Local News Wednesday 14th September

    A Yeovil man has been jailed for seven years for sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl. A Somerset couple has returned from visiting London where they laid seventy bouquets of flowers outside the gates of Buckingham Palace. South Western Railway has welcomed the decision by trade unions to suspend strike action this weekend. Traffic was disrupted for a time near Wincanton yesterday when a car caught fire. Manor Court Community Primary School in Chard has been presented with an Artsmark Gold Award...and more.

    A Yeovil man has been jailed for seven years for sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl. Taunton Crown Court was told that Paul Morgan (pictured) had carried out 'an extensive campaign' of grooming and manipulation on the girl. Morgan, who pleaded guilty to all charges against him, was also made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for life.

    A Somerset couple has returned from visiting London where they laid seventy bouquets of flowers outside the gates of Buckingham Palace. Russell and his partner Gemma say the seventy floral tributes were to mark each of the seventy years of the Queen’s reign.

    South Western Railway, which runs trains through Yeovil Junction station, has welcomed the decision by trade unions to suspend strike action following the death of Queen Elizabeth. The action was due to take place this week on Thursday and Saturday. SWR says it will be reinstating normal service for the days which would have been affected by the strikes. 

    Traffic was disrupted for a time near Wincanton yesterday when a car caught fire. It happened just after 9 am at the Holbrook roundabout. A section of the road was closed to motorists while firefighters extinguished the blaze.

    Manor Court Community Primary School in Chard has been presented with an Artsmark Gold Award. The award is in recognition of the school has put creativity at the heart of the curriculum. It has provided pupils with a variety of creative experiences, including putting on art exhibitions and variety shows and participating in community projects such as Culturally Chard and Chard Carnival.

    A Martock business is waiting to see if it will be granted new Royal Warrants following the death of the Queen. Warrants are awarded to companies to show they provide goods or services to the Royal Family with SFM Technology in Martock having supplied fruit harvesting and spraying machinery to Her Majesty. However, warrants automatically expire on the death of the royal who granted them, and firms have two years in which to remove the Royal coat of arms from their products, vehicles, and stationery or hope the new Monarch, King Charles The Third, will re-issue the warrant.  At the request of SFM Technologies, we confirm that the information contained in this story was not provided by the company, and the company was not approached for a comment.

    More from News

    • Monday 16th June

      The new owner of Yeovil Town says he’s in talks with Somerset Council about buying back Huish Park. Water levels at some of Somerset’s reservoirs are below what they should be for this time of year. A Chard woman has been recognised in the King's Birthday Honours... and more.

    • Friday 13th June

      Police are appealing for witnesses to a road traffic accident near Chard, which left one person with life-threatening injuries. Texas Rocks in Middle Street, Yeovil, has closed temporarily following a significant fire. A Yeovil dental hygienist has been named as a finalist in the Ms Great Britain competition...and more.

    • Thursday 12th June

      Yeovil MP Adam Dance has criticised the Chancellor’s Spending Review for not delivering real change for Yeovil and South Somerset. The CEO of Leonardo UK states that they’re working towards closing the gender pay gap within the company. Yeovil Town is relocating its first-team training camp to Bristol... and more.

    • Wednesday 11th June

      People in Somerset are being asked for their views on the state of the county’s roads and footpaths. A trial is being conducted at Yeovil Hospital to investigate whether administering shorter courses of antibiotics to patients can effectively treat sepsis. Somerset Council says it has no plans to reopen a block of public toilets in Chard...and more.

    • Tuesday 10th June

      A mother from Chard says schools need to do more to identify students with dyslexia. A fire in a van that caught alight at Stoke-sub-Hamdon is being treated as accidental. A former Yeovil-based police officer, who made it appear he was working when he wasn’t, has been barred from policing...and more

    • Monday 9th June

      Somerset Council is giving £1.5m to Hill View Special School at Ash near Martock to prevent it from closing. Two men have been convicted of killing a Yeovil man they mistakenly believed to be a convicted paedophile. People across Somerset are being asked to make a note of any wildlife they see...and more

    • Friday 6th June 

      Community Speedwatch volunteers in Keinton Mandeville have stopped monitoring the local traffic because of online and verbal abuse. Redstart Primary School in Chard has been rated as ‘Good’ by Ofsted. A care home resident in Glastonbury has raised more than one thousand pounds for Children's Hospice Southwest by knitting soft toys...and more.

    • Thursday 5th June

      Yeovil MP Adam Dance says he’s been told the temporary closure of the maternity unit at Yeovil Hospital will not be made permanent. Firefighters have dealt with a fire on a coach carrying passengers at Vagg Hill in Yeovil. The authorities in Chile are holding a man who lives in Milborne Port after being found with class-A drugs in a suitcase...and more.

    Today's Weather

    • Yeovil

      Sunny intervals

      High: 22°C | Low: 10°C

    • Chard

      Sunny intervals

      High: 20°C | Low: 10°C

    • Crewkerne

      Sunny intervals

      High: 20°C | Low: 10°C

    • Somerton

      Sunny intervals

      High: 22°C | Low: 11°C

    • Wincanton

      Sunny intervals

      High: 23°C | Low: 10°C