Dear Editor,

Please can you put a mention in the journal after 25 years of working at Norton Hill School, Midsomer Norton, I am retiring at Easter it has been an absolute privilege to work with some amazing students past and present . Thankyou all the local businesses for your support in giving the students work experiences placement an average of approximately 5,000 students. Please continue to do so it makes such a difference.

My role was cover lessons, work experience etc over the last 25 years I have taught public services asdan English technology etcetera.

Jane Doherty

Dear Editor,

In January I wrote regarding the escalating costs and uncertain progress of the Town Hall project. Since then, there has been a concerning lack of meaningful public information.

In November 2025, the town council provided detailed and welcome transparency on the project’s finances and progress through published papers. Residents were, at last, able to see clearly both the scale of the costs and the challenges involved.

However, this level of openness now appears to have diminished. The minutes of December 2025 set out a series of specific expectations: key works, including heating, flooring and finishing tasks, were due to be completed before Christmas, with overall decoration expected by late January or early February.

Yet by March, the update to councillors had been reduced to a brief verbal report noting only “progress on the glass lobby and the Building Management System,” with no detailed written update made available to the public.

What has happened to the timetable set out in December? Were those works completed as planned? If not, what are the reasons for delay, and what additional costs have been incurred?

After the transparency shown last November, residents are entitled to expect the same standard of clear, published information, not a return to vague and undocumented updates.

Yours faithfully,

Peter Marwood

Midsomer Norton

Dear Editor,

I must thank the Free Press for recently publishing some of my letters in the Post Bag section and recognising the irony that the actions that are taking place in the Middle East.

Having being started not by a rogue leader of an African state, a dictator of an unstable South American country, a despotic leader of a communist regime or a country with undeclared nuclear weapons but a leader of a country always regarded as a bastion of democracy in the western world.

This country is also a member of N.A.T.O. An organisation formed to prevent aggression and keep world peace. Donald Trump is completely undermining N.A.T.O. And unless the organisation condemns the actions of the United States it will lose its credibility and be a failure just as the League of Nations did after being founded on the end of the First World War.

Andrew Brown, via email

Dear Editor,

Secondary schools in Somerset can fundraise to feed an entire school of hungry children by signing up for a charity’s life-changing Feed A School initiative.

Mary’s Meals provides meals to more than three-million children every school day in some of the world’s poorest communities across 16 countries. The promise of a nutritious meal at school attracts these children into the classroom, where they can gain an education that can be their ladder out of poverty. Yet millions of children still miss out on going to school due to hunger. 

Through Feed A School, secondary schools can ensure every pupil at a school in Malawi or Zambia receives a nutritious meal every day for a full school year. The initiative is a transformative way to give hundreds of vulnerable children hope for a better future. Providing healthy meals for a whole school has a huge impact not only on the children, but also on their families and the wider community.

Feeding an entire school for a year is more achievable than many realise – with Mary’s Meals, it costs just 10p a day to provide a child with a nutritious school meal. Whether schools choose to fundraise on their own, or join with others in the area, they will develop a real sense of connection to their chosen school and to the children they are helping, with updates from the feeding programme and a final report from the Malawian or Zambian school at the end of the year.

A school’s support can bring hope to more children like Sean, aged 12, from Mbayani Primary School in Malawi. Hunger is a daily struggle for Sean and his classmates, but with Mary’s Meals, they have a chance at a brighter future.

Schools that choose to fundraise won’t be doing it alone. Mary’s Meals will be there to support schools throughout their fundraising year – and each participating school will be joining others up and down the country who agree that in this world of plenty, no child should miss school because they are too hungry to learn.

Find out more at www.marysmeals.org.uk/feed-a-school

Mary’s Meals, via email

Dear Editor,

As Mental Health Awareness Week (May 11 to 17) approaches, I would like to encourage readers to join us in taking action to support their mental wellbeing.

We have been running Mental Health Awareness Week for 25 years, helping to break the silence around mental health and promoting an openness which has improved people’s lives. But awareness alone isn’t enough. This year, we’re focusing on Action because the small things we do each day can make a big difference to how we feel. Whether that’s asking for support, taking time to do things that are good for your wellbeing, or checking in on someone else.

Visit mentalhealth.org.uk/action for information, resources and advice as we encourage you to take action for good mental health this Mental Health Awareness Week – for yourself, for someone else, for all of us.

Yours sincerely,

Alexa Knight

Director of policy and influencing, Mental Health Foundation