bloomingyeovil

  Yeovil’s Vintage Market is set to return to the town centre from Saturday 2 April and will continue until September on King George Street.

 The vintage market in Yeovil is in its third year and continues to grow in size with additional stalls and is complimented with a programme of live music.

 The ever-popular vintage market is held on the first Saturday of every month from 9.00am until 4.00pm with the last one being held in September; however there will also be a special one to coincide with this year’s Super Saturday on 24 September.

 The stall holders coming in April include:

 Clare Kidd – Water colour paintings/Crafts/Scensy Warmers and Cards

Past & Present – Shabby Chic gifts, photo frames, hearts and other beautiful gifts for you and your home

Two For Joy – Collectables, new & old toys, ladies bags, China

Betty Spagetti – Home décor, tea lights and signs

Acorn Records – vinyl records

Treacle Jack – Bags, scarfs, purses and other gifts and signs

Emporium – 3 tasters for emporium traders including Tiddler & Fox (Hand painted furniture, blankets and gifts), Roz (Handmade cushions and decorative bits), Ki (New and second hand children’s clothes and other bits)

Wellbeing – Essence and room fragrant and lotions for your wellbeing

Charmed – Handmade lampshades, jewellery and hand painted furniture

Clares Creations – Memories made, plaques and keepsakes

Serendipity Clothes – Vintage clothing

Councillor Peter Gubbins, South Somerset District Council’s Area South Committee Chairman said, “Markets present a great opportunity for businesses old and new to showcase and sell their goods and services. The Yeovil Vintage Market is back bigger and better than in previous years and we are expecting a great turnout to the first one in April”.

If you are interested in hiring a pitch or stall at the Yeovil Vintage Market or finding out more information about the event, please contact Marie Ainsworth on 01935 462787 or visit http://www.southsomerset.gov.uk/Yeovilmarkets. You can also find out more about on the Vintage Market Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/yeovilvintagemarket.

 For more information contact:

Marie Ainsworth – Neighbourhood Development Officer (Economy)

Tel: 01935 462787

As spring starts to emerge and we get glimpses of the finer weather to come, the ranger team at South Somerset District Council are finalising preparations for a busy year of events at the South Somerset countryside sites.
 From Easter egg hunts to halloween trails; teddy bears picnics to adventurous challenge days; this year’s events will deliver a varied programme for all ages in 2016.

 Becky Russell, Community Ranger said, “There are lots of exciting and different activities on our programme this year, including the Yeovil Yaffle missions; adventurous activities for children funded by the Armed Forces Community Covenant Fund that aim to offer engaging and more challenging outdoor adventures for older children to get them exploring our great greenspace at Yeovil Country Park. I will also be running a whole range of sessions focusing on the theme of marvellous meadows; these will include species identification sessions, bee and butterfly craft sessions and discovery bug hunting sessions for our younger visitors. It is certainly going to be busy and I really think there will be something to appeal to everyone”.

 In addition to one off events, Becky will be working with professional leaders to arrange a series of workshops in photography and wood carving. If you would like to develop your skills in these areas then keep an eye out for the dates of the courses.

 At Ham Hill Country Park, Ranger’s Jon and Paul are delivering their ever popular bushcraft skills and den building sessions throughout the school holidays and hope to welcome plenty of people to the September wood fair.

 Ranger Paul McNeill said, “This summer we hope to be embarking on an exciting project to create a stream in Witcombe Valley, along the original route of the stream that supported the now deserted Medieval village. There will be plenty of opportunities to get involved in the project including hands on archaeological activities and a medieval celebration day in the autumn when the project is finished”.

 Councillor Sylvia Seal, Portfolio Holder for Leisure & Culture added, “This year’s event programme is more diverse than ever before, with significant grant investment from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Grants for the Arts and the Armed Forces Community Covenant Fund.

 “The ranger team have been able to develop a series of events that cover a huge range of subjects and will appeal to many people. We look forward to welcoming many people to the sites this year starting this Easter holidays at Ham Hill with the popular Easter Egg Hunt on 29th March and at Yeovil for the popular trail event on Tuesday 5th April”.

 For bookings and details of all events, please visit http://www.southsomersetcountryside.com and keep an eye on Facebook feeds for South Somerset District Council, Yeovil Country Park, Ham Hill Country Park and Chard Reservoir LNR for details of new events as they are released. 

Yeovil Hospital Charity has reached the finals of the National Lottery’s People’s Projects competition on ITV. We can win £50,000 so we need you to vote! 

Our project, ‘Activities for Older Patients at Yeovil Hospital’, is about offering creative activities such as music, art and gardening for older patients. These activities are particularly helpful for patients with dementia, or those experiencing loneliness and isolation while in hospital.

Vote for us at www.thepeoplesprojects.org.uk/projects/view/activities-for-older-patients-at-yeovil-hospital. Voting runs from 29 February to 13 March, so please do help us get as many votes as possible by sharing this email. It is one vote per email address, so please use all the email addresses that you have. The lottery won’t keep your data and it is completely free, so please help us to win £50,000!!

Yeovil has caught the eye of Great Western Railway as the location for their annual Community Rail Conference in Yeovil next week (9 March).
The event is usually held in cities like London, Bristol or Exeter so it has been something of a coup to attract the event to Yeovil. 
Catherine Phillips, Heart of Wessex Rail Partnership Officer says: “The choice of Yeovil is largely down to the creativity and knowledge of South Somerset District Council’s (SSDC) Tourist Information Centre Operations Supervisor in showing Great Western Railway how an event for over a hundred delegates could be organised here in Yeovil. There is also a very noticeable “buzz” that is being created in Yeovil both by the Neighbourhood Development Team at SSDC and the Yeovil Town Team”.

The Heart of Wessex is the local rail line supported by a Community Rail Partnership and follows the picturesque route between Bristol and Weymouth with stops on the South Somerset stretch at Bruton, Castle Cary and Yeovil Pen Mill.

Great Western Railway hosts the conference each year to bring together everyone with an interest in the various community rail lines and activities.

Delegates will travel to Yeovil by rail on 9 March and will be welcomed for a familiarisation walk through Yeovil Country Park led by a Community Ranger. Refreshments will be provided at Ninesprings Café where there will also be a display of local railway memorabilia from SSDC’s Community Heritage Access Centre. 

 The conference the next day is to be held at the Fleet Air Arm Museum. Delegates will be given news and updates on Great Western Railway and the community rail partnerships.

 Councillor Jo Roundell Greene, Deputy Leader at South Somerset District Council and Portfolio Holder for Economic Development said: “We are pleased to welcome the conference to Yeovil. The Heart of Wessex rail line is a vital transport link for our local residents and businesses and is also an important part of the good network of rail and road links that make this area attractive to event organisers.

“SSDC is always striving to grow South Somerset’s economy and conferences can be an influential factor in this – introducing delegates to a place they may not have visited before, raising awareness that South Somerset is a good place to do business, and bringing income to local accommodation, shops and services.”

Yeovil Country Park, run by South Somerset District Council (SSDC) received a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for its V3 Project: inVolve, Visit, Volunteer in July 2015. One aspect of this grant is the restoration of the Victorian Valley Gardens of Ninesprings.
Starting in late January the rangers and volunteers have started the process of revealing the now mostly hidden heritage of the Valley Gardens.
Councillor Sylvia Seal, Portfolio Holder for Leisure & Culture said, “We are very excited about this fantastic opportunity to restore Ninesprings to its former glory. We will open up the lost views and vistas of the Valley Gardens and ensure that the streams and waterfalls continue to flow for many generations. The investment of the Heritage Lottery Fund has made this project possible and we hope many people will get involved along the way with building a site archive and delivery of practical works”.
Ninesprings originally belonged to the Batten Family and was part of the adjoining Aldon Estate. It was constructed as a pleasure garden during Victorian times; a garden designed for wandering along meandering paths among beautiful surroundings to enjoy gentle exercise and fresh air. The origin of the name is in the nine feature springs, waterfalls and grottos which were created, but there are many more than nine individual springs and the numbers vary throughout the year depending on the ground water levels. The cottage by the springs used to be run as a small café and many local people have happy childhood memories of eating cream teas or enjoying ice cream and lemonade. The cottage fell down during the last century but a carved otter bench now stands on the old site.

 The built infrastructure of Ninesprings is over 100 years old and needs some specialist attention to protect it into the future. Some of the features and stonework has become very overgrown and over the next two years we will be working throughout the valley, along the course of the streams to gradually uncover and restore all the features which we find. Rangers will work with local volunteers to clear back overgrown vegetation, enabling structural repairs of the hamstone waterfalls, grottos, walls and paths to be carried out by specialists. Consideration will always be given to the habitats and wildlife of Ninesprings by the Countryside Rangers who will ensure a balanced approach to the work in this area. Vegetation management will take place in the winter months to prevent disturbance to nesting birds and wildlife and repairs to the stone work in the summer months. Due to the nature of this work some paths will need to be closed to the public for short periods of time.

 As part of this project we are researching the history of Ninesprings and Yeovil Country Park. Becky Russell, Community Ranger is keen to hear from anyone that has stories or images to share with us as part of the project. “We would love to better understand what Ninesprings has meant to people over the years and also to build an archive for the future of images, stories and maps that will inform future generations enjoyment of the fabulous valley gardens. Please get in touch with me if you have items to share or would like to be involved in the project.”

Event: The Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile Location: Yeovil Recreation Centre, Yeovil 

I’m taking part.

Date: Sunday 20th March 2016 

Time: 12:30 

Distance: 1 Mile
Please sponsor me.

Your Sport Relief Giving Page link is https://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/davidrecardo – this is where everyone can sponsor you, so send it to as many of your friends and family as you can!

The money you raise will help transform people’s lives, in the UK and across the world’s poorest communities.

The Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile is back – and it’s coming to Yeovil Recreation Centre. On Sunday 20th March South Somerset District Council and Yeovil Town FC are inviting local people to come together and make themselves proud by entering now at http://www.sportrelief.com.

  
This is the fifth time that South Somerset District Council is organising the event and so far tens of thousands of pounds have been raised by the events held at Yeovil Recreation Centre.

On Sunday 20th March local heroes from Yeovil and the surrounding area will be walking and running themselves proud during the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile to raise life-changing money for Sport Relief 2016. The colourful, cheerful and eager Milers will be doing their bit to make a difference to people living across the UK and the world’s poorest communities.
Event organiser, David Blackwell, Leisure Projects Officer at South Somerset District Council explains more about the event and how to get involved. “Everyone is welcome to come along to the Rec. From little ones with their mums and dads, to runners up against the clock there’s something for everyone on this special day.”

“There will be plenty of free activities including circus skills and arts and crafts so don’t forget to rope in your mates, family, boyfriend, girlfriend and colleagues too. Enter now at sportrelief.com, get sponsored and help transform the lives of people living here in the UK and in some of the world’s poorest countries, while being part of an incredible nationwide event.”

Yeovil Town FC are once again getting involved in the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile. Manager Darren Way from the football club said, “I have taken part in the Yeovil Sport Relief Mile before and really enjoyed it. It is such a well organised event and one that will hopefully raise lots of money for worthwhile causes.” 

Councillor Sylvia Seal, Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Culture at South Somerset District Council said, “We want the fifth Yeovil Mile to be a fun event in aid of a very good cause. We are delighted to have support from Yeovil Town F.C and Goldenstones Leisure Centre to help make this our best Sport Relief mile ever. One of the district council’s aims is to encourage participation in sport and physical activity and this comes in many forms. People can walk around in fancy dress if they like – it is all helping to make a difference to people’s lives.”

About Sport Relief

Sport Relief brings the entire nation together to get active, raise cash and change lives. The money raised by the public is spent by Comic Relief to help people living incredibly tough lives, across the UK and the world’s poorest communities. It all leads up to the Sport Relief weekend and a fantastic night of TV on the BBC.

Sport Relief 2016 will take place from Friday 18th to Sunday 20th March 2016. You can run, swim, cycle or even walk yourself proud at events across the country. There’s a distance for everyone, whether you’re sporty or not. Find out more at http://www.sportrelief.com 

Entry fees for the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Games:

Adult £7.    Children (under 16) £3.   Family (2 adults, 2 children) £17

The Yeovil Mile

For more information contact the lead officer on the project:

David Blackwell, South Somerset District Council, Leisure Projects Officer on 01935 462280

Modular ward

• Work is continuing to complete our new modular ward, which was craned onto the roof of the hospital at the end of year. This innovative ward will become our new 24-bed emergency assessment unit (a space for assessing those who have been admitted as emergencies and who need to be assessed for admission, onward care or discharge), providing much needed additional capacity and helping us to better utilise the entire hospital for the benefit of patients. 
• The current phases of work are to develop the access to the ward and to prepare the interior. Opening is scheduled for early February.
• The hospital chose to implement a modular ward as it makes best use of our restricted site (we have very limited space to build ‘outwards’ due to our urban location) .

Car park

• With more people attending our hospital each year – many arriving by car – we need to improve the quantity and quality of car parking for patients, visitors and staff. This month (January ‘16), we begin work on a new multi-storey car park, providing 656 parking spaces in a modern, accessible development.  
• We will also be constructing a new road to link Higher Kingston and the A37 (Kingston) to ease congestion on the hospital site, improve access, and reduce hospital traffic on local streets.

How will it happen?

• Building our multi-storey car park is a big operation and will happen over several phases across the year. Below are the first two.

1. Phase 1: After the closure of Car Park 2 on 25 January, the developers will start preparing the site, including demolishing the bungalows and one other property, and building retaining walls
2. Phase 2: Work begins on the foundations and steel ‘frame’ of the car park, as well as the carriageway of the A47 as part of developing the hospital’s new-one way system.

And finally:

• I always thought “Junior Doctors” were newly qualified, but that is not the case, they could be any doctor in a hospital below a consultant, their age is not an issue, a 40 year old Doctor with 15 years experience could still be referred to as a “Junior Doctor”. ——- “I learn new things every day”.

Members of the public who want to know more about their local hospital and would like to share their feedback about the Trust are invited to come along to a drop-in event on Tuesday 26 January between 2.30pm and 5.30pm at Yeovil Baptist Church.

This event is an opportunity to hear about exciting developments at the hospital, as well as changes taking place, and the work that is being done to improve patient care and experience. It will feature a number of stands and talks providing details about dementia, catering, fundraising, patient experience, volunteers, hospital governors, and car parking and the hospital estate.

The Chief Executive will also be giving a presentation on the hospital’s plans to integrate health services so care is more seamless for patients, and details about plans to improve facilities at the hospital including the development of a new multi-storey car park and the new ward at the hospital.

Paul Mears, Chief Executive said “This event is a chance for us to showcase the Trust and the developments that we are making and have made over the last year. We will also be sharing our plans of how we are looking to the future and looking at integrating our services. It has been a busy year at the hospital and we are making considerable changes to benefit our patients and visitors, which we are looking forward to sharing at this event.”

There will also be samples of the new hospital catering service on offer as well as refreshments.
Follow on Twitter: –  @yeovilhospital   

Follow on Facebook: – Yeovil District Hospital

It’s Sunday morning, it’s poring with rain and the wind is howling, pretty much what you would expect when you want to go out.

Having a gurt big greenhouse attached to the house comes in very handy on days like this, last years growbags are still there, all the fuchsia’s are pruned ready for next season, and my only remaining dahlia is tucked up harm, what’s to do ?  I know I’ll recycle my grow bags, that will pass the morning constructively.

At this point I must say, if you tomatoes have had any blight I don’t recommend you do this as you will be using the growing medium for potting up your seedlings, the last thing you want to do is kill them off because you were careless.

The recycling process is simple enough, you cut open your growbag, then with your preferred tool, (mines a scoop) place the content in a garden sieve, in manageable quantities, and sieve, this process will remove most of the roots from your past crop, leaving you with a fine manageable growing medium. (Please remember as you go to add some nutrient to the mix) as the past crop will have used what was there, I use slow release granules together with some soil conditioner also sieved, I get my soil conditioner from our local recycle centre run by Viridor. If you want a more open medium you can also add some vermiculite as you go, this helps with the drainage.

The container below contains one good quality growbag, (I don’t buy cheap grow bags, they are not worth having, in my view), together with some soil conditioner and nutrients, it is reasonably dry, easy to handle and most importantly ready to use when needed, for “any repotting job”.

You will never get, all of the roots from last years crop out of this mixture, but I have found over the years I have been doing this, it doesn’t matter, “providing your growbags are disease free”.

I hope, happy reader, you find this tip useful and it produces some wonderful blooms for you, like it has for me over the years. If you find this useful please share the knowledge with others, recycleing is always worthwhile.

South West in Bloom Yeovil in Bloom
 

easy to do and save money in the spring