January

Thousands of relieved Bedfont residents thanked their lucky stars after heroic pilot, John Coward, guided an enormous Boeing 777 to safety despite losing engine power over the town in January.

Incredibly no one was seriously injured when the plane cleared the perimeter fence by metres and crash-landed just short of the runway at Heathrow. Lorraine Clack, 39, whose Bedfont home was the last property cleared by the plane, said: "I'm feeling relieved. It was such a close call. But that's what you get if you live here I guess."

Investigators later concluded ice crystals in the fuel lines were probably to blame for the engines cutting out.

Smoke filled the streets of Chelsea as the Royal Marsden Cancer Hospital caught ablaze.

Seriously ill patients were evacuated as flames took over parts of the building. At one point, firemen feared the roof would collapse. Chief executive of the Royal Marsden Cally Palmer said:

"My personal memories include seeing flames leaping from the roof and wondering how we would get people out alive, seeing patients wrapping up patients and moving them out of smoke-filled wards."

February

Levi Bellfield was handed a 'whole life' sentence for a campaign of violence against West London women, which left two girls dead and a third fighting for her life. The 39-year-old former bouncer was found guilty of bludgeoning to death petite blondes Marsha McDonnell, 19, and 22-year-old Amelie Delagrange, in Hampton and Twickenham, and mowing down Isleworth schoolgirl, Kate Sheedy, in his car.

The brave 18-year-old, who survived the attack, spoke outside the court to say the conviction meant she could finally 'move on'.

After the trial, several of Bellfield's former partners came forward to describe how he had beaten and abused them during their relationships with him.

Becky Wilkinson, from Hanworth, said: "Seeing the victims' families at court made me think how lucky I am to be alive. I feel so sorry for all of them."

March

A community was left devastated after a teenager was stabbed to death just yards from his Queen's Park home .

Amro El-Badawy, 14, was stabbed in the neck on the Mozart Estate, in Dart Street. The stricken teenager crawled towards a nearby health centre, but died on the street near the building.

Neighbours and friends from the estate, and school friends from Paddington Academy, in Marylands Road, North Paddington, built a shrine on the spot where he died with flowers and pictures of Amro. His girlfriend, Ihsan, was one of many who left a tribute for the schoolboy.

April

A whistle-blowing teacher won nearly £70,000 for unfair dismissal from a Saudi-funded school accused of poisoning pupils' minds.

Colin Cook, 58, was fired from his £36,000-a-year-post at the King Fahad Academy in Acton in December 2006 after he complained of systematic cheating in a GCSE exam.

Following his sacking he claimed pupils as young as five were taught from Arabic books describing Jews as 'monkeys' and Christians as 'pigs'.

The academy, set up in 1985 for the children of Saudi diplomats and funded by the Saudi government, was later forced to shred up to 2,000 extremist textbooks.

An employment tribunal ruled the school, attended by children of jailed hate cleric Abu Hamza, created a 'smokescreen' to justify dismissing Mr Cook, from Feltham, after 18 years of service.

May

Terror hit the King's Road when barrister Mark Saunders, 32, was shot dead following a four-hour siege in the heart of Chelsea.

Bullets rang through the air as a sunny summer afternoon became one which will live on in the memories of residents forever.

The drama came to a head as dusk fell as volleys of bullets were fired and stun grenades launched - lighting up the sky with a green tinge. Police stormed Markham Square and Mr Saunders was pronounced dead at the scene.

One long-term resident told how she sprinted up the road to avoid injury, adding: "You don't expect things like this to happen in Chelsea."

Animal protesters failed to move Zippo Circus in their visit to Twickenham Green , and the show just went on. Ringmaster Norman Barrett remembered the days when circuses had lions, tigers and performing seals. But nowadays animals rights' protesters could only target domesticated animals to try and save from being performers.

Zippo's, in its 30th year on the Green, was struggling manfully on with teams of highly trained budgies, who agreed to pose sitting on our newspaper.

Mr Barrett said: "We give people an appreciation of the wonder of animals. Animals are trained all year round in farms and so on - and ours have much more fun anyhow."

A school teacher at the centre of a child protection probe died in a suspected suicide at a Hounslow station .

Savraj Powar, 43 was hit by a Piccadilly Line tube in front of dozens of shocked commuters, after fleeing from police who called at his home.

It is understood Hounslow police's Child Protection Team planned to arrest the science teacher on suspicion of an 'inappropriate relationship' with a 17-year-old pupil.

A worker at Osterley station said: "The doctor went under the train to see the body. It was not nice."

June

Kew became the first community in London to launch a widespread ban on plastic bags to safeguard the environment. Independent retailers all signed up to the pledge, apart from chain stores like Tesco in Station Approach which has its own policies.

Former schoolmates aid their tributes to a 23-year-old who died after being set alight outside his family home .

Charles Davies passed away on June 26, nearly two weeks after being doused with flammable liquid, in Staines, and left to burn.

Friends from Lampton School in Hounslow, where Mr Davies studied for seven years, recalled his 'infectious smile and laugh' on social networking site Facebook.

Nadim Kurrimbukus and Yusuf Dulloo, both of Hounslow, have been charged with Mr Davies' murder and are due to appear in court next year.

July

A killer drug was discovered at a Paddington flat, named as London's first crystal meth factory .

Police officers swarmed over the fourth-floor London Street flat in July, after a routine search uncovered barrels of chemicals at the address.

The drug is more addictive than crack cocaine and is made by mixing decongestant pills with other chemicals. Addicts dramatically age as the drug ravages their bodies.

The Paddington discovery will ring alarm bells with UK agencies that crystal meth is seeping into the UK drug scene already gripping other countries across the world including America, Australia and New Zealand.

Memories of an intrepid female artist surfaced when Kew Gardens set about restoring the world famous Marianne North gallery , with 832 paintings the painter made for the gallery (which she had built for herself) from 1870 onwards.

Ms North let nothing stand in her way as she painted frantically across the world recording every plant that she could find - pictures of rare if sometimes chocolate box beauty.

She travelled across fearsome terrain to get her paintings. She recorded how in Brazil a team of mules carrying her started to sink.

"So she got on the shoulders of one of the bear-ers instead, and he promptly sank up to his own shoulders with her weight," said painting conservationist Jonathan Farley as he took down all the paintings for restoration and replacement in the gallery in 2009.

Tears, anger and fears for the future marked the last day of a much-loved 107-year-old school.

Peterborough Primary School in Clancarty Road, Fulham, taught its last lessons on Friday, July 18, and sent its weeping pupils out to meet their equally distraught parents. Shelley Saul, 35, of Lancaster Court, Fulham said: "My daughter's really, really sad, and doesn't stop crying. She is nervous about meeting new friends, and she doesn't want to go." Hammersmith and Fulham Council axed Peterborough in January after declaring there were too few pupils at the school.

August

Violence overshadowed the Notting Hill Carnival as bottles were hurled at baton-wielding police during a chaotic stand off at the event's finale.

Police officers were led off with bloodied faces, as crowds of youths joined in riotous scenes outside Ladbroke Grove station.

Witnesses estimated more than 100 people were involved in the mass brawl. Trader Balwinder Sahi, of Select Food and Wine in Ladbroke Grove, said: "It was a fearful atmosphere. Anybody could have got hurt."

September

Members of a small coalition of businesses in Whitton fell victim to the mighty wrath of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) in September over their less-than-unequivocal support for a licence application.

RFU bosses had drawn up an application for a three-year licence which would allow them to hold up to five music concerts a year without further notice.

They asked the Whitton Business Association (WBA) to pledge its support but were stunned to learn its members were seriously split on the issue.

In a barely concealed threat, a spokesman for the RFU, which has pumped £20,000 into the group over eight years for its Christmas lights and St George's Day Parade, warned: "We have never asked for anything in return but if the WBA is not prepared to show a little solidarity, we don't see the point of being in partnership with them."

October

Heathrow's owners learnt in October local NHS chiefs were planning to sue for millions of pounds in compensation amid claims a third runway would seriously damage the well-being of residents living nearby .

Board members at NHS Hounslow discussed how they would seek the massive payout should BAA get the go-ahead to increase flights by up to 50 per cent.

The trust claimed airport noise and pollution can cause asthma and mental health problems as well as lowering life expectancy for those with existing heart and respiratory problems.

Campaign group SOS Avenue Gardens turfed over their street in protest against garden grabbing development .

Green-clad residents had picnics, listened to live music and took part in a tug of war to highlight their cause in their East Sheen street. The campaigners' stunt was in protest at plans by a developer to demolish a house and build five flats and four houses with underground parking

November

Victory was celebrated after people power blocked an application for a strip bar and lap dancing club in West Kensington.

Two hundred residents crowded into Hammersmith Town Hall's assembly room, in November, to hear Passion Nights Ltd apply to open an erotic dance venue in North End Crescent.

A standing ovation and stamping of residents' feet greeted the news that the lap dancing club could not open in the old Fox Tavern, now renamed the Kensington Suite.

More than 1,041 objections were recieved by Hammersmith and Fulham Council as well as a petition signed by 250 residents - more objections than it has ever received before.

Parents in north Kingston won their battle for a new secondary school , after more than 10 years of campaigning.

Following the primary school places' crisis, which saw temporary bulge classrooms built at seven schools, the council's executive member for children's services, Patricia Bamford, admitted rising pupil numbers were not a short term problem, but an ongoing trend.

Funding for the school, from the govern-ment's Building Schools for the Future pot, is expected to be approved by spring and building work will be completed by 2014.

The victim of an axe-wielding thug insists he 'feels sorry' for his attacker as the man is handed an eight-year jail term for the 'moment of madness'.

British Airways engineer Vincent Eggleston, 34, from Hounslow, was sentenced in December for brutally assaulting fellow drinker, Sohail Nawaz, with an axe at the Earl Haig pub.

But Mr Nawaz, whose career as a chauffeur has been wrecked by dizzy spells and blackouts following the attack, said he was not pleased because the attack had 'ruined both our lives'.

"I feel sorry for him," he added. "It was a completely unprovoked attack and for five minutes of madness he will have to pay with all that time in prison. It is sad."