craze engulfed Basingstoke. Thousands of children, teenagers and adults took to the streets armed with their mobile phones, an uploaded Pokemon Go! app and sturdy shoes to take part in a game which changed the concept of modern gaming. Dozens of readers, who had snapped photos of themselves capturing the creatures, sent in pictures depicting them with various types of Pokemon, to the delight of many other fans of the game and staff in The Gazette offices. At the time The Gazette's Tim Birkbeck said: "You get a strange sense of satisfaction when you actually catch one, even though the Pokémon isn’t physically there you really want to catch it.

"When I was walking around Eastrop Park, it was so bizarre to look around and seeing everybody doing the same thing."

HISTORY was made as the Lions Club of Basingstoke installed its first female president. Ann Vicars, who joined the club in 2012, succeeded outgoing president Tony Bamberger, becoming the first lady to acquire the top job in the club's 49-year existence. The former social services manager will now lead the club into its golden anniversary celebrations next year.

AUGUST

AS THE sun finally started shining on Basingstoke, the town was treated to a delicious food festival. More than 3,000 foodies flocked to Taste at the Top of The Town event to enjoy a day of sampling local food and drinks. Visitors of all ages enjoyed food themed street theatre and family fun activities, including Plunge Boom's Allotment Show, the Hungry Chefs and a chef's hat making workshop with local artist Sandy Kendall. The event, part of the Hampshire Fare Food Festival, also featured celebrity chef and restaurateur Brian Turner CBE.

DURING the month many more summer events were held, including Car Fest, Odiham Fire Show and Oliver's Dream Summer Fete, but one of the most poignant moments came at Popham Airfield, where crowds of terminally ill children from across the south of England gathered for a special, spirit-soaring day out with national children's charity Starlight Children's Foundation. It was the 20th instalment of Starlight's Popham Escape Day and for all the young guests and their families a day of adrenaline fuelled flying of aircrafts, helicopters and hovercrafts. They also enjoyed being driven around the airfield in sports cars and on motorbikes, as well as having fun with pony rides, face painters, huskies, cupcake decorating and giant games.

WITH the football season starting, it was unsurprising that Basingstoke Town Football Club hit the headlines - but unfortunately for non-footballing reasons. 'Fury Over Ten Hours of Tannoy Noise Hell' saw numerous complaints reach The Gazette after residents close to the newly named Ark Cancer Centre Charity Stadium reported they had been kept awake for hours by noise coming from the ground. The residents called on answers from the club after it apologised the problem took so long to be resolved. Simon Wilding, of Kelvin Hill, South Ham, described the noise as "like someone was dragging an empty greenhouse across the street."

HOWEVER, there was some good news for the club as a new era for Basingstoke Town Ladies began. The newly promoted team made their debut at the Ark Cancer Centre Charity Stadium against Southampton Saints, eventually losing 4-2. There was more sporting joy as Justin Rose and Odiham's Alex Danson managed to secure gold medals at the Rio Olympics. Rose collected a gold in the men's golf event whilst Danson and her Team GB hockey team-mates picked up a first ever gold in the women's hockey. A truly golden summer for the town. 

SEPTEMBER

SEPTEMBER, so often a time for new beginnings as children go back to school, the summer is over and fresh starts can be had. Unfortunately, however, in Basingstoke, September was a bad month for business. Hundreds of employees at car dealership City Motor Holdings (CMH), which has its headquarters in Basingstoke were made redundant after the company was placed in administration because of "poor trading". CMH announced that 267 of its employees had lost their jobs after the firm, which also had offices in Newbury and Reading, was handed over to administrators. Steve Absolom and Will Wright, from KPMG Restructuring, were appointed joint administrators to CMH and associated companies, which together operate a total of 13 new and approved used car dealerships across the Thames Valley region. Thankfully, it was not all doom and gloom. Just weeks later new groups took over and were able create at least 50 new jobs. 

IT WAS not just car traders that were feeling the pinch. STAGE, a music venue found in Churchill Way, continued the long tradition of struggling venues in its site after it closed its doors less than six months after opening. Billed as the UK's first 'cashless venue', the company struggled and eventually after going into liquidation closed. The Gazette found in October that STAGE Live Ltd, the venue owners, owed more than £250,000 to local businesses and customers. Customers are still waiting for their refunds on shows that were cancelled as a result of the liquidation.

THE future of a major summer festival being held in the borough next year was also in doubt as a new licence is needed to increase its capacity by 10,000. CarFest launched at Laverstoke Park Farm in 2012, and every year since thousands of people have enjoyed music, cars, food and other entertainment at the event, whilst raising millions of pounds for BBC Children in Need. But Clare Scheckter, who owns the farm with her husband Jody, told The Gazette that it may have to move location because the organisers want to sell more tickets. The Scheckters were given a licence to hold the festival by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, which limits the number of tickets which can be sold to 19,000. 

BUT to lighten to the mood, Basingstoke's favourite singing dentist saved the day. The Singing Dentist, aka Chequers Dental Surgery dentist Dr Milad Shadrooh, saw his popularity soar after his comedy video 'Return of the Plaque' was shared on social media site Lad Bible's Facebook page. Throughout the year, The Gazette explained how Dr Milad, who runs the Chequers Road surgery, had been creating a series of educational and funny videos which promote dental hygiene, to songs including Pharrell Williams’ Happy and Michael Jackson’s Thriller. And since that video was uploaded on The Lad Bible it has been viewed more than 10 million times – becoming one of the fastest shared videos on the site.

OCTOBER

MORE than one thousand runners enjoyed an autumn sun-soaked Basingstoke Half Marathon to raise thousands for charity. Start at the War Memorial Park, runners took on the 13.1-mile course around Cliddesden, Ellisfield and Farleigh Wallop before returning and being greeted by enthusiastic spectators. Friends and families stood along the road cheering individuals and teams on with many charity and corporate teams participating, including teams representing sponsors Tech Data, Asset Advantage and BMW Ridgeway and MINI.

OCTOBER saw major multi-million pound investment to rejuvenate Basingstoke’s Festival Place launched. AEW Europe, which acquired Festival Place in December last year, finalised plans to revamp the 1.1 million square foot retail site which will include expanding the restaurant area and improving the car parks. It was also anticipated that there would be significant changes to the retailer line-up over the next 12 months, with the hope of increasing footfall. Other plans announced included the proposed Basing View hotel, which this month had its budget agreed by the council. Village Hotels plan to invest between £15 and £20 million, with the potential to create 100 new jobs.

RESIDENTS put on their finest lederhosen in October as Basingstoke played host to the eighth annual Hampshire Oktoberfest. It featured more than 180 beers, ciders and wines from across the region as well as a range of different foods from local suppliers. Held at Basingstoke Cricket and Sports Ground, in Fairfields Road, visitors could enjoy a range of different activities as well as live music. Organisations from across the region also got involved by sponsoring one of the many barrels as well as the whole event helping raise money for Wessex Heritage Trust New for this year.

PERHAPS most heart-warming of all in October was the news that Ready Emmy Walk, a campaign launched by the family of two-year-old Emmy King to try and raise £100k for an operation to help the youngster walk, was successful and Emmy had her procedure in America. In a report published in The Gazette in October, Emmy’s mother Carly said: “People say community spirit is dead but when something like this happens it proves that wrong because people have rallied around us.”

NOVEMBER

THE borough of Basingstoke and Deane fell silent for two minutes Sunday, November 13 as communities paid their respects to those who lost their lives in the First and Second World War. In Basingstoke town centre the annual mayor’s Remembrance Sunday Service was held at the War Memorial Park, with the ceremony being led by the mayor’s chaplain Arthur Botham. The service saw a parade of uniformed service personnel proceed from Caston’s car park to the War Memorial on the Civic Campus via New Road before the two minutes silence was observed. Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane, Cllr Jane Frankum then led the laying of the wreaths, placing one on behalf of the borough.

A BASINGSTOKE man caused a splash after taking the plunge to propose to his girlfriend – with the image captured winning a national photographic competition. Lewis Horsley convinced members of Jess Mason’s family to hold up signs with the words “Will You Marry Me?” on them as they plummeted down a log flume in Disneyland Florida. The picture captures an oblivious Jess, squealing on Splash Mountain with her family proudly holding the placards. It was only after the ride had finished that Jess, 26, realised she was being proposed to when she saw the souvenir photos on the screen outside the ride. It was a double celebration for the couple, who live in Hatch Warren, as Jess said yes and the picture won a national marriage proposal photo competition with Beaverbrooks the Jewellers.

ACCIDENTS on Black Dam roundabout have shot up since millions were spent reconfiguring it, new information obtained by The Gazette revealed. Since Highways England spent £11 million on regeneration work on the roundabout, there have been more accidents between its opening in February, and June this year, than the whole of 2014 – the year before work took place at Black Dam roundabout. The information comes from a Freedom of Information request submitted by The Gazette that shows there were five incidents in the first five months of the new layout. In the same period in 2014 – February to June – there were none officially recorded.

HE IS one stylish dog and Bernie the miniature dachshund certainly caught the attention with his impeccable sense of style. The ‘sausage dog’ from Basingstoke was selected as a finalist in a national competition and has nearly 10,000 followers on social media site Instagram using the name @Bernie.mini.dax. Wearing a cute pair of pyjamas, the 10-month-old competed against other well-dressed dogs in the UK’s Best Dressed Dog contest, but lost out on the top spot to Spud the Boxer in a Donald Trump fancy dress costume. Bernie’s owner Shannen, from Sherborne St John, said her puppy attracts attention when out and about walking around the town.

DECEMBER

FORMER Basingstoke Town director Simon Hood certainly had the internet buzzing in December after he put Basingstoke Town Football Club up for sale on eBay without the club’s permission. The club was listed on the site with an opening bid of 99p rising to £65,800 before it was taken down by the site. Interest was generated across the world from this, which came about after the club announced a couple of weeks ago longstanding chairman of the Dragons for 25 years Rafi Razzak announced that he will stand down in May 2017.

ONE in five children in Basingstoke are living in poverty, shocking new research has revealed. The Children’s Society has found that over 18 per cent of children are living in households with an income of 60 per cent or less of the median income. The research shows there are 26,236 children living in Basingstoke – of which 4,840 are living in these conditions.

A MAN from Basingstoke has created a winter wonderland for the public in his conservatory. Dennis Bailey, 81, of South Ham, spent three weeks in November creating a winter paradise in aid of the British Heart Foundation. The display is 17ft long and 4ft wide, taking up a lot of floor and room space and is full of small houses, shops and winter rides that light up the room and move about. There is also a train set that moves through the Christmas city. Last year Mr Bailey had a Christmas-themed display that was slightly smaller than this year’s, and it proved to be popular enough that he wanted to do it bigger this year. The goal this year is to collect more money for the British Heart Foundation.

IT WAS a match a year in the making, but at long last the junior Winklebury Wizards took on a veterans side to remember the team’s long-term coach Graham Garrett. The memorial match played at the Hampshire FA’s Winklebury Sports Complex took place on the anniversary of Mr Garrett’s death, who died suddenly on December 10, 2015.