January

 

There was early excitement in the year for sci-fi fans after it was revealed Dr Who was being filmed at Wimbledon Studios.

The BBC chose the Jubilee Way venue to record its 50th anniversary one-off show.

 

Wimbledon Times:

Home grown tennis star Ross Hutchins announced he had been diagnosed cancer.

The doubles specialist who had represented Great Britain in the Davis Cup has Hodgkin’s Lymphoma It was announced in the summer that cancer had gone into remission.

 

There was shock for six voluntary groups dedicated to supporting the elderly in the borough after they were told they would lose their council funding.

In a reshuffle of how the council handed out grants, The Wimbledon Guild were the winners receiving almost double their previous allocation of funds.

 

February

 

Multi-billion pound plans to build Crossrail 2, a new overground and underground train route linking south west London and north east London are unveiled.

The plans include making Wimbledon Station a hub providing huge investment opportunities.
Construction of the route would be unlikely to being until after 2018.

 

Wimbledon Times:

Glamour model and gossip magnet Katie Price’s not-too-inconspicuous car is spotted in Wimbledon Village sparking rumours the keen horse-rider could be set to move into the neigh-bourhood.

 

There was excitement in Mitcham when BBC film crew mysteriously appeared for a succession of weekends.
It was later revealed the cameras were in Merton to shoot the new Alan Partridge Film staring Steve Coogan. Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa was released this summer.

 

 

March

 

Business magnate Paschal Taggart announced he wanted to transform Wimbledon Greyhound track in the Royal Ascot of dog racing.

The Irishman said his company would invest £60m if given planning permission to take over the site.

The move ramped up pressure on AFC Wimbledon who also have plans to take over the site.

 

Wimbledon Times:

Pog the donkey became a star of the stage as he was signed up to appear in the opera Carmen at New Wimbledon Theatre.

The five-year-old grey brown donkey from Tring, Hertfordshire, appeared in Ellen Kent’s production of the classic.

 

 

A teenager became an overnight millionaire after selling his mobile phone app to internet giant Yahoo for a reporter £20m.

Kings pupil 17-year-old Nick D’Aloisio, from Wimbledon, created Summly, an app that summarises news stories from popular media outlets. He was also offered a position at Yahoo.