The UK Health Security Agency is investigating two confirmed cases of the Omicron Covid variant linked to a private party held in Somerset. A survey’s been launched asking people in South Somerset if they would pay more for local policing. Children and young people in South Somerset, who are eligible for free school meals, are being offered free sports sessions during the Christmas break. South Somerset District Council has opened three new employment and skills hubs to help local people find jobs and receive training...and more.
The UK Health Security Agency is investigating two confirmed cases of the Omicron Covid variant linked to a private party held in Somerset. It says there are further suspected cases under investigation linked to the same event. The agency says wherever Omicron is identified or suspected, they will follow up with contacts to emphasise the importance of self-isolation and testing.
A survey’s been launched asking people in South Somerset if they would pay more for local policing. Avon and Somerset’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Mark Shelford says if households paid an extra £10 a year in council tax, it would mean savings in running the force would be less likely. Home Office grant funding to the Avon and Somerset Police will increase over the next financial year but the Crime Commissioner says it won’t be enough to manage inflationary pressures, like pay rises. You can take part in the online survey via the Avon and Somerset Police website, until the 21st of January.
Children and young people in South Somerset, who are eligible for free school meals, are being offered free sports sessions during the Christmas break. It's part of the Marcus Rashford school meals initiative and is being run by Somerset Activity and Sports Partnership in conjunction with the County Council.
South Somerset District Council has opened three new employment and skills hubs to help local people find jobs and receive training. The opportunities hubs at Chard Library, the Balsam Centre in Wincanton, and at Yeovil Library, are being run in partnership with the social housing provider Abri.
Production of the sparkling pear drink Babycham is about to return to Somerset. Brothers Drinks have re-acquired the Babycham brand and will re-launch it next year with production based at their Shepton Mallet factory. To celebrate the re-launch, the famous yellow Babycham Bambi, which has stood outside in Shepton Mallet for sixty years, has been re-painted and moved to a more prominent location at Kilver Court on the A37.
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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