75 members of staff at Blandford-based brewery Hall & Woodhouse and its pubs have now signed up for a charity parachute jump.

It's in aid of Naomi's House, a Winchester-based children's hospice for which the brewery's already raised £60,000 in just a year.

The jump's due to take place next week.

75 members of staff at Blandford-based brewery Hall & Woodhouse and its pubs have now signed up for a charity parachute jump.

It's in aid of Naomi's House, a Winchester-based children's hospice for which the brewery's already raised £60,000 in just a year.

The jump's due to take place next week.

The 18 year-old Yeovil driver who knocked down 2 pedestrians on a crossing in the town in January has been sentenced this week.

Ashley Smith went through a red light and hit two 15 year-olds on Sherborne Road. They weren't badly hurt and he stayed with them until paramedics arrived.

Smith told local magistrates his foot had slipped on the brake pedal.

He was given 6 points on his licence and ordered to pay £215 in fines and costs.

What's thought to be the longest official road diversion in the country is in place across part of Somerset this week.

For 8 nights, if drivers choose to follow the county council's recommended route, they'll be taken on a 47-mile tour of the Sedgemoor and Mendip districts just to get around roadworks in the centre of Highbridge.

Last week a council spokesperson admitted drivers would probably find their own quicker routes.

A church near Shaftesbury is the latest this year to have its lead stripped and stolen.

In a long-running list of thefts from church roofs across Somerset and Dorset in the last year, St Mary's at Donhead St Mary has been hit.

The total bill, alongside damage caused by water getting in, is expected to be in the region of £20,000.

Labour MP Peter Hain has quit the shadow cabinet to concentrate on campaigning for a severn barrage to be built between the Somerset coast and Wales.

The former Wales and Northern Ireland Secretary is a staunch supporter of renewable energy and believes a structure across the stretch of water can become a reality.

Last year the idea was dumped by ministers because it was too expensive.

Technophobes in Somerset are being thrown a lifeline.

A free course is being laid on at the Engine Room in Bridgwater at the end of the month for over 50s who struggle with things like computers, the internet, mobile phones and digital cameras.

The town's senior citizens' forum and Somerset Film have joined forces to set up the project.

A developer says it's withdrawn its plan to build a medical centre on former school land in Chard and is having a rethink because of objections it's received.

Sport England has criticised the Manor Court Primary application by Haven Health because it would use up school playing fields.

While the Highways Agency is concerned that the access road being proposed, St Mary's Crescent, is unsuitable.

Bristol Water has been ordered to pay a Shepton Mallet widow £290,000 compensation following her husband's death last year.

David Bean was 73 and had cancer, for years he'd worked for the firm on massive pumping station boilers covered in asbestos.

He'd been offered no protective clothing.

Planners have approved a quarry's bid on the Somerset-Dorset border to extract a further one and a half million tonnes of sand from the ground.

English Heritage, which runs Ford Abbey near Chard Junction quarry, had objected to the project claiming it would ruin its setting.

But strict landscaping conditions lead the Abbey to back down.

Dorset MP Bob Walter's welcomed improvements announced for rail services between London and the South West.

South West Trains is to add extra carriages to the route which runs through Tisbury, Gillingham, Templecombe, Sherborne and Yeovil.

There'd been long-running complaints about overcrowding and lack of seats on certain trains.

A former anaesthetist at Yeovil District Hospital, who stole and became addicted to drugs there, has lost his appeal against being struck off.

47 year-old Doctor Matthew Cornish was caught in August 2009 after colleagues reported erratic behaviour, he'd been going into work under the influence.

It emerged his drugs use dated back to 1994 and the High Court's ruled striking him off was the only appropriate means of protecting patients.

A Minehead man's waiting to hear how much centuries-old silver coins are worth he dug up in a field.

Paul Howlett discovered a handful of pieces dating back to the 1070s, that's when William the Conqueror was on the throne and they were minted at Shaftesbury.

They've been officially declared treasure meaning a Westminster committee will decide their value.

Part of Somerset is to have 20 mile-per-hour speed limits introduced for all residential areas.

The new rules will come in across the Bath and North East Somerset unitary authority district in around two years time.

It's not known whether the main county of Somerset has any plans to follow suit.

Cases of scrap metal theft across Somerset have risen by almost 50% in just 3 years.

Lead is a common target from church and school roofs, as are farmers' yards.

Police say they're trying to tackle the problem by clamping down on illegal dealings at scrap yards.

Police are renewing their advice to households across Yeovil to keep doors and windows locked when they go out whether it's day or night.

A spate of burglaries appears to be continuing with fresh break-ins in the St Michael's Roand and Glenville Road areas.

There've also been incidents at Crofton Park and Crofton Road.