Local papers throughout the area reported that shops were booming in the build up to Christmas. Some area shopping centre managers thought people were putting off trips to central London and shopping locally instead.
There was a Christmas welcome for Maidenhead oarsman Domic Marsh who, said the Maidenhead Advertiser, spent 63 days rowing across the Atlantic with a friend on a basic diet of four Mars Bars a day.
Meanwhile local residents living near the National Sports Centre at Bisham Abbey are not feeling so sporty, reported the Marlow Free Press. They are complaining that new floodlights planned for artificial sports pitches will prove to bright. The national hockey team say that without them they cannot prepare properly for the Commonwealth Games.
More seriously, a potential train crash was only avoided after passer-by Jim Wallis noticed girders had been placed on the Maidenhead to Cookham line. He raised the alarm only minutes before a passenger train to due to arrive at the spot.
There was also concern that drink-drive figures over the Christmas period were up 30 per cent on last year.
Bertram Grey, who spent 60 years making models at Beaconsfield's famous Bekonscot model village, died at the age of 80. He was still making the models just three weeks before his death.
Late September
The aftermath of the devastating terrorist attacks in the United States dominated the local newspapers. It was learned that former Chesham schoolboy was among the victims. Special joint faith services were held throughout the region and books of condolence opened in town and village halls. The commander of the USAF base in Wycombe's Daws Hill thanked the people of the area for their support.
Elsewhere the Bucks Free Press reported that road safety officials were proposing that weight sensitive pads should be placed in Amersham Hill, Wycombe, so that when vehicles over a certain weight passed over them special warning signs would alert them to change gear. The move was seen as an attempt to stop a repeat of the runaway lorry smash which killed two women in the summer.
In sport former England hockey captain Karen Brown as joined Marlow's Sir William Borlase School, and world triathlete champion Christina Radon, who lives in Hazlemere, won the world duathlon title.
Early September 01
The reaction to the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington dominated the local papers with special services, books of condolences and words of tribute in towns and villages throughout the Wycombe area.
Pressure on local hospitals is still intense, with reports of an 80 year old woman having to spend 45 hours on a hospital trolley after a stroke because there was no bed for her at Wycombe Hospital. At Stoke Mandeville Hospital the accident and emergency department was closed when 19 patients were being kept on trolleys
The Bucks Advertiser reports that a mill at Denham that has been producing flour for 900 years is closing with the loss of 60 jobs.
And stars turned out in force at the funeral of David Walker, from Gerrards Cross, who managed famous sixties and seventies groups Status Quo, Moody Blues, Bay City Rollers and Sweet. He died of a heart attack at the age of 57.
Ash from incinerated carcasses of foot and mouth affected animals is causing a furore, the local papers report. Two train loads of ash a week are arriving in Bucks to be buried, and the county council's deputy leader Bill Chapple is worried of potential health risks since the Government stopped farm disinfection programmes.
The papers also report local concern over a plan to build a block of flats that, if allowed, would overlook the popular Beconscot model village in Beaconsfield. Residents say it would ruin the charm and tranquillity of the 70 year old attraction.
Meanwhile 150 customers of local plumber David Mote have set up an action group after he sued a customer who refused to pay one of his bills, but then lost the case by failing to show up and had costs awarded against him. Now action group members want refunds for alleged unsatisfactory work - one customer told the papers she received a £2,500 bill for the repair of a leak.
The Advertiser says Chalfont St Giles was transformed into a Cornish village for film shots of a new TV series Down to Earth, starring Warren Clarke and Pauline Quirkle, both of whom live nearby.
There have been celebrations in Bledlow Ridge because the village's only pub, The Boot, has reopened after three years. Residents fought to save the pub when brewers Greene King tried to sell it to housing developers but the council refused permission, saying it was a community facility. In the end estate agent Stuart Newman bought The Boot and has refurbished and reopened it as a going concern.
Meanwhile the property pages report that Springfields in Great Kingshill - the former home of Air Chief Marshall Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris - is on the market at an asking price of £1.75million.
