Somerset remains under a Level 3 heat-health alert today. It’s led to councils having to grit roads to stop tarmac from melting. Somerset County Council says 600 local people applied to the government’s Household Support Fund within the first week of the scheme opening. It’s being claimed that one-in-four children in the South West are living in poverty. Pigeon fanciers in Somerset say the cost of racing birds abroad has increased due to Brexit and more.
Somerset remains under a Level 3 heat-health alert today. It’s led to councils having to grit roads to stop tarmac from melting. Meanwhile, Somerset Waste Partnership is asking for people's patience as the hot weather and staff shortages delay recycling collections. Yesterday’s affected collections were in Yeovil and around Castle Cary. Those collections have been rescheduled for Saturday.
Somerset County Council says 600 local people applied to the government’s Household Support Fund within the first week of the scheme opening. The council’s been given an extra one million pounds by the government to hand out to families unable to cope with the cost of living.
It’s being claimed that one-in-four children in the South West are living in poverty. The charity, Action for Children, says the cost of living, coupled with changes to Universal Credit is causing families great hardship. The Government says it provided additional funds to protect eight million of England’s most vulnerable families.
Pigeon fanciers in Somerset say the cost of racing birds abroad has increased due to Brexit. Under EU rules, each bird now has to have a signed export health certificate before it can take part in cross-channel races. DEFRA says it’s continuing to support the racing pigeon community as changes created by Brexit take effect.
A disused red telephone box in Chard has been given a new lease of life. Eight-year-old Ophelia Lynch, a member of Chard Brownies, came up with the idea of turning the phone booth into a book bank and has been awarded a Speaking Out badge for her efforts. The book bank on the corner of Fore Street and Crowshute Road is now open for taking-out books.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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