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.

More from News

Monday 16th June

The new owner of Yeovil Town says he’s in talks with Somerset Council about buying back Huish Park. Water levels at some of Somerset’s reservoirs are below what they should be for this time of year. A Chard woman has been recognised in the King's Birthday Honours... and more.
Friday 13th June

Police are appealing for witnesses to a road traffic accident near Chard, which left one person with life-threatening injuries. Texas Rocks in Middle Street, Yeovil, has closed temporarily following a significant fire. A Yeovil dental hygienist has been named as a finalist in the Ms Great Britain competition...and more.
Thursday 12th June

Yeovil MP Adam Dance has criticised the Chancellor’s Spending Review for not delivering real change for Yeovil and South Somerset. The CEO of Leonardo UK states that they’re working towards closing the gender pay gap within the company. Yeovil Town is relocating its first-team training camp to Bristol... and more.
Wednesday 11th June

People in Somerset are being asked for their views on the state of the county’s roads and footpaths. A trial is being conducted at Yeovil Hospital to investigate whether administering shorter courses of antibiotics to patients can effectively treat sepsis. Somerset Council says it has no plans to reopen a block of public toilets in Chard...and more.
Tuesday 10th June

A mother from Chard says schools need to do more to identify students with dyslexia. A fire in a van that caught alight at Stoke-sub-Hamdon is being treated as accidental. A former Yeovil-based police officer, who made it appear he was working when he wasn’t, has been barred from policing...and more
Monday 9th June

Somerset Council is giving £1.5m to Hill View Special School at Ash near Martock to prevent it from closing. Two men have been convicted of killing a Yeovil man they mistakenly believed to be a convicted paedophile. People across Somerset are being asked to make a note of any wildlife they see...and more
Friday 6th June

Community Speedwatch volunteers in Keinton Mandeville have stopped monitoring the local traffic because of online and verbal abuse. Redstart Primary School in Chard has been rated as ‘Good’ by Ofsted. A care home resident in Glastonbury has raised more than one thousand pounds for Children's Hospice Southwest by knitting soft toys...and more.
Thursday 5th June

Yeovil MP Adam Dance says he’s been told the temporary closure of the maternity unit at Yeovil Hospital will not be made permanent. Firefighters have dealt with a fire on a coach carrying passengers at Vagg Hill in Yeovil. The authorities in Chile are holding a man who lives in Milborne Port after being found with class-A drugs in a suitcase...and more.