A highly emotional service to remember VJ Day has taken place at St Mary’s Church Hemyock. The service began with Rear Admiral Tim Lowe (Rtd) CBE carrying and placing on the altar the RBL Lantern of Peace.

Rev Rod Corke led the service which was based on the national one for VEDay80 and included a two minutes silence. His sermon was on forgiveness.

He spoke of his grandfather’s capture by the Japanese whilst a member of the congregation told of his father’s imprisonment in Changi jail.

Rev Rod also brought some family memorabilia from that period which was on display.

The president, Richard Williams, welcomed 28 members to the August meeting of the Monument Probus Club of Wellington, held at the Beambridge Inn, Sampford Arundel.

A brief business section of the meeting included a reflection on a recent successful visit by a party of 28 members and their partners to Nynehead Court Gardens. Vice-president David Badham was thanked for organising the afternoon at which head gardener Justin Cole gave a guided tour of the gardens, including the pinetum, and explained the history of the house. After tea and cakes, members were given the opportunity to visit the small church on the site.

The remainder of the meeting was given over to a talk by club member David Rowsell, who spoke on "The Metropolitan Police, a Personal Reflection of a Lifetime of Service".

Mr Rowsell told how his 30 years of service began in 1991 when he signed up to be a Special Constable. He later switched to becoming a full-time officer, serving mainly in south and central London, including a period policing the Royal Parks, during which time he received three commendations.

In a wide-ranging talk, Mr Rowsell highlighted some of the changes in policing that had taking place during his 30 years of service. He devoted time to some of the serious incidents he encountered, including terror attacks on the capital, but also shared some lighter moments of his career before his retirement with the rank of sergeant.

After answering a round of members' questions, Mr Rowsell was thanked by the president.

The next meeting of the Monument Probus Club will take place at the Beambridge Inn on Thursday, September 4, at 11am, when the speaker will be Nick Thomas, who will give a presentation, entitled "The Wildlife of Costa Rica".

Monument Probus Club welcomes new members. More information can be obtained from the honorary secretary via email at [email protected]

As part of the Rotary Club of Wellington’s aim to further develop partnerships with local schools and young people’s organisations, the Club has decided that we are in a position to assist young people working for their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

If you are a DofE Leader and could use some financial assistance to support your candidates, please contact the Rotary Club of Wellington through Rotarian Mike Webb at [email protected]

Applications will be judged on merit and in particular the benefits offered to young people in our area.

After a very successful programme last season when we performed works by Mozart, Handel and Mendelssohn, enjoyed by all our audiences, we are now looking forward to the start of our singing season for 2025/26.

Our first concert will be on Saturday, November 29, at 7pm at St John the Baptist Church Wellington when we will be singing Handel's Messiah Part 1 and Britten's St Nicolas. Both choral works suited to the festive season.

Rehearsals start on Wednesday, September 3. We are a friendly choir and would always love new singers to come and join us. There is no audition and our musical director Laurence Blyth helps new singers to learn the music.

More information can be found on the website www.wellingtonchoralsociety.org.uk

Nynehead Garden Club were pleased to hold their annual flower show on Saturday, August 9. It was held at Nynehead Village Hall and was the 21st annual flower show for the village. (See more pictures on page 10).

There were entries for all section and items within the show, which covered vegetables, fruit flowers, floral art, cookery and handicrafts, independent judges came to the hall at 10am on the 9th to judge various sections and were all volunteers, their help is appreciated.

The hall opened at 2pm for everyone to view all items, tea, coffee and cake were served and people sat inside and outside on a lovely sunny day.

We are pleased to schedule the winners of the various cups and sections as below:

Best Vegetable – The Prior Shield – Winner John Hill (runner beans);

Best Fruit – The Hargreaves Shield – Winner Marion King (desert apples);

Best Rose – The Rose Cup – Winner Gordon Stead;

Most Cookery Points – The Toogoods Cup – Winner Vicky Lovell;

Most Points in Show – The Nynehead Court Cup – Winner Gordon Stead;

Best Flower – The Shepherd Cup – Winner Mike Broom (dahlias);

Most points in Handicraft – Shield – Winner Tina Mostert;

Spud in Bucket – Mervin Hooper Shield – Winner Bob Foster;

Best Exhibit Cookery – Haslam Cup – Winner Vicky Lovell (cheese scones);

Having awarded cups along with rosettes a raffle was carried out for everyone’s enjoyment.

We hope everyone enjoyed the day and would welcome any new members to our garden club, the next meeting is on Monday, September 8, at 7pm where Stephen Powles is going to talk about hedgehogs needing us.

THERE were 32 packs of hounds from all over the Westcountry and Wales at this year’s Dunster Country Fair.

Taunton Vale won the supreme championship and the Quantock Staghounds the reserve.

Poppy Boon, aged 10, from Exford, won the young handler class, sponsored by Mrs Pam Bosley, from Warren Farm, Watchet.

Pam also presented a cheque for £3,000 to the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance.

Hunt staff wore black armbands in respect for the recent school bus tragedy and a minute's silence was observed.

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More letters from our readers:

Dear Editor

The immortal words of Brenda from Bristol on hearing of the 2017 general election are appropriate with Liberal Democrat Somerset Council’s plan to spend £20 million on consultants under the so-called Inspiring Innovation programme, in the hope of finding savings of £101 million in a single year and a further £89 million thereafter.

We have been here before. In 2007, the ill-fated Southwest One outsourcing deal promised £192 million in savings but ended up costing taxpayers an extra £69 million. The Liberal Democrats have repeatedly led questionable financial decisions: rejecting £200 million in unitary savings in 2007, accumulating £353 million in debt by 2008, and investing £289 million in loss-making properties after 2020. As a result, Somerset now faces about £1 billion in debt, with £60 million a year just to service the interest. The Liberal Democrats are mirroring the government which borrowed £20 billion in June and guess what, £16 billion was to pay debt interest.

What is most alarming is that the council admits it does not yet know how such huge savings can actually be achieved, yet plans to commit millions to consultants whose primary duty is to their shareholders. At the same time, the council has been issued two statutory recommendations to produce detailed savings plans and reform services urgently, but there is a real danger that Inspiring Innovation becomes nothing more than a smokescreen to satisfy these demands without solving the underlying issues.

Nearly half the members of the recent scrutiny committee raised concerns over the lack of concrete planning and the opaque approval process. There is also a looming risk if the council enter bankruptcy, government-appointed commissioners could step in to impose cuts, leaving the £20 million consultancy contract redundant.

Rather than repeating past mistakes and borrowing even more, Somerset Council would do far better to undertake a common-sense internal reorganisation, led by its own staff and elected members. The example of Wiltshire Council, which successfully merged five councils into one and reportedly saved £200 million over 15 years, shows that it can be done—without spending tens of millions on consultants.

I fear that without real change, we risk deeper debt and ever higher interest payments, leaving future generations to pay the price for short-sighted choices made today.

Chris Mann,

Taunton