Wednesday 11th October

Wednesday, 11 October 2023 06:00

By Steve Haigh

Yeovil Town Council has voted to give financial support to the £30 million project to upgrade Yeovil’s Octagon Theatre. Yeovil Hospital is running a study to test whether hypnosis could benefit patients. The railway line between Yeovil Junction and Axminster will be closed for five days next month. A Wincanton butcher has been chosen to be a housemate on the new series of the TV reality show Big Brother...and more

Yeovil Town Council has voted to give financial support to the multi-million-pound project to upgrade Yeovil’s Octagon Theatre. At a special meeting of the Town Council held last night at the Westland entertainment venue attended by around 300 members of the public, twelve councillors voted in favour and two against the Council giving money to the £30 million project that has run into difficulties due to increased building costs and higher interest rates. Leader of the Town Council, Graham Oakes, says the Council will work in partnership with Somerset Council to find ways to fund the scheme and will be asking parish and town councils to contribute to the Octagon upgrade. Meanwhile, Yeovil MP Marcus Fysh, who attended last night’s meeting, is offering to work with the Town Council and Somerset Council to help build a new theatre for Yeovil but says not on the current Octagon site. He wants a new theatre built on the former cattle market site off Reckleford and will work with the government to take the idea forward.

Yeovil Hospital is running a study to test whether hypnosis could benefit patients. Somerset NHS Foundation Trust is looking to recruit patients who’ve undergone surgery to take part in the trial to check if it helps with their pain and overall recovery.

Local councillor, Oliver Patrick, has lodged a formal objection to permanently closing Chinnock Hollow which links East Chinnock and Odcombe. Somerset Council says it couldn’t justify spending £2.7 million to reopen the road that was shut in 2021 following a landslide. The Council has applied for an order to keep the road permanently closed. Councillor Patrick believes it could be safely reopened with reduced width, temporary traffic lights and concrete barriers to protect road users.

The railway line between Yeovil Junction and Axminster will be closed for five days next month. From Monday, November 6th to Friday, November 10th, a replacement bus service will operate between the two stations. A second 16-day closure between Yeovil Junction and Salisbury will take place from Saturday, November 26th to Sunday, December 10th. Network Rail says the closures are needed for engineering work to take place.

A Wincanton butcher is aiming to win big on the new series of Big Brother that has re-launched on ITV. Tom, who’s 21, and works at Andrew Barclay Butchers in Wincanton is one of the housemates on the reality TV show, hoping to take home the £100,000 top prize.

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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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