Local News Wednesday 17th March

Wednesday, 17 March 2021 07:30

Leonardo in Yeovil has delivered a tenth search and rescue helicopter to the Norwegian Air Force. A fire has damaged property in Kingsbury Episcopi. Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance is using a new thermal blanket to help save lives. Graduates are being offered hands-on training to become the next generation of social workers....and more.

Leonardo in Yeovil has delivered a tenth search and rescue helicopter to the Norwegian Air Force. It’s the latest aircraft to be handed over as part of an order for 16 all-weather search and rescue helicopters for Norway that are being assembled at the Lysander Road factory.

A fire has damaged a property in Kingsbury Episcopi. It happened in the early hours of yesterday (Tuesday) in Folly Road. The damage was caused to the kitchen and smoke damage to the rest of the property. No one was hurt.

People who are not registered to vote are being reminded by South Somerset District Council to do so if they want to vote in the May elections. Voting is taking place on Thursday, May 6th for parish council seats in Chard, Crewkerne, Haselbury Plucknett, Kingsbury Episcopi, Somerton, South Petherton and Wincanton, together with voting for a new Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner. Residents in Queen Camel and Martock also have a chance to vote on neighborhood plans affecting their areas.

Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance is using a new thermal blanket to help save lives. The 'Blizzard' blanket helps prevent patients from getting hyperthermia on the way to hospital. It's the first air ambulance service in the country to use this.

Graduates are being offered hands-on training to become the next generation of social workers. Somerset County Council is looking to recruit 58 workers to join the 14-month Step Up to Social Work Programme.

Thirty-five years on … and Leonardo in Yeovil has announced plans to officially mark setting a new World Helicopter Speed Record. Subject to planning permission, a replica of G-Lynx, the aircraft flown over the Somerset levels at 249 mph in 1986, a record never beaten, will be put on permanent display at the western end of the Yeovil airfield to act as a gate guard to the Leonardo site.

Radio Ninesprings Local News is compiled and edited by our Station Manager Steve Haigh

Contact Steve HERE

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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

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