Friday 19th April

Friday, 19 April 2024 at 06:00

By Steve Haigh

Work starts today building a new eastbound carriageway as part of dualling the A303 between Sparkford and Podimore. A childhood obesity clinic in Somerset has revealed that it is treating children as young as eight months old. Somerset Wildlife Trust has launched a campaign to recruit an army of young people to act as conservation champions...and more.

Work starts today building a new eastbound carriageway as part of dualling the A303 between Sparkford and Podimore. National Highways says a section of the A303 will be shut with the newly built westbound carriageway used for traffic to create a safe working area to build the new eastbound carriageway between Steart Hill and Gason Lane. The work is due to be completed by 6 am on Monday.

A childhood obesity clinic in Somerset has revealed that it is treating children as young as eight months old. The Splash clinic is the only one of its kind in the country, providing families with a dietician and paediatric support.

Somerset Council says it hopes to continue a project supporting vulnerable homeless people in the county, despite its financial pressures. Step Together has helped nearly 600 people in the county in the last five years. Earlier this year, it was told its funding was at risk as Somerset Council struggled to balance its budget. It's now been given a one-year reprieve but says its clients need a more secure commitment.

Somerset Wildlife Trust is appealing for donations to raise £40,000 to support its Wilder Youth initiative, aimed at enabling young people to become conservation champions. Surveys have shown that many young people lose their connection to nature after the age of 10 and it can take up to 20 years for the connection to be re-established. Somerset Wildlife Trust believes the Wilder Youth initiative is a way of reconnecting young people with nature.

In cricket, the ECB has announced Somerset will be among the eight Tier 1 counties that will host sides at the top of the women’s domestic game from 2025, with two more guaranteed to be added by 2027. The governing body intends to grow that number to 12 by 2029, to have an 80% increase in female players by then.

Somerset Art Weeks Festival will return this year with a new theme. The festival which has been run every year since 1994 is inviting artists to contribute to the theme of Landscape: Flux and Flow. Organisers say it’s aimed at drawing attention to the changing local landscape and intimacy with the natural environment.

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