A new breast cancer unit opens to patients at Yeovil Hospital today. The Lib Dems have held the Summerlands seat on Yeovil Town Council in a by-election. School children in Yeovil have been helping to plant sixty thousand snowdrop bulbs at Montecute House...and more.
Yeovil’s new breast cancer unit opens for the first time to patients today. The new building at Yeovil Hospital means those attending for treatment can be seen in one building rather than having to move around different departments on the hospital site. The centre has cost two and a half million pounds with the bulk of the money raised through events and donations.
The Lib Dems have held the Summerlands seat on Yeovil Town Council in a by-election. Justice Jimba for the Lib Dems polled 292 votes against closest rival Ray Tostevin for the Yeovil Independents on 176 votes. Robert Wood for the Greens came third on 50 votes and Terry Ledlie for Labour fourth on 42 votes.
Somerset Rivers Authority has released its latest Annual Report outlining projects it has funded in the year 2023-24. The SRA was established following the major flooding event on the Somerset Levels in 2023 to reduce the risk of flooding. In the year 2023-24, it spent four million pounds on flood defence works, including an urban run-off scheme in Chard.
Organisers of the Shindig festival say they’ll hold it again but not in Somerset. The last three festivals, described as a celebration of art, music, and freedom, have taken place on the Dillington Estate, near Ilminster. Organisers say the 2025 event will be staged in the Cotswolds but haven’t given an exact location.
The Managing Director of The Gardens Group, based in Sherborne, has been given a top award. Mike Burks was presented with the Pearson Memorial Medal by the Horticultural Trades Association for his environmental work running Castle Gardens in Sherborne, Brimsmore Gardens in Yeovil and Poundbury Gardens near Dorchester.
School children in Yeovil have been helping to plant sixty thousand snowdrop bulbs at Montecute House. The bulbs should appear in February in the gardens of the National Trust property.
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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.