Local News Friday 11th March

Friday, 11 March 2022 06:00

Avon and Somerset Police would like more publicity given to the changes made to the Highway Code. local man, appearing at Taunton Crown Court, has admitted three offences of criminal damage and one of common assault. Nearly one in twenty school-aged children in Somerset missed 10 percent of school time last term. Crufts Dog Show is on today, and a Flyball Club in Wincanton has qualified for a place at the show...and more.

Avon and Somerset Police would like more publicity given to the changes made to the Highway Code. The rule changes to the Highway Code include pedestrians having a right of way over vehicles when crossing at T-junctions.

A local man, appearing at Taunton Crown Court, has admitted three offences of criminal damage and one of common assault. The court was told that Benjamin Holt of Lower Hyde Road in Montecute near Yeovil, got into a fight, smashed a window and headbutted a fridge at a friend's house on Boxing Day last year. He was given a two-year community order, with 40-days rehabilitation with probation.

Nearly one in twenty school-aged children in Somerset missed 10 percent of school time last term. That's around 13,700 children being classified as being persistently absent. Of them, around 900 missed more than half of school time during the last term.

Crufts Dog Show is on today, and a Flyball Club in Wincanton has qualified for a place at the show. Flyball is a relay event in which dogs fetch balls, with the fastest team winning the competition. The Wild West Flyball Club from Wincanton competes at Crufts in Birmingham today.

A jockey from Somerton is hoping for a successful Cheltenham Festival this year. Nick Scholfield is due to ride Stag Horn in the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham on March 18th. Nick says he’s having his best season for eight years, despite suffering a broken leg in a fall in 2-years ago.

A Chard woman is knitting children’s clothes to help two good causes. Kathleen Heard is knitting children’s garments for giving to Ukraine and to a newborn baby charity in the UK. Kathleen is appealing for donations of wool, of any colour, ready to be knitted.

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Friday 17th May

A new website has been launched to support people in Somerset with mental health issues. One of Yeovil’s oldest pubs has been sold. Artwork on the theme of aviation produced by students at Yeovil College has gone on display at Leonardo Helicopters in Yeovil.A pupil at Tatworth Primary School near Chard has won a prize in a national competition for writing a book review...and more
Thursday 16th May

Work laying a gas main on the A37 Dorchester Road near the Quicksilver Mail roundabout in Yeovil is to continue for a further two months. Somerset Council says the public toilets in Yeovil bus station will close at the end of the month but the waiting room will stay open temporarily. Former Yeovil Town Captain, Josh Staunton, has set up in business as a professional gardener...and more.
Wednesday 15th May

Somerset Council seeking to save £40 million by cutting one thousand jobs says 201 employees have so far applied to leave the authority based on voluntary redundancy. East Somerset Railway near Shepton Mallet has been used for filming the TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper's novel Rivals. An old-style red phone box in Castle Cary is being turned into Somerset's smallest museum...and more
Tuesday 14th May

Somerset's Chief Medical Officer says GP surgeries using healthcare professionals alongside doctors to provide treatments has freed up GP appointments. A farmer has been fined £15,000 for polluting a household water supply. Avon and Somerset’s new Police and Crime Commissioner has officially started work in the role. Chard Post Office is closed today for the handover of the business to new owners...and more.
Monday 13th May

Health inspectors have criticised Somerset's maternity services, including those at Yeovil Hospital. Somerset Council says re-opening Yeovil’s Octagon Theatre in its original form could cost up to £200,000 if a multi-million-pound upgrade of the building falls through. A film made by a Yeovil man on a budget of just five thousand pounds was screened at the prestigious British Independent Film Festival...and more.
Friday 10th May

The Ferne Animal Sanctuary near Chard says it needs an immediate injection of £100,000 to keep going. Yeovil’s Marlie Packer has returned to Yeovil Rugby Club where she began her rugby career 20 years ago. Twenty-five Town criers from across the South will be in Ilminster tomorrow competing in the annual Ilminster Town Criers' Competition...and more.
Thursday 9th May

Train services through Somerset are again being disrupted today due to continued strike action by the train driver’s union ALSEF. A campaign has been launched in Somerset aimed at stopping people overdosing on opioids. A Somerset business is raising a smile with its name.‘Top Of The Clops’, a tack shop near Taunton has won a place in the top ten of the UK’s funniest business names...and more.
Wednesday 8th May

A woman driver has been told she faces a prison term for causing the deaths of two people in a crash on the A303. The AA says there are more potholes than ever on Somerset’s motorway network, leading to an increase in damage to vehicles. The new cancer treatment unit at Yeovil Hospital should be open before the end of the year...and more.