WELLINGTON Rugby Club Art Group recently held their Christmas lunch at the Beam Bridge Hotel and as usual invited a person from a local group to be sketched.

This year, Laura, from Wellington Majorettes, agreed be scrutinised by the artists.

Laura was ably supported by majorettes leader Louise Brierley.

The artists were grateful to Laura and Louise for giving up their valuable time as they and 10 other members of the majorettes were flying out to Portugal on February 12 to represent Wellington at the annual carnival in Torres Vedras, and they are busy practising their routines and preparing their costumes for the event.

The artists all wished the majorettes good luck for their week-long visit to our twin town.

BUDDING young speakers displayed their talents to an impressed audience and judging panel in the first round of the Rotary Youth Speaks Competition, hosted by The Rotary Club of Taunton and held in Wellington School.

After an entertaining day of presentations, Kings College, Taunton, emerged victorious in the senior category, (14 to 18 years), after delivering their presentation on ‘This House Believes That Greatness can only Be Achieved Through Extreme External Pressure’.

In the intermediate category, (11 to 13 years), the winning team from Robert Blake School, in Bridgwater, claimed their prize after presenting their debate on ‘Are Tomatoes a Fruit or a Vegetable?’.

There was also an award for the best speaker in each category: Intermediate - Daisy Garfield, from Blake School; Senior - Diatigui Fane, Taunton School.

The competition aims to provide young people with an opportunity to work as members of a team, gaining experience of researching and speaking on a public platform about a topic or issue that they care about.

The schools competing included Court Fields School, Wellington, Wellington School, Robert Blake School, Bridgwater, and Taunton School.

The Rotary Club of Taunton would like to thank Wellington School for providing an excellent venue for their Competition and in particular Rotary expressed their gratitude to John Caulfield for all the help, preparation, and organisation he provided.

After winning the Intermediate Competition the chairperson of the team said: “The Youth Speaks was an incredible experience, meeting new people and representing our school.

“My teammates will agree that the time we had put in greatly paid off and we thanked them for that wonderful moment.”

The winners will go on to the second of four stages on the road to the national final, where they will face off in the same tasks against the winners from other schools.

The second stage, the district round, will be held at Taunton School on Saturday, February 28.

The Rotary Youth Speaks Competition is one of eight nationwide competitions for young people aged from seven to 17 years which are organised every year by Rotary in Great Britain and Ireland.

The competitions are a great way for young people to be challenged in a fun and friendly environment and Rotary is committed to offering those young people opportunities to unlock their potential, develop their skills, and broaden their horizons.

PRESIDENT Susan Bellringer welcomed members to our first meeting of 2026 and wished everybody a happy New Year and hopes that this will be a good year.

Owing to illness we were quite a small group, which was a shame as our speaker Mark Ainsworth-Smith was excellent.

Mark’s talk was entitled ‘Heart attack and cardiac arrest - minutes matter’ and we were told the difference between a heart attack and cardiac arrest

A cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly stops pumping effectively, causing sudden collapse, loss of consciousness, and no breathing.

A heart attack is when a blocked artery starves part of the heart muscle of oxygen, causing damage but the heart usually keeps beating.

It is critically important if somebody has suffered a cardiac arrest to get help, and start CPR or defibrillation as soon as possible.

Mark stressed anybody can do CPR but having some training would be advantageous, the casualty needs to be on a hard surface, preferably the floor.

Cardiac arrest can happen at any age where as heart attacks tend to occur in people who are over 40 suffer from stress, have an inactive life style, high blood pressure, and very often a family history of heart disease.

The first sign of a heart attack in men is usally chest pain that may radiate down the arms, whereas women have pains in their arms or chin.

If a AED (automated external defribrillator) is located they are self-explanatory and will not work unless the person is in cardiac arrest, Mark said that there is a push for defibrillator cabinets to be left unlocked to make them readily available as every minute counts.

Mark has recently retired from 38 years working for the ambulance service and his highlight was receiving the MBE in 2019 from the late Queen Elizabeth for services to emergency care.

Wendy thanked Mark for an informative talk and hoped that if ever any of us were faced with somebody suffering a cardiac arrest we would know what to do.

Dates were given out for the clubs this month, lunch, book, and the newest club whist.

A trip in February to see the snowdrops at Batsford Park has been arranged.

Information was given to members of the shortlist for the resolutions and members were asked to tell Heather which one they would like to vote for.

Social time this month was a fun quiz provided by Christine and Julie which was not too challenging.

All of our competitions this year are ‘items relating to various countries’, we started with Australia and the winning item was an embroidered napkin depicting flora and fauna.

Sampford Arundel WI meets at the Beambridge Inn on the second Tuesday each month at 7.30 pm and if you would like to come and see what being a member of our WI is like please come and join us, or contact Heather 01823666439 to find out more.

CIVIC and faith representatives from Somerset have made a fact-finding visit to Plymouth to explore the city’s community and cultural connections.

The trip was organised by the Somerset Interfaith Forum, which aims to foster dialogue and understanding among all the faiths represented across the historic county.

Civic dignitaries, themselves reflecting a diversity of faiths, included Lord Lieutenant of Somerset Mohammed Saddiq, High Sheriff of Somerset Janet Montgomery, Somerset Council chairman Cllr Mike Best, Taunton Mayor Cllr Martin Straus, and Mayor of Wells Cllr Louis Agabani.

Faith group representatives included members of the Society of Friends, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, non-conformist, and Anglican Christian communities, and reflected a spectrum of spiritual care offered in health, education, and community life.

The Somerset contingent was hosted by Dr Judith Beckman, president of Plymouth Synagogue.

The visitors were treated to an inspirational presentation by Jerry Sibley, the custodian of the 263-year-old home of the Jewish community.

Arezoo Farazad, chairman of Plymouth Centre for Faiths and Cultural Diversity, also representing the Lord Lieutenant of Devon, and the Rev Michelle Parkman, multi-faith chaplain of Marjon University, explained the approach of the group, which fosters co-operation among the various faith communities and provides educational encounters to thousands of pupils and students.

Speaking after the event, Mr Saddiq said: “I enjoyed my visit to the Plymouth Synagogue with friends from across the county and from different faith groups.

“It offered a fascinating insight into the history of Plymouth and highlighted the enduring importance of the synagogue.”

After lunch, which included the traditional Jewish delicacy smoked salmon, Cllr Straus, who, by his lineage, is a ‘Kohen’, or Jewish priest, gave the priestly blessing in the traditional Jewish chant, aided by Menachem Olberg, a ‘Levi’, or priest’s assistant.

The combined party concluded the day at a reception hosted by the Lord Mayor of Plymouth Cllr Kathy Watkin.

This was held at her official residence located on Plymouth Hoe, a grand house formerly owned by Lady Nancy Astor, the first woman to sit in the House of Commons.

High Sheriff of Devon Caroline Harlow spoke for all the participants in her thanks to the Lord Mayor and expressed her appreciation of a fascinating and absorbing day, saying: ‘It really was wonderful to chat to so many and to learn so much.”

Plymouth Synagogue maintains an Orthodox Jewish tradition and is the oldest Ashkenazi synagogue for Jews of central/eastern European descent in continuous use in the English-speaking world, having been built 1762-64.

The Plymouth trip was the first in what the interfaith forum members hope will be several opportunities to enable representatives from civic bodies and faith communities in Somerset to meet informally and build relationships as they visit places of worship to explore each other’s faith and culture.

The leaders would be pleased to hear from any individual or group who would like to learn more about the forum’s aspirations

For more information, contact Andy Spragg via [email protected] or telephone 07780 991 952.