somerset

Nearly 90 scuba-diving Santas, reindeer and Christmas trees have gathered to raise money for charity.Certified scuba divers arrived at Radstock's Vobster Quay in Somerset in their festive outfits to fundraise for Help the Heroes and National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) earlier.The organisers have raised £55,000 since the annual event started in 2007, with the 85 divers and supporting team raising more than £3,000 this year. Amy Stanton, Vobster Quay owner, said the event has become a "statement fixture" in…

A long-standing volunteer at a charity shop has made it her personal mission to ensure every teddy bear finds a home for Christmas.Mary Peto, 71, has been telling customers at the St Margaret's Hospice shop in Langport, Somerset, "no bear will spend Christmas alone".Her initiative has spread to all 31 shops in the charity's chain, which are now on a collective mission to rehome their bears of all shapes, sizes and colours."With their little faces looking out from…

A council has agreed a contract that will see them spend nearly £2.2m on tree care over the next four years.The deal agreed by Somerset Council includes funding for ongoing efforts to combat ash dieback, which is a fungal disease that has wiped out thousands of ash trees in the UK since it arrived in 2012.The Mendip and Quantock hills in Somerset are some of the areas that have been particularly effected by the spread of the disease.Councils…

Joe SkirkowskiWest of EnglandBBCPupils at Haygrove School in Somerset are being punished for wearing mascara and false eyelashesParents have described a make-up ban at their children's school as "ridiculous".They said that pupils at Haygrove School in Bridgwater, Somerset, have been inspected and separated from their peers for wearing fake eyelashes and false nails.Staff have been criticised for bringing in the rules suddenly but said they were merely enforcing an existing ban, for the benefit of the pupils' mental…

A council said it was reviewing all projects where it looked after money on behalf of organisations after "mistakes" were made over a £2.9m government-funded factory regeneration.Somerset Council's chief executive Duncan Sharkey told an audit committee the authority "got it wrong" with its financial oversight of the stalled Life Factory project in Glastonbury."The processes weren't strong enough," he said. "What we need to do is have less chance of getting things wrong again in the future and give…

A shortage of experienced, qualified applicants for vacancies is making a local authority "difficult to run", according to its chief executive.Duncan Sharkey, of Somerset Council, said the "biggest issue" facing the authority now was the ability to recruit, with most departments struggling to find enough suitable candidates for vacant jobs.Mr Sharkey also admitted that council bosses "got it wrong" in at least three departments, when they cut more than 500 posts at the authority in the last year.He…

BBCSarah Sutton has operated the reindeer visitor experience for the past 12 yearsThe owner of a reindeer visitor attraction has said she fears that her business will be forced to close after the council asked her to apply for a different licence. Sarah Sutton, who has run the Somerset Reindeer Ranch for 12 years, said Somerset Council had now told her she must obtain a zoo licence or the premises would only be able to open six days…