2016 Review
There were some highs and lows during 2016, the same as most years I guess.
But it’s not every year we can celebrate the Queens 90th birthday which we did in style at the Parish Hall in April. Many of us were glued to the Rio Olympics in July, and TEAM GB astounded us with their performances and medal tally. We also followed Tim Peake and the International Space Station Expedition with wonder and a new interest in the Juno space probe.
But the year kicked off with David Bowie and Alan Rickman, both dying within days of each other, countless more famous (Muhammed Ali, Terry Wogan, Rick Parfitt, Caroline Aherne, Victoria Wood, Frank Sinatra, Arnold Palmer, John Glenn, Fidel Castro, Prince, Zsa Zsa Gabor, George Michael, Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds) and those not so famous but our friends and family who passed away over the year.
Brexit and the election of Donald Trump were among the biggest news stories.
North Korea tests a hydrogen bomb. The Russians fighter jets, doping athletes and hacking emails. ISIS attacks, Brussels bombings, Istanbul airport, Baghdad, Easter Sunday blast in Lahore Pakistan, a truck ploughs into crowds celebrating Bastille Day in Nice and in Berlin a tractor trailer mows down people in a Christmas market. The war in Syria rages on.
Natural tragedies included the Ecuador earthquake killing 663 and an earthquake in central Italy kills 290 plus Hurricane Matthew tears through Haiti in Oct killing over 500 and a plane crash in Columbia kills 70 including members of the Brazilian football team.
But what will we remember? Leicester city wins the premiership, Andy Murray wins Wimbledon and is voted Sports Personality of the Year AGAIN, David Cameron resigns over Brexit and Theresa May becomes Prime Minister, the new Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone is recalled over it’s exploding battery, Planking, Pokemon Go and scary clowns fads, Game of Thrones, Bob Dylan wins Noble Prize, British Bake Off leaving BBC, Luke Aikins skydiving world record.
What a year!