Yeovil Hospital is spearheading an initiative to stop anesthetic gases from polluting the atmosphere. Somerset Community Foundation has raised half-a-million pounds to help charities support individuals and communities affected by the cost-of-living crisis. There’s been a big rise in the number of older people living alone in Somerset. People with mental health issues are helping with a project in Merriot to restore an old boat...and more.
Yeovil Hospital is spearheading an initiative to stop anesthetic gases from polluting the atmosphere. Pipes that pump the gases around the hospital have been turned-off and newer, safer, greener alternative gas types are being used.
Somerset Community Foundation has raised half-a-million pounds to help charities support individuals and communities affected by the cost-of-living crisis. SCF has raised the money in just four months and is giving out amounts of between £1,000 and £10,000 to help people and communities in the greatest need.
There’s been a big rise in the number of older people living alone in Somerset. Data from the 2021 Census shows 38,800 people aged 66 and over are living alone in the County, compared to 33,500 in 2011. Somerset West and Taunton has the highest proportion of elderly people living alone, with 11,499 elderly single-person households recorded.
People with mental health issues are helping with a project in Merriot to restore an old boat. They're taking part in a 12-week course at Ark at Egwood near Merriot to turn the boat into a space for therapy and relaxation.
A top award has been given to the Visitor Information Centre at Cartgate services area on the A303 just outside Yeovil. At the Bath and Somerset Tourism Awards, the Cartgate information centre was presented with the ‘Visitor Information Service of the Year Award’. In the Restaurant of the Year category, the Clockspire in Milborne Port won Silver, and in the Pub and Casual Dining section, the Queen’s Arms at Corton Denham won Bronze.
A road in West Crewkerne is partially closed for re-surfacing today. The work in Hewish Lane is due to be completed by 5 pm.
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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