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MENTIONED in DISPATCHES
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‘After a tough year for everyone, we are thrilled to be able to go ahead with a festival which provides fantastic entertainment for both the local community and for visitors from across the country’ said Cliff (Fred) Bassett, Chair of Somerton Music and Arts Festival.
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The festival, which started in 1987, is an annual event in the historic Somerset market town; providing entertainment across the week including a family fun day, local bands, classical music, talks & workshops to name just a few. The festival culminates in a one-day music festival, Somerstock. Attracting top bands, this year’s headliners are pop and soul legends The Christians. A further 14 bands will perform across three stages providing nonstop family entertainment, and a wide variety of food, bars and stalls will ensure that there’s something for every taste.
As well as providing entertainment, the festival raises money for charity and Fred continued, ‘we look forward not only to being able to put money back into the community again but also being able to celebrate safely once more this summer.’
Full details of the festival will be released soon, but to find out more about Somerstock and buy tickets head to the website: www.somerstock.com.
Somerton Music and Arts Festival is to go ahead as planned. Perfect partnership: The natural beauty of the Mendip Hills where 500 trees are to be planted, thanks to support from Mendip District Council.
Mendip District Council is to enable the planting of more than 500 trees with the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Unit.
The move supports the Council’s Climate and Ecological Emergency commitment by increasing the carbon absorption potential of the district’s landscape, in addition to helping alleviate some of the current issues faced in the Mendip Hills, including tree loss due to ash dieback disease.
The initiative will add to the District Council’s many planting schemes already carried out in areas such as those seen at Binegar Bottom, at Tor Hill in Wells, and Pomparles Bridge, Glastonbury.
Deputy Leader of Mendip District Council, and Portfolio Holder for Neighbourhood Services, Cllr Josh Burr, said: ‘We are really happy to be giving additional financial assistance to the Mendip Hills AONB Unit to coordinate and oversee the planting of native tree species for hedging and woodland creation, including oak, birch, beech, hazel, rowan, small-leaved lime, and holly.
‘The tree planting will greatly add to efforts underway across Mendip by the District Council, our parish councils and numerous community groups.’
The native trees will be planted by the AONB’s dedicated volunteers around Ebbor Gorge and Rodney Stoke National Nature Reserve to make the woodland areas bigger, better and more connected.
Jim Hardcastle, Manager of the Mendip Hills AONB Unit, said: ‘The detailed planting schemes will be made in conjunction with Natural England and local landowners such as the National Trust, Somerset Wildlife Trust and Somerset County Council.
‘We are very grateful to Mendip District Council, a long standing member of the Mendip Hills AONB partnership, for this additional financial support. It will have a huge impact on what
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we are able to deliver in terms of tree planting on the Mendip Hills.’
Cllr Lucie Taylor-Hood, Mendip District Council’s representative on the Mendip Hills AONB partnership board said: ‘The Mendip Hills AONB is well placed to make sure the right trees are planted in the right places, in order to support wildlife and help address the climate emergency.
‘The organisation has been under pressure in recent months due to high visitor numbers to the beauty spot, and the subsequent increased rubbish and erosion of pathways.
‘It’s important we recognise their amazing efforts - and that’s why we are so happy to be able to support and strengthen them’.
Interested in planting trees in your local area? Get guidance, finance and support to make tree planting happen by emailing: neighbourhoodservices@mendip .gov.uk.
The restoration team at Haynes Museum Fly the Flag for Somerset with this magnificent and very rare 1934 Alvis Speed 20 Flat back, one of only 8 known survivors, which they have just finished restoring. Wave goodbye to Lockdown and Fly the Flag for Somerset
As we start navigating the Government’s end of lockdown roadmap, add Somerset Day, 11th May, to your important landmark dates!
This year the organisers of Somerset Day are asking people throughout the county to Fly the Flag for Somerset, so get prepared by downloading a Somerset Day pack from www.somersetday.com.
The pack includes templates for the distinctive yellow and red Somerset flags and bunting to make yourself and brighten up your homes, gardens and communities.
For those who would like to purchase bunting or larger flags, Somerset Day has partnered with a window, car sticker and badge pack is also available to buy at www.cpprintgroup.co.uk/ products/somerset-day-stickerpack or you can simply design your own flag!
Somerset celebrates its birthday over the weekend of 8/9th May through to Somerset Day on 11th May when we can start waving goodbye to lockdown by Flying the Flag for Somerset.
Lucy Housley, one of the organisers of Somerset Day says, ‘This is going to be an opportunity to celebrate – spring will be with us and we will be once again able to meet with friends and family outdoors, so let’s really have a massive splash of colour across Somerset and make Somerset Day a day to remember.’
For more information and to download your Somerset Day Get Involved pack go to the Somerset Day website and join in. Somerset Wildlife Trust launches new HD live-stream from Barn Owl box on the Blackdown Hills
Somerset Wildlife Trust are thrilled to be able to announce that its website will now be livestreaming video directly from a barn owl box in the Blackdown Hills, where barn owl couple, Finn and Orla have set up home for the second year.
The barn owl couple successfully fledged three chicks last year, and the Trust is keeping its fingers crossed that the pair will be parents again this time the experience being shared and enjoyed by people that can now tune in on the Trust’s website.
The live-stream is the Trust’s first since 2014, when their barn owl couple, Boris and Brenda, became instant internet sensations, attracting over a million and a half visits from people all over the world who tuned in to see seven eggs hatch - an unusually large brood.
The live-stream, funded by the Heritage Emergency Fund and installed by Wildlife Windows, will provide high quality video
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and sound from the new box, providing viewers with clear and unique views of barn owl family life inside the box for the next six months.
Kirby Everett, Head of Communications comments, ‘We are absolutely delighted to have a live barn owl feed up and running this year. Lockdowns have brought many people across the country closer to nature, and made our lives all the richer for it. You can't get much closer than a live feed, so we hope people will really enjoy following the couple’s journey to parenthood and learning about the behaviour of these stunning birds. Sharing their world from within our homes will bring nature to many people who are still unable to get the outdoor nature experiences they previously so enjoyed.
‘Barn owls, like much of Britain’s wildlife, is declining and if we want to still see these beautiful creatures in the future, we need to restore and connect the habitats they and nature needs, and ensure we act in a nature-friendly way in our lives. Only then are we going to make a dent in the environmental challenges ahead.
‘The prospect of future generations of Finn and Orla’s family not having safe homes is not one we want to entertain, and we hope the live feed will inspire everyone to find ways to help nature where they live. We will be providing lots of ideas on the live-feed’s web page, so tune in!’
View the live-feed at www. somersetwildlife.org/swtbarnowls.
Tune in to Finn and Orla’s HD live stream.
Dorset airfield runs competition to give away a free Pilot’s Licence!
Compton Abbas Airfield is running a unique competition to find one lucky winner who will complete their Light Aircraft Pilot’s licence absolutely free.
The lucky winner will complete the training at the airfield’s prestigious training facility, which has been schooling pilots for the last 30 years – many of whom have gone on to commercial or military operations. The winning entrant would be gifted all 30 hours of their licence, pilot kit, exams and their final general skills test to become a fully-fledged pilot.
Laura Hughes, the Airfield Director says ‘we really wanted to give the local community something to get excited about. As everyone knows, the last twelve months have been really hard on us all – and we thought giving the opportunity to someone who can potentially use this to change their whole career would be a bit of positivity we all need at the moment!’
Entrants can apply by emailing their CV and a cover letter to laura@abbasair.com. The cover letter should include their favourite aviation story! Entrants will then receive a response with further steps. Contestants must be physically fit and healthy enough to gain a flying medical – please read the terms and conditions at www.compton abbasairfield.co.uk/news.
Compton Abbas Airfield is offering a chance to complete their Light Aircraft Pilot’s licence free of charge.
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Somerset Art Works: In Pursuit of Spring
Somerset Art Works have joined forces with Black Swan Arts in Frome, Somerset for a unique SAW Members’ exhibition and the first at Black Swan Arts since last year’s coronavirus lockdown. ‘In Pursuit of Spring’ has been inspired by poet Edward Thomas’ account of his journey by bicycle between London and Somerset to meet the arrival of spring in 1913. Responding to various themes in Thomas’ book, ‘In Pursuit of Spring’, such as hope, change and renewal, around 50 Somerset Art Works members have created artwork to illustrate the Somerset leg of Thomas’ journey. He enters the county near Farleigh Hungerford and travels west through Norton St Philip, Shepton Mallet, Wells and Glastonbury, eventually arriving on Cothelstone Hill in the Quantocks on 28 March, as the storm clouds of the Great War gathered. Thomas was killed four years later at the Battle of Arras. The work will be displayed alongside excerpts from the book, which is published by Little Toller Books in Dorset.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the natural world has been an important consolation for many of us. Now, when we all need a sense of hope and renewal, Thomas’ descriptions of springtime Somerset – the ‘noble elms’, verdant banks teaming with celandine, pennywort and cranesbill, the calls of larks and linnets – are a poignant reminder of the beauty of our county. This exhibition brings together Thomas’ text with contemporary images and representations of Somerset, and is a wonderful way to celebrate the re-launch of Black Swan Arts – almost 108 years to the day since Thomas completed his journey.
Black Swan Arts will host a carefully curated online exhibition from the beginning of April, and all work will be for sale. If the COVID-19 roadmap goes to plan, the shop will reopen on 12 April, with a limited selection of artworks on show, and the full exhibition will open on 17 May.
Please visit www.blackswan arts.org.uk to view the exhibition from April and to purchase artwork, which can also be viewed on the Somerset Art Works website, www.somersetart works.org.uk.
Somerset Art Works: I Rode on Easily by David Brayne. BBC Antiques Roadshow at The Bishop’s Palace
The Bishop’s Palace in Wells has announced that they will be hosting BBC Antiques Roadshow this year in their 44th series!
Could you have an undiscovered treasure at home? Fiona Bruce and the Roadshow team will be appraising everything from car boot bargains to treasured family possessions.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the team is asking members of the public who’d like to participate to share their stories online at www.bbc.co.uk /antiquesroadshow. The series will be filmed on a closed set with an invited audience only to ensure the safety of guests,
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production and the wider public.
Successful applicants will be invited to attend a recording session where they will share their items with a Roadshow expert who will be able to reveal more about the craftsmanship, history and provenance of each piece–as well as the all-important value.
Returning for her 14th year at the helm, Fiona Bruce acknowledges the team’s success at recording the show under challenging circumstances in 2020 and goes on to encourage people to apply to be a part of the programme in 2021.
‘We were thrilled that we managed to make a series of the Antiques Roadshow last summer despite all the difficulties of filming during the pandemic. Hopefully things will be easier this summer though life may not yet be back to normal by the time we start filming. So if you have an item that you’d like to bring along to the Roadshow, do please get in touch with us beforehand at www.bbc.co.uk/antiquesroad show. Here’s hoping for a summer of great finds!’
More information and frequently asked questions can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/ antiquesroadshow or on the show’s Facebook page.
PCSO Pete Tscherniawsky retirement certificate
PCSO Pete Tscherniawsky who has covered the Mere area for several years, retires this month. The Mere Town Council Chairman and The Wiltshire Councillor for the Mere Division, in recognition of his excellent work for the Mere area, presented Pete with a certificate on Thursday 18th March at 2.20pm on Mere Town Clock Island.
The certificate was signed by Mere Town Council Chairman Clive Hazzard and The Wiltshire Councillor for the Mere Division George Jeans. Pete was thanked
Retiring PCSO Pete Tscherniawsky receiving his certificate. Photo: Graham Russell.
Muchelney Pottery - woodfired large teapot - with 15% ‘Welcome back discount’. Mark Melbourne making pots for the kiln firing at Muchelney Pottery.
Muchelney Pottery re-opens Wednesday 14th April
Muchelney Pottery are getting ready to open their shop doors again after the latest lockdown and to celebrate they are offering a ‘Welcome Back Discount’ - 15% off all kitchenware pots until 8th May.
From mugs, jugs, plates and bowls to baking dishes, casseroles and storage jars ... the shop is bursting with pots following the recent kiln firing, please do call in and support them!
Muchelney Pottery re-opens Wednesday 14th April 2021, Opening hours: Wednesday Saturday, 10-1, 2-4.
Muchelney Pottery, Muchelney, Nr Langport, TA10 0DW, www.johnleachpottery.co.uk (Please note: discount not available online).
MAX FOOTE Associates Ltd
Chartered Certified Accountants
2 Bailey Hill Castle Cary BA7 7AD Tel: 01963 351052
Business and limited company accounts, self assessment tax returns, VAT, Payroll, Book-keeping and Training
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The Cosy Den – A unique, new Bookshop opening in Wincanton
The Cosy Den, new to the Applegarth and just off Wincanton High Street, is a distinctive and welcoming space. Amongst an inspiring selection of antiquarian books lining the walls, you’ll also find an extensive collection of modern fiction and non-fiction to browse.
With the special murder mystery and thriller section, you can easily become engrossed in top authors’ reads; Anne Cleeves, Rebecca Tope and Elly Griffiths to name a sprinkling.
Being largely second hand and pre-loved, books are in great condition and with stock priced very competitively, indulgence is guilt-free.
Whether searching for The Pickwick Papers or Jane Eyre, lovers of classical literature will find both vintage copies and newer editions in the Den.
Interested in a lighter novel to put your feet up with? In the special modern fiction bookcase, there are acclaimed novels written by Marian Keyes, Jodi Picoult and innumerable others to try.
For the younger keen readers, the children’s corner houses the wonderous Julia Donaldson’s Gruffalo, the adventurous We’re Going on a Bear Hunt and a great many other inspiring picture books. In addition, the Den stocks a wide range of handy phonics and spelling texts.
The more confident, older readers can enjoy browsing the best of David Walliams including Demon Dentist, The Boy in the Dress and Ice Monster. On the shelves there are tremendous and exhilarating stories from Roald Dahl and a host of authors.
Monday 12th April is opening day, however, the normal reduced hours for April will be Wednesday to Saturday 10am - 2.30pm. Conveniently located near the Fruit & Veg Shop, the Cosy Den is ideal for a quick browse or to find that special gift. Look forward to welcoming you in the Den soon!
Chill-Out Somerset
For all your refrigerated trailer requirements, outside events, etc. CONTACT: Martyn Jones07973 433586 EMAIL: chilloutsomerset@yahoo.com
Find us on Facebook and Instagram
Opening 12th April
thecosyden@gmail.com 07494 159159
An appeal broadcast on Radio Ninesprings 104.5 FM - local community radio station for Yeovil and South Somerset - has helped to generate donations of 5,000 personal products for giving to local NHS workers.
The ‘Nurturing Hospital Staff Appeal’ was launched in January to collect personal products for giving to NHS employees at both Yeovil and Dorchester hospitals. Drop-off points were set-up in shops and houses for people to take their donations. Products donated during the six-week campaign ranged from face cream to bath salts and included certain food items.
Organiser of the ‘Nurturing Hospital Staff Appeal’, Anna Carrick-Smith said: ‘Stress levels in the NHS have been quite high and being able to give staff these personal items helped bring a little comfort. The public’s generosity was fantastic. We’re grateful for the support given by local businesses and to the local radio station, Radio Ninesprings for broadcasting the appeal.’
Nurses say thank you to Nurturing Hospital Staff Appeal. Zwings e-scooter trial operations expanded to Chard and Crewkerne
As part of the official Department for Transport’s (DfT) authorised e-scooter trials, South Somerset District Council in partnership with leading British micromobility operator Zwings, will launch fleets of rental electric scooters in Chard and Crewkerne. This second phase of the trials follows the success of the e-scooter hire service launched in Yeovil last October.
The e-scooters are available for rental via the Zwings app from designated e-scooter parking bays located across both towns. 60% of car trips are between 13 miles, the majority of which are made by the driver alone. Following the declaration of a local climate and ecological emergency, South Somerset District Council and Zwings are delivering a 12-month trial service in Yeovil, Chard and Crewkerne from October 2020, designed to reduce unnecessary car usage, thereby lowering carbon emissions, toxic air pollution and easing congestion. Zwings intends to provide a sustainable, convenient and covid-safe-socially-distant mode of travel to the community and visitors alike. We must stress, that while the trial is underway, privately owned e-scooters are still illegal on public roads. These trials feed back to the DfT on how they are being used in communities so they can decide after the trials whether e-scooters will be made a legal form of private transport.
To use Zwings e-scooters, riders should simply download the app, use their driving license to create
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an account, locate an e-scooter on the map, and unlock it with the tap of a button. Complete your ride by parking your scooter neatly in any of the designated parking bays. Riding on a Zwings e-scooter will cost £1 to unlock and 15p per minute. Local Zwings teams undertake maintenance, recharge the batteries using a renewable energy tariff, sanitise the e-scooters regularly and deploy the fleet across the towns with an electric van.
British micro-mobility operator Zwings, have launched fleets of rental electric scooters in Chard and Crewkerne. Spring has sprung! Daffodils are out and the countryside comes back to life with new growth now winter is over. Looking forward to a much better Spring and Summer as those at Just Somerset Introductions can now get up and running again going into the next stage of the ‘road map’ coming out of lockdown. It’s been a quiet few months and they are still here! Yay!
Just Somerset continued to look after their current members producing a varied newsletter with members contributions, and the mystery caller once a month. They’ve had regular weekly Zoom calls for members that wish to take part and have tried to keep members in contact with each other even if just on the phone or to arrange a socially distanced walk, so they have adapted at this difficult time.
From 12th April they should be able to visit potential clients for an interview and also have up to 6 people meeting outdoors too in a café or pub that will open soon. From May and into June they can hopefully meet indoors and more people too so lots to look forward to! agency. They offer one to one introductions and socials as they can in a professional, caring and confidential way which all starts with an interview in your own home (done Covid securely). For more information please see the website www.justintroductions group.co.uk.
They cover several counties and you can meet members throughout the group. Hope to hear from you soon!
They have clients to go and visit in the next few weeks so are really looking forward to getting out there again.
Most people have found it very difficult stuck indoors during lockdown and if you have decided you want to get out and meet people you have found the right place! People join for different reasons - to make new friends, expand their social circle and for a long term relationship - maybe marriage (some do)!
Just Somerset the Professional Introductions and friendly dating
CURRENTLY RECRUITING FOR THE FOLLOWING POSITIONS
Enthusiastic and flexible person for electrical showroom, undertaking retail and administrative duties. Thursday, Friday and Saturday 8.00am - 5.30pm. Some hours may be required at Waltons of Mere. Rates of pay negotiable, plus commission for suitable applicant. Essential skills: Numerate, computer literate and customer friendly.
Sunday Assistant for Waltons Newsagent /Post Office. Duties from 7.00am - 1.00pm. Opportunity of extra hours/holiday cover. Essential skills: Numerate, computer literate and customer friendly.
