Local News Wednesday 18th January

Wednesday, 18 January 2023 06:00

Teachers in Somerset are set to strike for four days in February and March. One in four of the population of South Somerset has the highest level of qualifications, according to new figures. A Chard motorist has been fined for drinking and driving. A major balloon festival is coming to Yeovil. £12,000 has been raised for St Margaret’s Hospice from collecting Christmas trees and the smell of freshly made coffee may be to many people’s liking but not it seems if you live in Wincanton.

Teachers in Somerset are set to strike for four days in February and March. It's after members of the largest teaching union, the National Education Union, voted in favour of industrial action in a dispute over pay and conditions.

One in four of the population of South Somerset has the highest level of qualifications, according to new figures. The data from the Office for National Statistics show that 29.6 percent of people in South Somerset had a level 4 or higher qualification, such as a degree, postgraduate qualification, higher national certificate or diploma.

A Chard motorist has been fined for drinking and driving. Ray Singleton of Linkhay Orchard in Tatworth pleaded guilty to the offence and was also banned from driving for sixteen months when he appeared at Yeovil magistrates court.

A major balloon festival is coming to Yeovil. It’ll take place at Yeovil Showground from Friday, May 5th to Sunday, May 7th. The three-day event will see ‘special shaped balloons’ take to the skies over the town with balloon pilots performing a ‘night glow’ as darkness falls.

£12,000 has been raised for St Margaret’s Hospice from collecting Christmas trees. Volunteers worked over the weekend of the 14th and 15th of January taking away Christmas trees from homes across Somerset. Apart from raising funds for St Margaret’s the trees were put to good use by being turned into mulch for local farmers.

The smell of freshly made coffee may be to many people’s liking but not it seems if you live in Wincanton. Local people there are objecting to an application by Coffee Sense for retrospective planning permission to use their factory to roast coffee beans. Objectors claim that fumes from the factory on the Bennetts Field Industrial Estate pollute the town and say if the business succeeds with its application, it should be made to install a taller chimney to ensure the aromas from the manufacturing process are carried well out of Wincanton.

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.