News in Shepton Mallet

Police and residents teamed up to stop something baaaaaaad happening to the flock

Somerset Road Safety and Avon and Somerset Police are urging all road users to take longer to look for bikes during Ride to Work Week.

Ride to Work Week (18th to 24th June) is an annual event aimed at promoting the benefits of riding a motorcycle or moped to work instead of using the car. Some of those benefits include:

The operation was carried out at a business just off the A37

Local accident and emergency departments have seen a rise in the number of patients being admitted compared to the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has published data comparing A&E admissions in March to those in February 2020, the last "unaffected" month before the first coronavirus lockdown.

A local college is aspiring to be the first choice in the area for education and training.

Strode College in Street is currently engaged in a project to research not only what the local community needs in terms of skills and training, but how employers and individuals would like that training delivered.

Grants have been made available for training and business support for young people in Shepton Mallet.

Funding is available from Somerset Community Foundation (SCF), which is based at the Bath and West Showground in Shepton Mallet, for young people, from two grants programmes:

Dobbies, the Shepton Mallet garden centre, has announced the online relaunch of its Little Seedlings Club, to support and celebrate National Children's Gardening Week.

Packed with activities, tutorials and educational content, the Little Seedlings Club is aimed at Shepton Mallet children aged four to 10 years old, and in its refreshed and enhanced online format, will provide plenty of fun gardening and crafting projects.

After just over a year, the Mendip Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) welcomed back its intrepid Young Rangers greeted by some of Mendip's finest weather - rain and fog.

Due to lockdown and the circumstances of the last year the AONB Unit have been unable to run the Young Ranger sessions in person and doing their best to stay connected remotely.

There was a record increase in demand for electric car home charging grants in 2020, according to figures from the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles.

More than 42,000 grants for home charging devices were made last year, worth nearly £17 million, which was over a quarter of the value of grants since the government launched the scheme in 2014.

People in Somerset who are feeling unsure about whether to have their Covid-19 vaccine are being encouraged to set up a call with a Vaccination Buddy.

Vaccination Buddies are specially trained volunteers who are on hand to have supportive phone calls with people who have questions or concerns about getting the Covid-19 vaccine.