Local News Friday 4th November

    Plans have been announced for a new rail service in Somerset that would be managed as a co-operative. Occupational therapy is being expanded across Somerset. More help is being provided to people in the greatest need in Chard. There's been a 50-percent increase in the number of disabled people losing benefits due to long hospital stays in Somerset...and more.

    Plans have been announced for a new rail service in Somerset that would be managed as a co-operative. Go-op is a community-owned train operating company that plans to run services between Taunton and Westbury, including ten trains a day through Castle Cary and Bruton from next year. The company has applied to the rail regulator, who is now considering the idea. 

    Occupational therapy is being expanded across Somerset. It’s now available at local GP surgeries in Somerset as part of efforts to reduce pressure on local hospitals. 

    More help is being provided to people in the greatest need in Chard. The Chard Community Fridge project provides tinned food, cooked meat, fresh vegetables, and other food items, also hygiene products, and shampoos. It operates from the Chard Community Hub with food items donated by local supermarkets.

    There's been a 50-percent increase in the number of disabled people losing benefits due to long hospital stays in Somerset. The Government doesn’t pay benefits to people when they are in receipt of long-term NHS in-patient care. It’s to stop the taxpayer from paying double to recipients but charities claim the ruling penalises the most vulnerable in society. 

    A girl from Broadway near Ilminster has raised £1000 to help provide new playground equipment in the village. Kaitlyn Harrop held a Halloween party last weekend, raising £1034 to help pay for new play equipment at Broadway Village Park.

    More from News

    • Friday 13th March

      The first of the new medium lift helicopters being built by Leonardo in Yeovil for the RAF will be delivered in 2031. Somerset Council has launched a public consultation on planned new charges at its two hundred public car parks. More women in Somerset are said to be taking up walking football... and more

    • Thursday 12th March

      A Yeovil headteacher says he’s concerned about plans to stop giving school holiday food vouchers to families on low incomes. The owner of Yeovil Town is calling on fans to be patient as he continues his overhaul of the National League side. A high voltage fault is being blamed for plunging 1700 homes into darkness in the Ilminster area... and more

    • Wednesday 11th March

      Plans have been submitted to convert two properties in Yeovil into houses of multiple occupation. A new court date has been announced for a Yeovil man charged with attempted murder. An engineer who has worked at the Leonardo factory in Yeovil for 40-years has won a top industry award... and more

    • Tuesday 10th March

      Police say a fire at the former Oscar Mayer food factory in Chard was started deliberately. Yeovil College says it would have been adversely affected had Leonardo not won the contract to build new medium-lift helicopters. A seven-foot dragon will be visiting towns and villages in our area during the next few weeks to promote Somerset Day... and more

    • Monday 9th March 

      Two Wildcat helicopters from 815 Squadron at RNAS Yeovilton have arrived in Cyprus to help protect RAF Akrotiri from further Iranian drone strikes. New figures show that 40 people were killed on Avon and Somerset’s roads in the last 12-months. A Somerset man has been recalling the day 60-years ago when he was a passenger on the last train on the Somerset and Dorset Railway... and more

    • Friday 6th March

      Defence Minister Luke Pollard has been explaining why it took the government so long to confirm a contract for the Leonardo in Yeovil to build new medium lift helicopters for the RAF. Police are investigating a break in at a pet shop in Ilminster. Somerset Council is to stop using red ink on council tax reminder letters... and more

    • Thursday 5th March

      Two military helicopters from RNAS Yeovilton are being sent to Cyprus to help bolster UK’s defences amid the US-Israel war with Iran. Yeovil Town Council is seeking legal advice over the closure of the hyper acute stroke unit at Yeovil Hospital. Flood warnings have been lifted on the Somerset Levels... and more

    • Wednesday 4th March

      A man has died in a fire in Wincanton. Somerset Council is planning further cuts of twenty-one million pounds to help balance its books. A campaign to raise £30,000 for a minibus has been launched in Chard... and more

    Today's Weather

    • Yeovil

      Light rain

      High: 12°C | Low: 5°C

    • Chard

      Sunny intervals

      High: 11°C | Low: 4°C

    • Crewkerne

      Sunny intervals

      High: 11°C | Low: 4°C

    • Somerton

      Light rain shower

      High: 11°C | Low: 5°C

    • Wincanton

      Light rain

      High: 12°C | Low: 4°C

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