Local News Wednesday 18th January

Wednesday, 18 January 2023 at 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.

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