Dear Editor,

I write to commend all involved in Sunday's Remembrance Service in Midsomer Norton's High Street.

The music provided by the Midsomer Norton and Radstock Silver Band was well chosen and beautifully performed with particular emphasis on the Last Post musician.

The event was well attended and I found it deeply moving.

Thank you.

Sharon Adams

Midsomer Norton

Dear Editor,

I write with concerns about the replacement fence palings that are currently being installed along the roadside at Midsomer Norton Railway Station on Silver Street.

The new palings are neither visually pleasing or appropriate within the conservation context of the area. They appear to be made from a very glossy plastic material which reflects car headlights and cheapens the look of the site. The colour is not correct for the station as the existing palings followed the traditional livery colours of the Somerset and Dorset Line. The few that have been installed are very uneven and I notice that the tops are different.

I appreciate that the existing wooden palings are very labour intensive to maintain however they were more historically accurate and befitting for a heritage site which is trying to preserve the past rather than these poor plastic imitations which are currently being installed.

I urgently ask the Station Committee to reconsider this work before the overall historical facade is irrevocably damaged.

Kevin Joint

Midsomer Norton

At the British Heart Foundation (BHF), we are looking for budding elves to spread Christmas cheer and lend an elfing hand in their local BHF shop.

Our volunteers are vital over the festive period, and they can get involved in a variety of tasks—from unleashing their creativity and decorating the shop, to helping organise donations and preparing them for the shop floor, to simply being a friendly ear for customers who might feel lonely at this time of year.

In return for our wonderful volunteer’s generosity, they can expect to make new friends, learn new skills and receive great in-store discounts – handy for any Christmas shopping! Not to mention hot drinks, snacks, and a fantastic festive welcome. You’ll also be helping us raise vital funds to support the charity’s lifesaving research, which helps keep families together for Christmases to come.

So why not put your best elf forward and have a go at volunteering with the BHF? To get involved, pop into your local shop or visit our website.

Jo Wright

British Heart Foundation 

The Global Tipping Points Report 2025 tells us that “The world has entered a new reality. Global warming will soon exceed 1.5°C. This puts humanity in the danger zone where multiple climate tipping points pose catastrophic risks to billions of people.”

A tipping point is a trap door to chaos. They are getting very close. First to go would be coral reefs. About 25 per cent of all marine species, including approximately 4,000 species of fish, rely on coral reefs. If the reefs go, the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people goes too. And the hungry will be on the move.

Next to go would be the Amazon creating havoc in tropical and other climates. Harvests will be decimated. More hungry on the move. Then go the polar ice sheets, the melt creating many metres of sea level rise.

We are teetering on the edge of a precipice. Our scientists have peered over the edge. They are scared, and tell us we mustn’t tumble into that chaos. Economists say it’s much cheaper to save the planet than to destroy it.

Yet we are creeping closer and closer to the edge, as we continue to burn oil and gas, and to hack down forests. Profit seeking, perhaps by your pension company buying shares on your behalf in fossil fuels, is threatening incalculable destruction.

Why does Reform UK scoff at these warnings? Why do the Conservatives want to slam the brakes on our attempts to deal with them?

If hundreds of doctors told you to take a green pill or you’ll die, and a few politicians, who were not medically qualified, said ‘don’t bother you’ll be fine’, who would you believe? The doctors, or the politicians?

Reform UK and the Conservatives have ruled themselves out of serious political discourse, because they are funded by an increasingly desperate fossil fuel industry. Sane voters must look elsewhere.

Geoff Petty, via email

Many readers will have seen the utter devastation wrought by Hurricane Melissa across multiple island nations in the Caribbean . It’s left families without homes and in urgent need of support.

At the disaster relief charity ShelterBox, we're responding to the emergency in the region. Communication networks are widely affected, so having a team in Jamaica will make it easier to understand the true extent of the damage and what people need, as well as continuing coordination with humanitarian partners and Rotary in the Caribbean.

ShelterBox specialises in emergency shelter, and having aid pre-positioned means we're ready to go in these moments. We have emergency shelter supplies - like tents and tarpaulins - stored in Barbados and Panama, enough to support up to 10,000 people. These include essentials like blankets, water carriers, mosquito nets, and solar lights.

It can be hard to know how to support after disasters of this scale, but every donation - however small - makes a real difference to disaster-affected communities. For more information on donating see shelterbox.org/where-we-work/hurricane-melissa

Dave Raybould

Head of emergency responses , ShelterBox