Local News 26th July

Wednesday, 26 July 2023 06:00

By Steve Haigh

Police are investigating the attempted kidnap of a woman in Yeovil. Somerset Council has signed a letter to the Prime Minister asking for e-scooters to be legalised. Court Barton in Ilminster is closed again to traffic today and won’t reopen until Friday. An Ilminster woman has launched a campaign to get more giant sunflowers grown in Somerset...and more.

Police are investigating the attempted kidnap of a woman in Yeovil. It happened as she was being followed by a silver Skoda SUV along Preston Road at around 9.50 pm on Sunday, July 9. Police say the car pulled up alongside the woman and a man grabbed her arm and tried to pull her into the car. The offender has been described as white, with dark features, in his mid to late 30s and was wearing a black hat. Police would like to speak to a man and woman who were walking a dog in Preston Park off Preston Road at around the time of the incident. If you can help, you’re asked to please call the non-emergency number 101.

Somerset Council has signed a letter to the Prime Minister asking for e-scooters to be legalised. More than fifty organisations including environmental charities and campaigners claim the UK is the only developed nation not to have permanently legalised e-scooters or committed to do so.

Court Barton in Ilminster is closed again to traffic today and won’t reopen until Friday. It’s to allow for Wessex Water to carry out repairs.

An Ilminster woman wants to see more sunflowers grown in Somerset. Marjorie Edwards started growing the giant blooms in 2021 during Covid to get people out into their gardens. She's launched a grow a sunflower as tall as a house’ initiative in the hope that gardeners will grow more sunflowers.

Local man Michael Peach is the latest to qualify as an on-call firefighter with the Devon and Somerset Rescue Service. On-call firefighters do the same emergency work as full-time firefighters but can also have other jobs. They carry a pager, which activates when they are needed to attend incidents.

Jason Inchley of Chard has won best in class at the Riding for the Disabled National Championships. Scoring seventy-seven points riding his thirteen-year-old mare, Rubin Ryella, Jason won the Open Grade Two section outright.

Yeovil Town beat League Two side Newport County 2-0 in a pre-season friendly at Huish Park last night. Yeovil's goal scorers were Morgan Williams on twenty-one minutes and Jake Hyde in the seventy-third minute.

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There’s been a call for the Somerset Levels to be designated a National Landscape. A Yeovil man has raised £2,000 for a new school minibus at Fairmead School in Yeovil by running the London Marathon. Exmoor Ales, which provides cask ales across the region and beyond, is closing its Somerset brewery and moving the business to Surrey...and more.
Wednesday 30th April

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Tuesday 29th April

New figures have shown that registering as a new patient with an NHS dentist in Somerset is still just as difficult as it was six months ago. The go-ahead has been given to build 160 new houses on Station Road in Castle Cary. A sailor from South Petherton has been chosen to lead a team in the round-the-world Clipper Race...and more.
Monday 28th April

Somerset Council is being criticised for taking too long to re-open Yeovil's Octagon Theatre. The Liberal Democrats have won a seat on Chard Town Council by one vote. Dates have been announced for this year’s illuminated carnival processions in South Somerset...and more.
Friday 25th April

Police are investigating the theft of a motorbike in Ilminster. Tributes have been paid to the former Yeovil Town player-manager, Cecil Irwin, who has died aged 83. Town criers from across the South West will be in Yeovil tomorrow competing for the loudest voice in the Yeovil Town Crier Competition 2025...and more
Thursday 24th April

Police are appealing for witnesses to an accident in which a child was struck by a car in Yeovil. This week, a planning inquiry is being held into plans to turn a Somerset shopping centre into a retirement complex. A Somerset woman is planning to walk the 70-miles of Hadrian's Wall to mark her 90th birthday...and more.
Wednesday 23rd April

Tourism bosses in Somerset say they feel confident the County will have a good summer for visitors this year. A group representing care providers in Somerset is warning that some residential homes are at risk of going out of business due to rising costs. A Somerset animal charity has taken into care, three orphaned badger cubs...and more.
Tuesday 22nd April

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