Dear Editor,

The judge for our annual Digital Competition featuring a letter of the alphabet, has for some years now been club member Pip Rabbetts, and last night she again bravely donned her judge’s mantle to deliver her commentary on entries whose titles featured The Letter “T”. As usual she took the role very seriously, describing each image in detail, and taking time to appreciate the photographer’s intent, before offering ideas for possible technical improvements based upon her own knowledge and understanding.

It was a pleasant, sociable evening that saw Janice Cuer return to our meeting after a long absence. She was warmly welcomed with husband, Martin, as were her entries in the competitions, especially when she was Commended for her colour entry “Telephone Boxes” and her Mono effort, “Tyne Bridge”.

Full results:

ColourDPI: Commended: Janice Cuer, Bill Collett, and Pamela Bruce-Lockhart. Highly Commended: Diana Walker, Graham Nicholls and David Bathard. 3rd, “Toddler Tube Triumph” Pamela Bruce- Lockhart; 2nd, “Tunnel” Bill Collett and the eventual winner of the section was Jill Toman’s “Tuscan Hills”.

Mono DPI: Commended: Suzanne Ladd, Tony Nineham, Janice Cuer. Highly Commended: David Bathard, Suzanne Ladd and Jenny Short. 3rd, “Tor” by Jill Toman; 2nd, “Time Out” by Pamela Bruce- Lockhart; and 1st, “Thames Jetty” by Bill Collett.

Pip was thanked, all members were reminded of the annual dinner and awards next Thursday, and informed that our Website Sponsor, Security Firestation, will be kindly facilitating a new award this year! This for the Sponsor’s choice of image from the existing member galleries. We have until Sunday at noon to ensure our best images are up on the web galleries to stand a chance!

Jenny Short

Dear Editor,

They are an everyday hazard to all who use our roads and much anger and ill comment has been directed towards the Local Authorities Highways Departments across the country for the poor state of maintenance of our highways.

But, despite their attempts to get to grips, the authorities seem to be fighting a losing battle, as do those many folk who have tried, and failed to secure compensation for damage incurred due to poor highway maintenance.

Many years ago, as a junior Surveyor in a small Urban District Council in Wiltshire, there was one expressions which haunted my boss - "non feasance", which in essence is the failure to perform and act required by law, such as neglecting to fix a pot-hole. Under Section 58 of the Highways Act 1980 "if a claim arises from a failure to maintain a highway, the authority has a defence if they can prove "reasonable care was taken to maintain it".

In those bygone days mentioned above one of the tasks of the Highways Superintendent was "to carry our regular inspections and keep a register of such defects or other conditions and any remedial action taken or planned", as a defence against any future claims.

It was my boss's worst nightmare each month to face the General Purposes Committee to answer questions about the state of the highways in the District and in particular The Pot-Hole Problem.

To mitigate this ordeal, the two days prior to these meetings were spent assiduously mending any such potentially offending obstacles.

Question is: How does the council currently cope with this part of the legislation?

Regards,

Jeff Parsons

Westfield

Dear Editor,

It is with deep regret that we have to inform you that Paulton Party in the Park Ltd will cease to exist from 31st October 2026, and will mean that after our event on July 4 we will no longer be organising and facilitating the annual event in Paulton Memorial Park.

We have enjoyed bringing the event to our residents and outlying villages for the last sixteen years, but the time has come to hand the mantle over to a new crew.

If there is anyone – a group is preferable!, who would like to take this on under their own banner, then the outgoing committee can give some advice (if needed), you just need to ask.

A very big thank you to everyone who has supported us over the years.

Very best wishes go to you all from the organising committee:

George Batchelar (chairman and event manager), Liz Hardman (health and safety), Anne Lyons (stall manager), Ashley Byers (arena events and compere), Bernard Newton (committee member).

Dear Editor,

Reading the article in last week's journal regarding the replacement of outdated street lighting columns in Peasedown (’Lights updated after funding windfall from council’), I just thought I'd mention the changing street scene around the locality following the industrious efforts of the team from National Grid Electricity Distribution who've been upgrading the local electricity distribution network by replacing the timber electricity poles and the multiple bare electricity cables with the single insulated multi-phase cable; which I understand is referred to in the industry as the 'aerial bundled cable'.

The residences of Charlton Road in Midsomer Norton have just acknowledged the completion of this work and credit to the team for working through the continuous January rain along with weekend and even into the late evenings to complete this task and us residents now have a new high-level 'washing line' running the entire length of the street.

The replacement of the low-pressure sodium (SOX) street lighting with the LED lamps was a previous significant change to the street scene which saw the replacement of the historic orange nighttime glow with a bright bluish/white light. However, some warmer coloured LED street lighting has been maintained around the vicinity of Midsomer Norton Town Hall and St John's Church and I'm sure that many local residents will have differing opinions of what street lamp colouring they prefer.

Kind regards,

John Robbins

Midsomer Norton

Dear Editor,

Right now, families around the world are living through the unthinkable - left without a home after earthquakes, floods, drought, or conflict. Lent offers a moment for many of us to pause, reflect, and think about how we can help others.

At ShelterBox, we’re inviting people to turn that spirit of generosity into life-changing support through our Tent for Lent appeal. By fundraising in your own way - individually or with your local church, school, or community - you can help support families with emergency shelter and essentials when they no longer have a place to call home.

Every year, we’re inspired by the incredible creativity of those who take part - whether it’s giving up their beds to camp outside, or completing digital detoxes, swimathons, or litter picks.

Anyone can sign up via shelterbox.org

Harpreet Kaur

ShelterBox