Wednesday 8th April

Wednesday, 8 April 2026 06:00

By Steve Haigh

A Yeovil school teacher has been banned from teaching for sharing inappropriate details about her private life with pupils. A Stoke-sub-Hamdon woman has been given a 17-month driving ban. A Yeovil woman who survived bone cancer is raising is running the London Marathon... and more

A Yeovil school teacher has been banned from teaching for 2 years for sharing inappropriate details about her private life with pupils. A tribunal heard that Natasha Blackmore, aged 36, who was Head of Design Technology at Westfield Academy in Yeovil, treated her pupils as friends, sharing inappropriate personal details, including drunken nights out, and exchanging messages on social media.

Joshua Morris of the Green Party has been elected unopposed to Ilminster Town Council. The Greens say Joshua, who’s 23, will bring a new perspective to town council business. His election boosts the number of Green Party councillors on Ilminster Town Council to four.

A Stoke-sub-Hamdon woman who was nearly double the drink-drive limit when stopped by police has been given a 17-month driving ban. Mauritrus Raybold, aged 29, of New Road in Stoke-sub-Hamdon, pleaded guilty to driving in Street with excess alcohol when she appeared before magistrates in Yeovil. Alongside the disqualification, Raybold was fined £230 with £85 costs.

A Yeovil woman who survived bone cancer is raising money for the charity that helped her by running the London Marathon. Laura James was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma when she was 18, which resulted in surgery on her left leg, leaving her with a permanent foot drop. She’s raised more than £2,000 so far.

Exmoor National Park is staging a Nature Festival next month. The event, being held over 6 days beginning Saturday, May 16, will be a celebration of wildlife and well-being in the National Park.

More from News

Tuesday 7th April

Somerset Council has set aside three hundred and seventy thousand pounds to keep open five leisure centres in the Mendip area. Watercombe Lane in Yeovil is set to close for thirty-one days for gas mains replacement works. It’s been announced that Martock will stage a Pride event in June...and more
Thursday 2nd April

The joint master of a hunt in Somerset has criticised the decision to hold a public consultation on banning trail hunting. Images of two men police want to speak to in connection with an arson attack on a barber’s shop in Wincanton have been released. The company that runs four leisure centres in the Mendip area has gone into administration... and more
Wednesday 1st April

No money has been committed to major new road projects in Somerset. A road linking Chard and Clayhanger has been closed after it collapsed due to badgers burrowing under the surface. The Bishop of Bath and Wells is on day-2 of his pilgrimage across Somerset to mark the holy week of Easter... and more
Tuesday 31st March

Somerset Council says it doesn’t have the money to install solar panels on the roof of the Octagon Theatre. Three men have been charged in connection with an investigation into a hunt in Somerset. Changes have been announced to the times of waste collections in Somerset over the Easter holidays... and more
Monday 30th March

Avon and Somerset Police say its armed officers attended 2,700 incidents in Somerset last year. Plans have been submitted to build 40 new homes in Curry Rivel. South Western Ambulance is offering free CPR and defibrillator training to help improve cardiac arrest survival rates...and more
Friday 27 March

There's been a big improvement in ambulance response times in Somerset. Three local people have been charged with offences linked to the theft and supply of prescription-only drugs. A fragment of a jawbone found in a cave in Cheddar Gorge appears to show that humans kept dogs as pets as far back as 5,000 years ago... and more
Thursday 26th March

Somerset Council is offering food vouchers during the school easter holidays to families whose children receive free school meals. A local man has been charged in connection with an incident involving a firearm in Yeovil. The Environment Agency says it could take up to 10 years to protect homes at Holway House Park and Home Farm Park in Ilminster from flooding...and more.
Wednesday 25th March

Yeovil MP Adam Dance has raised concerns in the House of Commons about the planned closure of Yeovil Hospital’s hyper-acute stroke unit. Police in Yeovil are appealing for information after a man was arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm. A 13-year-old terrier named Mole has been rescued after becoming trapped underground...and more