Local News Monday 20th December

Monday, 20 December 2021 06:00

People in South Somerset are being urged to use or cancel their booster jab appointments. John Morgan, the drummer with the Wurzels has died after contracting Covid-19. Police are investigating the theft of three gold rings from a house in Orchard Vale in Ilminster. Somerset County Council has published details of where the next set of new cycling and walking routes will be created. Local landowners are being offered free wildflowers...and more.

People in South Somerset are being urged to use or cancel their booster jab appointments. It follows 200 appointments being missed, leaving the slots unused, at local vaccinations centres last week.

John Morgan, the drummer with the Wurzels has died after contracting Covid-19. John, who was 80, was the drummer with the Wurzels for 40 years. He died in the Gloucester Royal Hospital last Friday.

Police are investigating the theft of three gold rings from a house in Orchard Vale in Ilminster. Police say one ring had the date '10/12/55' inscribed on it. If you witnessed the break-in or can help the police in any other way with their enquiries, please call the non-emergency number: 101.

Somerset County Council has published details of where the next set of new cycling and walking routes will be created. The first new cycling and walking routes will be in Taunton and Yeovil with the routes to be published in the New Year. The County Council is now seeking to secure government funding to build the new routes

Local landowners are being offered free wildflowers. South Somerset District Council is hoping that by giving away wildflowers it will improve local biodiversity and create new habitats for wildlife.

Montecute House, which is run by the National Trust at Montecute near Yeovil, has been closed, due to a high number of staff members self-isolating with Covid. The National Trust hasn’t said when the house will reopen to the public.

South Somerset District Council has given a grant of £12,500 to build new indoor toilets at St. Peter and St. Paul's Church in Muchelney near Langport. The work is part of a wider programme of improvements to develop the building for use as a more accessible community hub.

More from News

Friday 25th July

A father has been found guilty of murdering his two-week-old son at Yeovil Hospital. From Monday, no trains will be stopping at Crewkerne until further notice. Experts say the dry weather has created ideal conditions for wasps to multiply in significant numbers across Somerset. A rare railway carriage from the 1880s, believed to have been built in Somerset, is being given a new lease of life...and more.
Thursday 24th July

Tourism leaders in Somerset are hoping to reverse last year’s downturn in visitor numbers now that the six-week-long school summer holiday is underway. A Chard woman who was driving a van without insurance that crashed has been given a 16-month driving ban. A Somerset hedgehog rescue centre says a lack of rain and hard ground conditions are making it difficult for hedgehogs to survive this summer...and more.
Wednesday 23rd July

Somerset Council is planning to open twelve new Special Educational Needs units in mainstream schools. Yeovil Hospital is participating in a trial that could revolutionise the treatment of sepsis within the NHS. A 55-acre site in Chard, with plans approved to build 295 homes and a new football ground, has been put up for sale...and more
Tuesday 22nd July

Somerset Community Foundation has launched a "Together for West Somerset Appeal" to help families affected by last Thursday's school coach crash on Exmoor. People in Somerset are being encouraged to improve their recycling of food waste. Free family cooking sessions are being held in Chard. A new children’s soft play area is soon to open in Yeovil...and more
Monday 21st July

A GoFundMe page set up to support families of last week’s Exmoor bus crash, in which a 10-year-old boy died, has raised over forty thousand pounds. A local councillor is calling for the introduction of speed cameras on the A30, from Yeovil to Sherborne. A group from a school in Ilchester have hiked 26 miles across the Jurassic Coast to fundraise in memory of a school colleague...and more
Friday 18th July

EDF has completed another milestone in constructing the new 'Hinkley C' nuclear power plant near Bridgwater. The Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire opens today with helicopters built in Yeovil on display. A road leading to Chard reservoir, shut two months ago for strengthening work to a dam wall, has re-opened...and more
Thursday 17th July

Yeovil MP Adam Dance says he has serious concerns about plans that could see the closure of inpatient beds at Crewkerne Community Hospital. Ilminster residents are being asked to vote in a referendum on adopting a new neighbourhood plan for the town. An event in which people take part in a race against horses is returning to Somerset later this year...and more
Wednesday 16th July

A children’s play area in Ilminster has been closed on safety grounds after badger setts were found on the land. Somerset Council sold off £90m of property assets last year to help fight off bankruptcy. Crewkerne Community Hospital could be turned into a neighbourhood health centre...and more.