Local News Tuesday 15th August

    Yeovil MP Marcus Fysh has joined the fight to keep open Yeovil leather firm Pittards. Plans to build six new homes at Whitelackington have been turned down. A studio has opened in Ilminster, aimed at helping people to upcycle clothing and create new designs. A new way of offering spiritual guidance to older people is being trialled by the Diocese of Bath and Wells...and more.

    The fight to save Yeovil leather manufacturer Pittards from closure is far from over according to Yeovil MP Marcus Fysh. The company that employs around 230 staff at its factory on Sherborne Road was put into the hands of administrators last week after failing to raise one-point-one million pounds in cash to keep it afloat. Marcus Fysh believes Pittards has a future and says he’s working with the administrators to explore options for keeping the business going.

    Plans to build six new homes at Whitelackington near Ilminster have been turned down. Somerset Council gave highway safety concerns as one reason for rejecting the proposed development off Hanning Close.

    A new studio has opened in Ilminster, aimed at helping people to upcycle clothing and create new designs. Sew What! launched last week after receiving cash from a start-up loan programme. 

    People in Chard are being asked for their views on a proposed new housing development on the town’s northern edge. If it goes ahead, sixty-seven homes would be built between the A358 Furnham Road and Chaffcombe Lane. The consultation is being led by Greenslade Taylor Hunt and can be accessed via their website.

    A new way of offering spiritual guidance to older people is being trialled by the Diocese of Bath and Wells. It's setting up a team of so-called 'Anna Chaplains' specifically to help older people worried about what happens at the end of their lives. 

    The Duke of York pub in Shepton Beauchamp has been put up for sale with a price tag of five-hundred-and-fifty-thousand pounds. It has a main bar, a thirty-seater restaurant, four self-contained ensuite letting rooms and a skittle alley.

    Yeovil Lions and Options have raised ten thousand pounds for the Yeovil Breast Cancer Unit Appeal with a charity event held at Lanes Hotel in West Coker. The donation has taken the total raised for the new unit so far to more than two-point-four million pounds.

    More from News

    • 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.

    Today's Weather

    • Yeovil

      Sunny intervals

      High: 21°C | Low: 9°C

    • Chard

      Light rain shower

      High: 20°C | Low: 9°C

    • Crewkerne

      Light rain shower

      High: 20°C | Low: 9°C

    • Somerton

      Sunny intervals

      High: 22°C | Low: 9°C

    • Wincanton

      Sunny intervals

      High: 21°C | Low: 8°C

    Recently Played