Wednesday 17th January

Wednesday, 17 January 2024 06:00

By Steve Haigh

A Homeless Rough Sleeper Team working out of Yeovil Hospital has stepped up the help it provides during the cold spell. People in South Petherton are being told to stay away from a Rottweiler/Mastiff-type dog that’s gone on the loose. Rail users in Somerset are advised to plan before train drivers stage further strike action at the end of the month...and more.

A Homeless Rough Sleeper Team that works out of Yeovil Hospital has stepped up the help it provides to rough sleepers during the current cold spell. The team offers medical care and dietary advice to people without a place to live and who are not registered with a doctor.

People in South Petherton are being told to stay away from a Rottweiler/Mastiff-type dog that’s gone on the loose. Police say the dog has already been involved in an incident with a member of the public in the Mere Lynches area and could be dangerous if confronted. They ask anyone who spots the dog to call 101.

A motorist from Ilminster, caught driving at almost double the speed limit, has been fined £540 and with costs of £296. Scott Murray, of Canal Way, was clocked driving at 76 mph on a 40 mph stretch of the B3168 at Westport in Langport. Murray, who pleaded guilty to the offence at Taunton Magistrates Court also had six penalty points put on his licence.

Work repairing an embankment at the side of the A30 on the Somerset Devon border has been further delayed. Work was due to start last September but was pushed back to January. Now, its been postponed again, this time to mid-February. Motorists have complained of long delays due to temporary traffic lights installed close to Crawley Farm between Chard and Yarcombe where the embankment collapsed in July 2021.

Rail users in Somerset are advised to plan before train drivers stage further strike action at the end of the month. The driver’s union, ASLEF, has announced that its members will stop work between Tuesday 30th January and Monday 5th February. Drivers will also operate an overtime ban from 29th January and 6th February.

A community hub in Chard is holding an open day to demonstrate the good work that it does. The Chard Community Hub in Boden Street, which launched in May 2022, provides tinned food, cooked meat, fresh vegetables, and other food items, to those in greatest need. The open day takes place on Friday, 26th January.

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Friday 17th May

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

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.