News in Glastonbury

The winners of the 2021 Somerset Business Awards have been announced in the first virtual awards ceremony, hosted by BBC journalist and presenter, Claire Carter.

A record number of businesses once again entered the awards and around 1,000 people logged-in to watch the ceremony live online.

In my column this week, I want to look forward to the reopening of our economy and all the brilliant things we can look forward to in this part of the world.

Following on from an Easter weekend which usually would have provided an excellent trading bank holiday - and was no doubt hard to take for so many businesses - I was pleased to see such ambitious investment in arts and culture here in Somerset.

Firefighters from Glastonbury were among three crews who were called to tackle a camping hut on fire in Shepton Mallet yesterday afternoon (April 6).

Just after 2.15pm, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Control received a call reporting a wooden hut on fire in Windsor Hill Lane, Shepton Mallet, and mobilised three fire engines coming from Shepton Mallet, Wells and Glastonbury.

Council meetings in Somerset will continue to be streamed live over the internet even after the current coronavirus restrictions end.

Somerset County Council and the four district councils have been conducting their business via virtual meetings since the first national lockdown was implemented in late-March 2020 at the start of the pandemic.

Local charity We Hear You (WHY) are hosting a virtual Junior Bake Off competition until April 18.

Participants are invited to get their bake on and create something to impress the WHY judges, who include local caterer and foodie expert Keren Hayden of Events Horizon.

Firefighters from Glastonbury helped free a person who was trapped in a car following a crash in Horsington yesterday evening (April 4).

Just after 6.15pm, two fire engines from Wincanton and Castle Cary along with the rescue tender and support pump from Glastonbury, plus a fire officer, attended a road traffic collision near to the Half Moon Inn, at Horsington near Wincanton, where one female was trapped.

Firefighters from Glastonbury helped free a person trapped in a car following a crash in Axbridge in the early hours of this morning (April 4).

Just after 2am, three fire engines were mobilised from Cheddar, Winscombe and Burnham-on-Sea with the Heavy Rescue Unit and support appliance from Glastonbury, to a report to a road traffic collision with a person trapped inside a vehicle at the top of West Street in Axbridge.

Avon and Somerset Police say plans are in place to facilitate a number of protests due to take place across the force area today (April 3), including in Glastonbury.

Following a change to Covid regulations, there is now an exemption to allow peaceful protests providing organisers take the required precautions to ensure people's safety is not put at risk.

The Glastonbury Festival has been awarded £900,000 from the government to help it stage two smaller events this year, and to help it build towards 2022.

The money has been awarded as part of the second round of funding from the Culture Recovery Fund, with a total of 2,700 organisation benefiting from more than £400 million of government money in this phase.

Glastonbury residents are being asked for their views on Recycle More in an online survey that was launched this week.

Somerset Waste Partnership (SWP) and its contractor SUEZ would like to hear what residents think about the expanded recycling service which has been running since October.