News in Glastonbury

The Duke of Edinburgh has died, Buckingham Palace has announced.

A spokesman for the Royal Family said: "It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen announces the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

A number of offices at Landmark House in Glastonbury have been made available for both long-term and short-term rent.

Multiple offices are available at the building, which is also the headquarters of building contractors Melhuish and Saunders.

The late journalist and polemicist Christopher Hitchens once used blood donation as an argument for humanity being inherently altruistic.

In a 2010 debate on religion and ethics, he commented: "The British National Health Service is not allowed to pay for blood. You can't buy it or sell it but it never runs out of it. There are always enough people to give."

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.