A year in stories: What made the headlines in the Somerset County Gazette during 2015 from September to December

SEPTEMBER

PLANS were revealed for Taunton’s derelict former cattle market could look after a £105 million transformation promising to create 1,800 jobs.

The proposals for offices, a hotel, homes, waterfront cafes and bars, a cinema, a supermarket and quality stores were to be unveiled. A planning application was then to be submitted for the project at Firepool, which has remained largely derelict since the livestock market closed in 2008.

WELSH hunk Gethin Jones and his Celebrity All Stars Football Team were in North Curry to play an annual football match.

The match was to raise money for leukaemia and lymphoma research after the passing of Tom Moore, who worked for the Premier League and died of leukaemia last year.

The game also raised money to fund the White Street Sport Ground where North Curry’s cricket and football teams play.

EMERGENCY meetings were being held with the owners of Wansbrough Paper Mill after it was announced the Watchet factory was to close with 176 employees set to lose their jobs.

The site had been home to a paper mill since the 1750s.

WIVELISCOMBE’S ever popular 10 Parishes Festival had another successful run.

The re-opening of Wiveliscombe Town Hall was the centrepiece of the festival on its first weekend and the children took part in the bi-annual festival by dressing up as Roald Dahl characters.

A SOMERSET man who suffered a cardiac arrest has thanked St John Ambulance volunteers who saved his life.

David Fradgley, 74, from Chard, was at the West Somerset Railway Association Steam Rally when he was taken ill suddenly.

Bystanders gave initial first aid while David’s friend fetched volunteers from the nearby St John Ambulance tent to give medical assistance.

TRIBUTES were paid to Taunton teenager who died from a bain tumour. James Willetts, 18, passed away at 7.15pm on Wednesday September 9, following a year long battle with cancer.

OCTOBER

A FAMILY is mourning “one of the good guys” after hopes of finding Josh Clayton were dashed when a body was discovered in the sea off the Isles of Scilly.

A search was mounted after Staplegrove man Josh, 23, disappeared in the early hours of September 13 following a party on the island of Tresco, where he was working.

His family flew out to assist the search, but their worst fears were realised a week and a half later when a lifeboat crew recovered a body off the nearby island of Tean.

MINEHEAD will soon no longer have a town hall after an offer of more than £300,000 was accepted for the Grade-II listed building.

TAXPAYERS were forking out up to £93 an hour to pay for agency nursing staff at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton.

In the first six months of the year, Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, spent more than £2.7m of taxpayers’ money employing agency staff.

A BUSINESSMAN was feeling less than bubbly after being left £8,000 out of pocket after a ‘"man with a van"’ said he had handed over a consignment of 30 cases of Champagne to a thief.

Jaimie Haselock paid the driver £50 to transport the 180 bottles of Louis Roederer from Halse to his flat in London but the driver failed to turn up.

A DEATH threat was sent to Bridgwater and West Somerset MP Ian Liddell-Grainger following his criticism of anti-badger cull protestors.

Conservative MP Mr LiddellGrainger accused anti-badger cull protestors of ‘gutter tactics’ after he received the threatening text message which told him to watch what he said.

A FORMER Wellington School pupil was preparing to take on her biggest challenge yet as she prepared on this year’s The Apprentice.

Selina Waterman-Smith was one of 18 hopeful candidates put through their paces in the hope of becoming Lord Sugar’s next business partner.

A WILLITON GP was suspended after she was found to have allowed her tangled love life to affect her work.

Clare Nettleton, 48, was found guilty of misconduct at a hearing and suspended from the medical for three months after she was found to have accessed the medical records of the wife and children of a man she was having an affair with.

DISGRACED Avon and Somerset Police Chief Constable Nick Gargan handed in his resignation,17 months after he was first suspended. His resignation, came into effect immediately.

HUNDREDS of veterans gathered outside Parliament calling for an immediate retrial for a Taunton Marine who was convicted of murdering an Afghan insurgent.

Royal Marine Sergeant Alexander Blackman, 41, received a life sentence two years ago for killing the wounded captive in Helmand province in September 2011.

THE top traps for parking tickets across Taunton Deane were revealed. Data from a Freedom of Information Act submitted by the County Gazette shows the top 20 streets where tickets have been given since 2012.

Figures showed that so far in 2015, 2,326 tickets were issued,with over £60,000 being paid in fines.

NOVEMBER

TAUNTON beauty Sarah Kana-ah was celebrating after winning a place in the prestigious final of Miss Galaxy England.

The 28-year-old was crowned Miss Somerset in the regional heat of the pageant after beating off competition from other girls in the county.

INADEQUATE children’s services in Somerset which have faced two years of damning reports from Ofsted were beginning to show some improvements.

TV PRESENTER Matt Baker rolled into Taunton and Wellington on a rickshaw as part of a huge charity effort.

The presenter, known for the likes of the One Show and Countryfile, was in the county as part of the One Show’s Rickshaw Challenge.

A TAUNTON man who has dedicated most of his adult life to helping others was celebrated at a service.

Deacon Trevor Jones was joined by family, former colleagues and the Catholic community to mark 25 years since his ordination into the Catholic Church as a deacon.

DRIVERS disregarding bus gates in Taunton had forked out more than £100,000 in fines amid calls to change the controversial lanes.

From January until October this year, 4,475 drivers had been fined a total of £112,627 for driving through bus gates at Ilminster Road and Mountway Road.

A MARTIAL arts fanatic who had a leg amputated and asked friends to guess the weight of the limb being removed to raise money for a hospital.

Peter Rowswell, who underwent surgery at Taunton’s Musgrove Park Hospital said people found his unusual competition “mad or funny”.

DECEMBER

DRIVERS who have faced a decade of delay were set for yet more frustration.

Delays for the NIDR have resulted in three years of road work hell and now the county council says it won’t be completed until the end of 2016.

THE prime minister backed the new look County Gazette – and praised the role the newspaper plays in the community.

David Cameron sent a message of goodwill as the paper revealed a new look, at a special breakfast at the Castle Hotel.

LIFEBOAT officials in Minehead called for a ridge of pebbles blocking the entrance to the town’s harbour to be removed as a matter of urgency.

THE UK Hydrographic Office confirmed its long-term commitment to remain in Taunton.

The office, one of the town’s largest employers with around 1,000 staff, had investigated relocating to Exeter or elsewhere in Taunton, but has decided instead to renovate its existing site.

GOOD Samaritans rushed to the aid of an elderly woman when she blacked out and was left injured after her mobility scooter collided with a car.

The County Gazette reunited the victim with a police officer who stopped the traffic and rode her scooter back to her home while she was being treated in hospital.

THE OWNER of an endangered historic building in Wellington said he is committed to doing everything he can to see the site being reused again despite being served with a repairs notice from Taunton Deane Council.

FORMER Castle School and Richard Huish pupil Gemma Porter had a dream turn into reality after appearing singing on The X Factor.

Gemma is part of gospel choir called Enchorus, who were selected to sing in this year’s show.

A TAUNTON-born former nurse who lived and worked in the town for most of her life was stunned to be billed £4,617 for treatment at the town’s NHS hospital after suffering a heart attack at her sister’s funeral.

Kathleen Batten, 83, was told at Musgrove Park Hospital that she does not qualify for free NHS care because she has lived in Boston, USA, for the past year.

AN INITIAL six refugee families will be welcomed to Somerset next year as part of a national programme to support those fleeing war-torn Syria.

Somerset’s five district councils, the County Council and the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) have confirmed the county will welcome six families in the spring.