The most read Stroud News & Journal stories of 2019

January: Mum and kids 'lucky to be alive' after car rolls on icy road

At the start of 2019 our most read story with 5,334 views was on a family car crash in Nailsworth. Danielle Wager said her and her three kids were lucky to be alive after her car hit an icy patch of road at a notorious accident black spot.

Her car subsequently collided with a wall but Danielle and her family were only taken to hospital as a precaution.

February: Teenage girls arrested after town assault

February's most read article with 4,603 views was the story of a 16-year-old girl from Gloucester and a 17-year-old girl from Stroud who were arrested outside Barclays on Kings Street in the town centre after an assault.

A victim suffered facial injuries as a result of the attack and had their mobile phone and bank cards stolen during the incident.

March: School Strike: As it happened

The SNJ's most read story in March with 18,997 views was our live blog covering the Stroud school strikes.

Students in Stroud joined pupils across the UK who marched out of lessons to protest against climate change.

Ecotricity founder and Forest Green Rovers Chairman Dale Vince also backed the strikes.

April: 'We must build on her legacy' - MP's tribute to Polly Higgins

With 9,042 views, our most viewed story in April was on the very sad death of the award winning author, barrister and international ecocide law advocate Polly Higgins.

Polly sadly passed away on April 21 after a short battle with cancer.

Polly had been campaigning to make ecocide an international crime and had launched a push for businesses to be made liable for any harm they do to the environment, she also presented her ideas to the United Nations Law Commission.

Mr Drew paid tribute to Polly, saying: "Her work to try to protect our planet and its ecosystems through legal protection was visionary, inspiring and brave.

"I have no doubt that Stroud people will continue to build on her legacy and she will remain an inspiration to us all."

May: Woman, 32, arrested at McDonald's in Stroud

With 11,271, May's most read story was about a 32-year-old woman from Stonehouse who was arrested on suspicion of theft at the Merrywalks fast food outlet.

Four police cars attended the incident, and police confirmed that the theft didn't take place within McDonald's.

June: Stroud takeaway given zero food hygiene rating, while 20 businesses get just a 1

With 20,678 views, our most read story in June was on a Chinese takeaway getting the worst hygiene rating possible.

Hot Wok in Westward Road was given a zero rating –¬ which means ‘urgent improvement necessary’ after an inspection back in February.

While 20 other food businesses in the district were given a one out of five rating in the ‘scores on the doors’ scheme, in reports by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) website.

July: Traffic allowed back into Stroud Tesco after woman injured

More than 12,000 people read our story about a crash involving two vehicles in Tesco car park.

Shoppers at the scene said a car driver suffered a heart attack and collided with another vehicle which injured a woman.

The driver sadly passed following the incident.

Traffic was not allowed into the car park for a time and was diverted away at the roundabout by the petrol station.

August: Egypt Mill thanks firefighters after bank holiday blaze

With 16,766 views, our most viewed story in August was about the Egypt Mill hotel thanking the firefighters who acted quickly after a fire broke out at the building.

Firefighters tackled the blaze at the Mill in Nailsworth which is believed to have started in a shelter outside, where the venue has ovens and fires to cook food.

Nobody was injured in the fire. In a post on their Facebook page, Egypt Mill wrote "We would like to express our thanks to the Fire Service for their assistance and for the patience of Nailsworth residents due to the closure of the road."

September: Community thanks air ambulance 'heroes' after Wallbridge incident

Our most read story in September with 14,948 views, featured our readers, who praised the Great Western Air Ambulance after they dealt with a serious medical incident at Wallbridge.

The story featured comments from the Cotswold Canals Trust and our SNJ readers who praised the swift work by the air ambulance team.

October: Extinction Rebellion complains after Piers Morgan grills Stroud campaigner

October's most read story, with 16,754 views, was on Extinction Rebellion's complaints to ITV following Piers Morgan's grilling of Stroud District councillor Skeena Rathor.

Ms Rathor, who represents Stroud Central ward, appeared on Good Morning Britain to speak about the controversial protests being carried out by the group in London.

Despite agreeing that not enough was being done about climate change, Morgan demanded to know if Ms Rathor had a TV.

He repeated the question numerous times, becoming increasingly frustrated when she didn't answer.

November: Stroud's cat cafe has closed

With 22,429 views, the closure of Stroud's cat cafe was our most viewed story of November.

El Gato's Cat Cafe closed after facing "severe and unprecedented challenges and obstacles" with the shop they had been renting.

December: Tributes pour in to Stroud barber Jamie Vizor

Our most read story last month, with 23,097, was on the extremely sad death of Stroud barber Jamie Vizor.

Jamie was named locally as the victim who died in an accident in Dorset.

Jamie worked at Dann Barber, which has branches in Stroud and Cirencester before moving to Sysums Barbers in Stroud, and was very well known and extremely popular.

Tributes came in from all over Facebook as well as from Painswick RFC, who Jamie played for.