FOLLOWING on from our Review of the Year in last week's edition, Barry and District News takes a look back at 2014 and the stories that hit the headlines between July and December:

July:

July saw the people of Barry rally around a little girl who had her sunflower stolen by thieves.

After the Barry & District News reported that two-year-old Frankie James was heartbroken by the theft of the sunflower she was growing in her garden, generous donations replaced the sunflower with seven more sunflowers together with some solar plant lights and even a bag of sweets.

Bad news on Barry Island revealed that due to a series of delays brought on by the storms earlier in the year, the new beach huts would not be ready for the summer season.

And sad news came when the signal box at Barry town railway station closed for the last time in its 117 year history. With modern signalling rendering the box surplus to requirements, the closure and subsequent demolition of the signal box was declared "a very sad day for us trainspotters" by Barry enthusiast Michael Baker.

Barry man Mark Sewell was jailed for 14 years having been found guilty of sexually abusing children and raping a fellow churchgoer while acting as an elder within the Jehovah's Witnesses. One of his victims, niece Karen Morgan bravely waived her anonymity to speak out about her treatment by the Witnesses.

Barry Arts Festival brought music, literature, art and more coming to venues across the town this month. Among the many familiar faces who came to town, Barry Island Sports and Social Club welcomed Cheggars himself, Keith Chegwin for a night of fun when they hosted the Cheggars Plays Pop event.

August:

Barry took time in August to commemorate the anniversary of Britain - and Barry's - entry into World War One. With historians remembering Barry's role during the war and uncovered letters revealing the heartbreak of the town's lost young men, the Town Hall on King's Square was lit up with a projection of poppies and words from a poignant John McCrae poem ahead of remembrance services across the Vale.

Newport's NATO summit caused closures and disruption in Barry with schools finishing earlier and the town's minor injury unit closing entirely for a week.

The Vale of Glamorgan's annual Vale Agricultural show was held on a sunny day at Fonmon Castle, Barry with more than 20,000 people flocking to enjoy everything from bee keeping exhibitions to fairground rides, from giant vegetables to a craft fair, food courts and more.

Further success was found in Barry's A-level and GCSE results, with impressive grades being achieved at schools across the town.

September:

It was in September that it was first announced that Barry Island Pleasure Park was closing down after a travelling funfair announced it would not be returning.

The tourist attraction, home to the legendary Log Flume, Galaxy, Fun House, Wacky Goldmine, Jungle Boat, Ghost Train, Evolution, and Pirate Ship rides, was set to stand derelict before eventual demolition.

It was a strange month for heroic lollipop lady Karin Williams, the lady who in 2013 bravely threw herself in front of an out of control vehicle that ploughed into schoolchildren outside Rhoose Primary School.

After meeting President of the USA Barack Obama who praised her during his NATO visit she then found herself embroiled in a battle for a disabled badge after being turned down by the Vale council, despite having suffered serious injuries in the 2013 accident. The decision was quickly overturned.

Another battle took place on Highlight Park when residents reacted angrily to plans to close the community's Post Office. This decision was also overturned when a campaign against losing the vital facility won a reprieve until at least the end of the year.

October:

Sad news started the month when long time Barry Rotary club fundraiser, Welsh Hawking Centre founder and pillar of the community Ceri "Griff" Griffiths died in a tragic accident at the Weycock Cross Centre.

Barry rotary club president Robin Pitcher said of Griff, 71, he was "an outgoing person who would brighten your day just by being there" explaining that he would be sorely missed by his friends, family and the community as a whole.

At the Vale council, a decision was made to switch off Barry's street lights between midnight and 6am in a bid to save around around £372,000 a year.

It was also lights out at the landmark Mount Sorrel hotel which was it was revealed would be demolished having made £200,000 trading losses in two years having been taken over by a UK Holiday Group, who despite their best efforts failed to turn around the hotel's fortunes.

In better news the Butlins site on Barry Island received a blue plaque. The plaque was unveiled in a ceremony attended by Vale dignitaries and also former staff members dating back to the camp's opening in 1966.

November:

In another sad month of Barry's institutions, the Windsor Hotel on Holton Road was ordered to close, leaving two of the town's most revered amateur boxing clubs without a home.

Both Barry East End and West end clubs were training above the Windsor prior to the decision to close it, by Brains.

In a huge move for both councils, the Vale of Glamorgan and Bridgend decided this month that, rather than agreeing with their suggested mergers with Cardiff and Neath Port Talbot respectively, they would prefer to merge with each other. Proposals were handed in ahead of the deadline for voluntary merger suggestions set by Leighton Andrews.

In the courts a Libyan man was sent to jail for six-and-half-years for abducting his baby daughter and taking her to his home country, away from her mother in Barry.

Maher Belaid took the child, who is now living in Libya with his mother, when she was just three months old in order to punish his wife Malgorzata Belaid.

Judge Patrick Harrington called the abduction an act of "unspeakable cruelty".

The court heard that efforts to return infant Talia to the UK had "hit a brick wall".

December:

The festive season got off to an even bigger bang than usual in Barry when, in addition to the usual High Street festivities attended by children from across the town, the Vale council put on a show-stopping display on King's Square at the official switch-on.

As well as the tree and lights, Town Hall was lit up by a spectacular projection display that created an amazing event that some called "the best in Wales".

Elsewhere in Barry, news came in that there would once again be a funfair on Barry Island. The Barry & District News exclusively revealed that fairground legend Henry Danter was bringing the thrills and spills of the fair back to the now vacant Pleasure Park site.

News also broke that after a long wait Barry may once again have its own cinema when the Vale council earmarked Waterfront land next to the redeveloped Pumphouse for a multiplex cinema.

After a year of snags and delays, December saw the opening of Barry Island's rejuvenated Eastern Promenade complete with beach huts, climbing wall, viewing platforms and more.

Fairground operator Henry Danter visited Barry Island Pleasure Park