British schoolboy sails across Atlantic and into history
A 14-year-old British schoolboy steered his way into the record books when he became the youngest person to single-handedly sail the Atlantic. Michael Perham, who took time off from his GCSE studies for the adventure, arrived in Nelson's Dockyard aboard his 28-foot yacht, Cheeky Monkey, in Antigua shortly after 10am local time (2pm GMT) 3rd January 2007 and was met by a flotilla of sailing boats and the sound of a steel band.

Heavy rain causes local floods
Fire fighters battled flood waters when rivers and streams in the Chippenham and Malmesbury area burst their banks. (9th January 2007) Chippenham firefighters were called to the flood at 4.30am but the current was so strong that they were unable to stem the water. Homeowners weren't the only victims of the heavy rain. Fire crews scaled the roof of Chippenham Ambulance Station on Malmesbury Road as damaged lead tiling gave way to rain causing electrical problems.

Severe Winds Cause disruption
As 77mph winds gusted across the village at midday (18th January 2007) trees were uprooted and many large branches were broken off trees. At Goatacre Lane junction in Lyneham a large tree was knocked down by the excessive winds and blocked the A3102 Lyneham to Calne road for several hours. Chippenham railway station was closed after part of its roof was blown off by gale force winds. More than 100 trees were blown down across Wiltshire by the high winds. Due to the severe weather First Great Western put a 50mph limit on all their services.

Fight to stem cargo ship oil leak
London-based MSC Napoli was stranded about 50 miles off the Lizard, Cornwall on Thursday 18 January 2007. A French tug towed the ship to shelter in Lyme Bay waiting for strong winds to ease before being taken to Portland Harbour in Dorset. After that, rescuers hoped to inspect the damage to the ship's hull and remove its 2,394 containers. Three containers carrying harmful chemicals such as battery acid and perfume fell from the heavily listing MSC Napoli during stormy weather.

Up to 200 tonnes of oil in the ruptured fuel tank has leaked, sparking pollution fears for nearby beaches. The freighter had been en route to Sines in Portugal when cracks appeared in the engine room. The 26 crew members of the 62,000-tonne vessel were rescued by two helicopters from RNAS Culdrose in ferocious weather conditions. An anti-pollution operation was initiated after it began leaking oil and lost some 200 containers overboard.