A murder investigation was launched, an 86-year-old was planning his first parachute jump and Comet country paid its respects to our long standing news editor in April.

The Comet: Dyes Lane, StevenageDyes Lane, Stevenage (Image: Archant)

? Lambs born this spring at Church Farm Ardeley were given plastic coats to protect them from the chilly weather.

The Comet: Lambs at Church Farm ArdeleyLambs at Church Farm Ardeley (Image: Archant)

According to North Herts met observer Richard Barker It had been the coldest March since his records began.

The Comet: Traffic information signs, including this one in Fairlands Way, Stevenage, are yet to go liveTraffic information signs, including this one in Fairlands Way, Stevenage, are yet to go live (Image: Archant)

? Hitchin resident Ernie Schumann, 86, was fulfilled a life-long dream and raised money for the British Heart Foundation with his first parachute jump.

He said: “When I was in the army, I wanted to join the paratroopers but as I wore glasses I couldn’t. I always wanted to do a parachute jump before, but when my wife was alive she didn’t like the idea, I’m doing this in memory of her.”

? A murder investigation was launched after a 21-year-old man was shot dead. Thomas Ward was fatally wounded at a travellers site in Dyes Lane, Stevenage,

To date no one has been arrested in connection with the murder.

? Tributes poured in for the former news editor of the Comet, John Adams, who had retired earlier in the year but lost his battle with cancer and died aged 65. He had worked for the company for 46 years, starting on The Pictorial and continuing when it changed its name to the Comet.

? Traffic information signs which had been installed in Stevenage two months before were still not in use.

The signs, managed from a County Hall control centre, cost £201,724 to install.