AS the year draws to a close, we’ve taken a look back at 12 of our biggest stories from the past 12 months.
There’s never a quiet day in Bradford and 2021 proved no different, with a whole host of different events and incidents taking place.
They range from the horrifying and tragic to the quirky and bizarre, as well as displaying the incredibly humanity and community spirit that Bradford displays on a regular basis.
We’ve looked back through our archives over the past year to bring you the most important and most read stories from each month.
First, we bring the top stories from the first four months of the year, January to April.
January
There were a number of stories to pick from at the beginning of the year which peaked readers’ interests, from a worker winning a race discrimination claim against his employer, heavy snow bringing chaos to the district, and resident conspiracy theorist hairdresser Sinead Quinn’s failed ‘Grand Reopening’.
But the story we’ve picked out as the top story of January came from the Bingley branch of takeaway chain Dominos.
Major concerns were raised and an investigation launched after workers were snapped drinking pints of lager and vodka while working in the kitchen, and also breaching Covid-19 regulations in place at the time.
Dominos launched an investigation and said it has a “zero tolerance” on alcohol in the workplace.
February
There was no let up in news in February; mystery surrounded film crews spotted on Penistone Hill outside Haworth, a drug dealer was locked up after turning his home into a heroin factory, and a former Shipley headteacher was jailed for abusing young girls.
February also saw the first serious crash in Bradford of the year, when a man and woman were tragically killed following an incident on the A65 in Addingham.
Oliver Knott, 21, from Ilkley, and Maisie Ryan, a 27-year-old doctor, both died after their cars were involved in a collision with a lorry at 8.10am. The incident caused devastation in the local community at the tragic loss of life.
March
Doctors were left stunned in March when a 103-year-old woman walked into her GP surgery for her Covid vaccine, while Dixons Cottingley had to shut after receiving a malicious email.
It was also in March when hundreds of anti-vax, anti-lockdown protesters descended on Bradford for a demonstration in which police were attacked and some people also tried to storm a vaccination centre.
There was a tragic incident in March when, during a spell of hot weather, 14-year-old Mohammed Abu Farhan sadly drowned after getting into difficulty at Goit Stock waterfall near Cullingworth.
His death brought an outpouring of grief and also calls for increased safety at the beauty spot.
April
The incidents didn’t stop as Spring continued in Bradford. Hearts broke after the death of Kieran Albert, 31, in a quad bike crash, while a local chippy continued its good run by being named one of Britain’s best for the sixth year in a row.
The major incident of the month came in Duckworth Lane, when a 19-year-old male was fatally stabbed in an incident of late night violence between groups armed with weapons.
In a trial earlier this month, Hashim Sajjad was cleared of murdering and the manslaughter of Muhammed Mujahid Hussain that night, after admitting to stabbing the teenager but saying he was acting in self defence.
Read the biggest stories from May to August and September to December.
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