Wednesday 30th October

Wednesday, 30 October 2024 06:00

By Steve Haigh

Somerset Council is facing a seven-and-a-half million-pound overspend on providing children’s services. The South West has one of the highest rates of underage smokers in England. A helicopter from RNAS Yeovilton has gone on permanent display at Portland Marina....and more.

Somerset Council is facing a seven-and-a-half million-pound overspend on providing children’s services in the current financial year. The Council says it’s due to increased numbers of children coming into the care system and higher costs of providing residential placements. In a report, the Council says there’s been a marked increase in children aged under two and between 10 and 15 coming into care, where serious youth violence, linked to criminal exploitation, has been a contributing factor.

South Western Railway, which operates trains through Crewkerne, Yeovil Junction and Sherborne stations, is repeating its offer of free travel to serving military personnel and veterans attending Remembrance Sunday events. The offer includes rail travel to the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph in London on Saturday, November 9th or Sunday, November 10th and to the Submariners’ Remembrance Service in London on Sunday, November 3rd. Details of the offer can be found on the South Western Railway website.

Five more libraries have been added to the list of those taking part in this year’s Winter Coat Exchange in Somerset. In our area, Street and Langport libraries are taking part in the scheme in which anyone needing a warm coat for the winter will be given a coat. If you have a coat to donate, you’re asked to please take it to your local library.

The South West, including Somerset, has one of the highest rates of smoking in England, with 1-in-20 11-to-15-year-olds engaged in the habit. This compares to only 1-in-100 11-to-15-year-olds smoking UK-wide. The report, published by Evapo, found that while 59% of underaged smokers get their cigarettes from friends and family, one in three get them from shops, despite it being illegal to sell cigarettes to someone under 18.

A helicopter from RNAS Yeovilton has been gifted to Portland Marina. Navy Lynx XZ250 served in the Falklands War and was in service for 32 years. It has been put on permanent display at Portland Marina to mark the site's former role as the Royal Naval Air Station HMS Osprey.

This year’s Somerset Trustee of the Year award has been given to Dr John Bowman who lives in Merriot. Doctor Bowman, a Trustee of Merriot Village Hall, was chosen for his work raising £80,000 to start a community lunch scheme and to re-fit the kitchens at the hall.