A Yeovil travel agent says bookings for holidays abroad have gone back up to pre-pandemic levels. Schools across Somerset are having to limit face-to-face teaching due to Covid-related staff shortages. Hundreds of metres of high-value copper cabling have been stolen near Merriott. Farmers in Somerset say they want to make their farms safe for ramblers but that access can be difficult. Police have found a stolen trailer while offering security advice to a farm owner in Somerton...and more.
A Yeovil travel agent says bookings for holidays abroad have gone back up to pre-pandemic levels. Covid travel restrictions have been eased, meaning that anyone who's fully vaccinated can return to the UK without having to do any tests. Miles Morgan of Miles Morgan Travel in Middle Street, Yeovil, says there’s huge pent up demand amongst the public to holiday abroad.
Schools across Somerset are having to limit face-to-face teaching due to Covid-related staff shortages. Somerset County Council say staff sickness has become a major problem with ten per cent of schools now limiting face-to-face teaching, due to sickness. The Council says Covid cases remain high amongst school children with people in the general population locally being re-infected with Covid.
Hundreds of metres of high-value copper cabling have been stolen near Merriott. The cabling, belonging to a telecommunications company, was taken in the area of Eggwood Hill. It happened at around 1 am in the early hours of Tuesday, February 8th. Anyone with dashcam footage in the area of Merriot on that date and around that time is asked to call the police non-emergency number 101.
Farmers in Somerset say they want to make their farms safe for ramblers but that access can be difficult. It follows an updating of the Countryside Code that requires farmers to make rights of way more accessible, including removing stiles in favour of gates and putting up better signage.
Police have found a stolen trailer while offering security advice to a farm owner in Somerton. They say the trailer had been security marked which made it easy to identify as stolen. Enquiries are ongoing into how it came to be at the farm in Somerton in the first place.
People in Chard without a job are being offered free support to find work. It follows the opening of a new employment and skills hub in Chard library, in Holyrood Street, run by local housing provider, Abri.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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