Wednesday 28th May

Wednesday, 28 May 2025 06:00

By Steve Haigh

Somerset Council is to spend £3m on employment consultants as it seeks to bring its four thousand staff onto the same terms and conditions. Film and TV production companies spent an estimated £4m making films in Somerset last year. The Wurzels have released a new single written by artificial intelligence in the hope it will take them to the top of the charts...and more

Somerset Council is to spend £3m on employment consultants as it seeks to bring its four thousand staff onto the same terms and conditions. The council was formed in 2023 after it merged five local authorities, inheriting several different sets of terms and conditions for staff.

Film and TV production companies spent an estimated £4m in Somerset last year. The figure comes in the week The Salt Path, filmed in Somerset, is released. Somerset Council says that, in addition to production companies spending money locally, tourism also benefits from places and landscapes in Somerset being showcased on the Big Screen.

Chard-based professional boxer Paul Roberts is to challenge for the British flyweight and Commonwealth flyweight titles. He's scheduled to fight Harvey Horn for the titles and the coveted Lonsdale belt at the Skate Central Arena in Sheffield on June 14th.

A man from Forton, near Chard, is taking part in a 200km challenge to raise money for Brain Tumour Research. Jonathan Ingram, who is living with a brain tumour, says by the end of May, he will have walked, run, and cycled to reach the 200km target.

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has developed a new online self-referral form for bowel cancer. The Trust says data shows younger people are being diagnosed with late-stage bowel cancer in Somerset, with the highest proportion in Bridgwater. The new service is open to people aged 40-49 who are registered with a general practitioner (GP) in Somerset.

The Wurzels have released a new single written by artificial intelligence called 'Wurzel Me Up'. The band, best known for hits like Combine Harvester and I Am A Cider Drinker, say they've used Ai in the hope it will give them a new Number One.

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