THE Patient’s Participation Group at Wellington Medical Centre met recently and welcomed four new members from Luson Surgery.

A talk was given by Clare, who had worked at the hospice since Covid and is an associate director of clinical studies/CQC manager, and consultant Dr Kate who has 17 years at St Margaret’s Hospice.

The group learnt that there were 12 inpatient beds in Taunton and the Yeovil centre was for day patients only.

Hospices are no longer a place to go and die, they are a unit for a more holistic and patient focused enabling a longer better quality of life.

The group were surprised to learn that the government only contributes £3 million a year towards running costs when a bed in a hospice is more cost effective than an end of life bed in hospital.

At the moment it costs £15 million annually to run the hospice with clinical costs around £8 million, so fund raising is very important along with donations and legacies.

It was explained that patient assessment criteria is on a need rather than diagnosis, the illness does not necessarily mean cancer, it can be neurological (MND) or heart condition.

There is also care in the home and specialist hubs in the community. Sunflower Centres in both Yeovil and Taunton, and which are for day care where patients can go giving careers respite.

Clare and Kate were thanked by the chair for their time in coming to give the talk.

The hospice was inspected in 2024 and given an outstanding award by the CQC.

Currently the patient list at WMC stands at 22,644 as of Monday, October 20, and the transfer of patients from Luson completed.

A great deal of extra work has been required in the transfer but considering the enormity it has gone very well, although an the NHS has had a few problems due to issues with patient histories being removed from Patient Access but these will be reinstated as soon as possible.

There are four new doctors due to start in November, including Dr Rachel Yates and Dr Addy Awodij from Luson.

Another doctor is coming on sponsorship so waiting on visa to be sorted. Locums are in place in the meantime until full compliment of doctors.

Other recruitments are in place but because of legalities WMC were not permitted to advertise for these extra staff until the actual changeover was complete.

Flu clinics are now completed with longer hours this year to compensate for Luson patients.

Total eligibility was 10,055 so clinics were busy with long queues at times which were caused by patients not keeping to their appointment times so causing problems with parking. Once the request went out for patients to keep to their allotted time queuing was very much quicker, at times non existent.

Veronica Tatnall, chair of the Patient’s Participation Group at Wellington Medical Centre, said: “I would like to thank all patients at the clinics for their kind comments on how the PPG stewards operated especially the Luson patients some of whom found the process quite daunting, it was a pleasure to welcome these people to WMC.

A date is still yet to have been set by WJ White Lining for the redoing of white lining in the car park which is being done as a community project free of charge.

Wellington now has a NHS dentist but due to information being leaked before the planned leaflet drop in the TA21 area only 53 per cent locally were able to sign up.

THE Monument Probus Club of Wellington were buzzing their November meeting as their 23 members were given a presentation by beekeeper Tony Hoyle.

Mr Hoyle, who keeps his hives in Milverton, kept an engaged audience for more than an hour as he illustrated his talk with various items of beekeeping equipment.

During his presentation, which began with an explanation of how he first took up beekeeping around 40 years ago, Mr Hoyle detailed the preparation and construction of the hives through to the final production of honey.

Mr Hoyle, who sells his honey locally, also warned of the various predators and other dangers that threaten the UK’s bee population today and the steps that are being taken to protect it, including strict inspections.

The presentation was followed by a question-and-answers session after which a vote of thanks was proposed by Richard Smith, a club member, who has a close association with Mr Hoyle’s beekeeping operation.

The presentation was preceded by the regular business section of the meeting, held at the Beambridge Inn, Sampford Arundel, which opened with members being welcomed by the club’s vice-president, David Badham.

A minute’s silence was observed for member Dudley Edgar and honorary member Tony Hull, who had both recently passed away.

Members were also reminded of dates the 2025 Past Presidents’ Lunch and 2026 President’s Luncheon, both of which are scheduled to take place at the Oake Manor Golf Club.

Looking further ahead to the club’s annual meeting in April, Richard Whiteway, the secretary, urged members to put their names forward to fill the roles of vice-president and secretary.

The next meeting will be held on Thursday, December 4, at the Beambridge Inn, starting at 11am. The guest speaker will be Charlotte Humber, who will give a presentation on the work of the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance.

THE Rotary Club of Wellington recently enjoyed a visit to the Culm Valley Model Railway Club at its base in The Old Well Garden Centre at Waterloo Cross, Uffculme.

Founded in 2006, the Culm Valley Model Railway Club began when a simple newspaper advert attracted a dozen local enthusiasts. Early meetings took place in a room above the village chapel, where members gathered to plan and construct intricate model railway layouts.

The club’s first public show, organised by a 16-year-old member in 2008 at Willand Village Hall, drew an impressive 500 visitors and marked the start of what has become a long and successful tradition.

In 2010, the club embarked on its most ambitious project yet: a detailed recreation of Tiverton Junction, designed with assistance from the Tiverton Museum and British Rail archives at Swindon.

Work began slowly but with painstaking attention to historical accuracy and detail.

A major breakthrough came in 2019 when The Old Well generously offered the club a large building to permanently house the 30-foot by 12 foot layout.

Club members worked on the building shell, laying flooring, installing insulation, electricity, and water before turning their attention to the railway itself.

By December that same year, the Tiverton Junction was open to the public twice monthly, on the second and fourth Sundays.

The layout’s quality soon drew national recognition, and in December 2023 it was featured as Layout of the Month in Railway Modeller magazine. Membership has since increased from 18 to 45.

Tiverton Junction is modelled in OO gauge and captures the late 1950s to early 1960s—the twilight of steam and dawn of diesel.

The branch lines to Tiverton (1848–1967) and Hemyock (1876–1975) remain operational in this miniature world, as does the wartime fuel depot that once supplied local airfields, including Exeter.

Every detail has been crafted by hand; with nearly 500 feet of Peco track, 56 electric points, and even working signals, and telegraph poles made from bamboo.

The model’s reproduced buildings are built from plasticard using scaled architectural drawings, depicting Tiverton Junction and surrounding buildings before the M5 motorway transformed the landscape in 1975.

The club also features a Thomas the Tank Engine layout for children to drive, and a guest layout that changes regularly, offering a glimpse into the meticulous craftsmanship that went into creating the model railway layouts.

Open days, held on the second and fourth Sundays of each month from 10am to 4pm. Admission is free, though donations are gratefully accepted to help maintain the layouts and equipment.

Members of the Rotary Club enjoyed many of the finer points that the model railway depict.

THE Upper Culm Valley Mission Community were delighted to welcome the Bishop of Exeter the Rt Rev Mike Harrison to an afternoon service at St Mary’s, Hemyock, held to give thanks for everyone engaged in Caring in Our Community.

Among the congregation were representatives from many of the local medical and caring organisations.

The readings were given by a member of the ambulance service and the Blackdown Support Group with the Bishop giving the address.

Lay minister Dr Katharyn Mumby led a prayer activity to open hearts and minds to God’s presence among people with lay minister Dr David Major reminding the congregation of the meaning of Shalom. Members of the congregation were invited to take part in prayers by placing a handwritten message on a board.

Following the service the Church Room was filled as folk enjoyed tea and cake and the opportunity to chat to the Bishop.