Stephen Lewis charts the stories making the headlines in the first six months of the new Millennium

January

THE new Millennium dawned with a massive hangover: but at least it wasn't the end of civilisation as we knew it. The much-hyped Y2K bug which had threatened a computer-age meltdown proved to have been much ado about nothing.

Tiny Chloe Stead was obviously impatient to get her own new year celebrations under way. She popped into the world when the new Millennium was just 28 minutes old - making her the first baby born in York in the year 2000.

It was a great start to the new millennium for Ray Wragg, too. The York dad-of-three scooped £7.6 million on the National Lottery.

A wall of flame engulfed Rawcliffe Lane in Clifton after a gas leak sparked a fireball and City of York Council indulged in a spot of silliness by proposing to sell off the Lord Mayor's DN 1 numberplate. The proposals were later dropped.

The Evening Press marked the start of the new millennium with the launch of two new campaigns - Save Our Swim and Counter Attack.

Nationally, Manchester GP Harold Shipman began a life sentence for murdering 15 patients, Welsh actress Catherine Zeta Jones and Hollywood star Michael Douglas announced their engagement and Posh Spice Victoria Beckham told TV viewers her spouse David liked to borrow her underwear.

February

York Art Gallery armed robber Craig Townend began 15 years behind bars, although his stepfather William Spence walked free from court after being cleared of handling 20 stolen paintings.

The Duke of York launched a £250,000 Minster Bells appeal to commemorate the life of the Queen Mother - prompting John Roden, outspoken vicar of Appleton Roebuck, to say the appeal should be linked to someone more worthy than the 'grandmother of an incredibly dysfunctional family'. Mr Roden later apologised.

People power saved York's family centres from closure - but was unable to save cooks in elderly people's homes or prevent cuts in street cleaning as the council approved a £4.7m cuts and tax package. York-based CGU announced it was merging with Norwich Union and the Hospice Appeal hit the half-way point by passing £1m.

Nationally, Lord Archer stood down as Tory candidate for London mayor after it emerged he had asked a friend to lie before a libel case with the Daily Star. Millennium Dome chief executive Jennie Page was sacked and replaced by Frenchman Pierre-Yves Gerbeau; and nail bomber David Copeland admitted to the manslaughter of three people in an explosion in a gay pub in Soho.

March

A DAMNING report on North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service by Home Office inspectors accused fire brigade managers of being 'overbearing, threatening, unsupportive and uncommunicative' - and warned their style was leading to stress, inefficiency and ill-health among staff.

York heart doctor Roger Boyle was appointed Britain's first Heart Tsar and a York police officer was taken to hospital and five teenagers were arrested after a clash between police and youths wielding baseball bats and sticks in Crichton Avenue, Clifton.

City of York Council signalled its determination to crack down on 'Neighbours from Hell' by evicting a nuisance family from Tang Hall's Etty Avenue.

Nationally, General Augusto Pinochet flew out of Britain a free man after Jack Straw declared he would not be extradited to Spain to face allegations of human rights abuses; Moors murderer Ian Brady failed in his bid to be allowed to starve himself to death; and the £4 million round-the-world catamaran Team Phillips - built by maritime hero Pete Goss - limped into the Isle of Wight after a hull snapped during trials.

Abroad, an emergency aid appeal was launched for victims of the Mozambique flood disaster.

April

TWO Leeds United fans were stabbed to death after they and other supporters were attacked by a group of Turks in Istanbul on the eve of the Yorkshire club's UEFA cup semi-final clash with Galatasaray.

There was a taste of things to come when the River Derwent at Stamford Bridge burst its banks, flooding the Swordsman Pub - but homes in Norton remained dry and in York the Easter Fair in St George's Fields narrowly avoided being flooded.

British beef went back on the menu at a number of North Yorkshire schools, and the Evening Press's very own highwayman Dick Turpin galloped off to London to deliver a people's post office ultimatum to Prime Minister Tony Blair - in the form of 1,000 coupons signed by supporters of our Counter Attack campaign.

Nationally, two strangers who outraged fellow passengers by performing sex acts on a transatlantic flight were fined for being drunk aboard a plane; the Royal Ulster Constabulary was presented with the George Cross by the Queen; Kenneth Noye began a life centre for the M25 road-rage murder of Stephen Cameron; and outcry met the conviction of farmer Tony Martin for the murder of teenage burglar Fred Barras.

May

THE fate of the Barbican and Yearsley swimming pools was put into the hands of the people of York as council leader Rod Hills said 'You Decide'.

There was victory for the Evening Press in our Women at War campaign with the announcement that a statue commemorating the unsung heroines of the Second World War would be put up outside the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall.

But there was defeat for Labour on City of York Council as it lost its majority following a by-election loss in Bootham.

Three people were arrested in a police raid on a brothel in York's Nunnery Lane. Ambitious plans for a £60 million Coppergate Riverside development were unveiled, and the future of transport in York came under scrutiny as the city council launched a massive consultation.

Plans for a £4.8 million revamp of the Jorvik Centre were revealed, and there were proposals to close two York schools - Shipton Street Infant School and Oaken Grove Primary School.

Nationally, Tony and Cherie Blair's fourth child Leo was born; and Ken Livingstone swept to power as London's first directly-elected mayor.

June

York was hit by its worst floods for six years as the River Ouse burst its banks, leaving swathes of the city centre south of Lendal Bridge and the village of Naburn cut off.

People power struck again as councillors voted to look at ways of saving the Yearsley and Barbican pools and home care charges were slashed at the first full council meeting since Labour was stripped of control.

The single mother who ran a brothel in Nunnery Lane was given 12 months probation; the Duke of York opened the Millennium Mystery Plays at York Minster; and opposition to Coppergate Riverside began to gather pace as Mulberry Hall boss Adam Sinclair warned the scheme could damage the traditional shopping heart of York.

There was a boost for our Counter Attack campaign when the Government announced it would set up a Universal Bank in a bid to protect rural post offices.

Nationally, Tony Blair was heckled and slow-handclapped by Women's Institute members; clothes retailer C&A announced the closure of all its UK stores; and the bodies of 58 Chinese illegal immigrants were found in a sealed lorry container at Dover.