Yeovil Town will play National League football next season after beating Truro 2-0 last night to win promotion and the National League South title. Somerset Council says the cost of keeping Yeovil’s Octagon Theatre closed has risen to £140,000 a year. A holiday website has reported a 31 percent upturn in visitor numbers to Somerset...and more.
Yeovil Town finally won promotion and the National League South title beating Truro 2-0 away last night. Twelve hundred travelling Yeovil fans watched as Rhys Murphy and Alex Fisher scored in each half to give Yeovil the three points. Life-long Glovers supporter and Leader of Yeovil Town Council, Graham Oakes, says the promotion is not just good for the football club but the town as a whole.
Somerset Council says the cost of keeping Yeovil’s Octagon Theatre closed has risen to £140,000 a year. The money is being spent paying utility bills, running the heating ventilation systems and various forms of insurance. The Octagon closed in April last year, with Somerset Council voting to keep it shut until a new business case has been agreed to get it re-opened.
A new ‘Welcome to Chard’ stone has been installed at the entrance to Chard. The stone, at the junction of Fore Street and Silver Street, has been paid for by Historic England, as part of the one-million-pound funded Chard High Street Action Zone project.
A holiday website has reported an up-turn in visitors to Somerset following the airing of a Channel 5 series about the county. Somerset: Wonder of the West Country presented by Alan Titchmarsh showcased the best areas, people, and traditions of the County. HolidayCottages.co.uk says after the first programme aired in late February, a 31 percent increase in holiday bookings for Somerset was recorded.
A new operator is needed to run one of Chard’s best-known pubs. The 17th-century Choughs Hotel on the High Street is advertised at a rent of £34,000 per annum with an annual turnover of £550,000.
The Liberal Democrat Leader of Somerset Council, Councillor Bill Revans, says they had no choice but to ask the government to allow them to lift the 5 percent cap on raising Council Tax. Two teenagers have been released on bail following the stabbing in Yeovil. More than six thousand pounds has been awarded to local groups by Chard Carnival Committee...and more.
Somerset has been permitted to increase its Council Tax share by 7.5 percent. An Ilminster man, forced out of his house by last week's floods, says he doesn't know when he will be able to return home. Ilminster Literary Festival has launched its annual children’s writing competition, designed to encourage local children to write creative literature...and more.
Five men have appeared in court charged with the murder of a man in Yeovil. A 16-year-old is the second person to be arrested in connection with a stabbing in Yeovil. Yeovil’s new outdoor entertainment space in Lower Middle Street has been officially opened by the town’s MP... and more.
A teenager has been arrested following a stabbing in Yeovil. Water bills in Somerset are set to go up on average by £123 from April. Yeovil MP, Adam Dance will officially open Yeovil’s new outdoor performance space later today...and more
Lloyds bank is closing its branch in Chard. A Sherborne man has been jailed after defrauding a Yeovil woman of £40,000. A volunteer group in Chard is urging people to sign up to a flood victims register. A councillor in Shepton Mallet has become the first Reform UK member on Somerset Council... and more
New mums in Somerset could soon be offered a cervical screening test six weeks after giving birth. Police are asking for help in finding a Yeovil man wanted on recall to prison. The government has given half a million pounds towards planting more trees in Somerset, including 100 new trees in Yeovil...and more
Work continues to clean up from the floods in Chard, Ilminster, Somerton, South Petherton, and parts of Yeovil. A man who threatened to kill a support worker at the mental health unit in Yeovil has been sentenced to a community order. A competition that gives new musicians the chance to play at this year's Glastonbury festival has opened for entries...and more
A major incident has been declared by Somerset Council to ensure a multi-agency response to the flash flooding that's affected Chard, Crewkerne, Ilminster, South Petherton and parts of Yeovil. Police believe a 4x4 pick-up truck, found submerged in the River Yeo at Yeovilton at the weekend, may have been stolen. An appeal to raise £2 million to restore the Grand Organ at Wells Cathedral has raised over £1 million in less than 18 months...and more