Self-taught software developer Mike Read began photographing the night sky to relieve stress.

Businesses describe the latest restrictions as a further "body blow" after a disruptive Christmas.

Mark Keating said he "apologised unconditionally" for his comments about the parish councillors.

The mental health of teaching staff across the nation is "as poor as ever", a head teacher says.

Image source, Google

Major roadworks have begun on the A46 after the road suffered subsidence caused by a landslip.

A section of the road between Brockworth and Stroud near Coopers Hill in Gloucestershire has been affected.

Gloucestershire County Council will be working until March to stabilise part of the road surface.

During this time, the road will be fully closed for 12 weeks and will then see further lane closures until 23 April.

A diversion will be put in place using the A4173 and the A417.

The council's senior structure engineer Jennifer Dorman said: "We are hoping that we can save time but we're going for 12 weeks.

"We've got to do some tiling and secure the road and then put a new safety barrier in so it is complex work and we have to rebuild the road afterwards, so it is going to be time-consuming."

Wildlife experts from three organisations try to save the animal at Somerset's Sand Bay.

The pair, aged 22 and 28, were arrested following the wounding of a 15-year-old in Bristol.

Architects, Bristol council and English Heritage will work to bring Temple Church back into use.

A second attack in Bristol in 24 hours left a 15-year-old boy hospitalised.

The Somerset rapper used his own money to make a music studio that wheelchair users can use.

The 17 year-old was wounded in an incident involving a group of men in the centre of Bristol.

The underweight hog was found in a Wiltshire village on Boxing Day and taken to a wildlife hospital.

A trio of public health directors reflect on the year the pandemic took over their lives.

Image source, Somerset CCG

Michael Eavis, the founder of the Glastonbury Festival, says he hopes enough people get the Covid-19 vaccine to allow the 2021 event to go ahead.

The 85 year-old was given his vaccination on New Year's Eve at the Mendip District Council hub in Shepton Mallet.

People over the age of 80, care home staff and front-line health and social care workers are being vaccinated ahead of the rest of the population.

Mr Eavis, whose Worthy Farm site hosts the world's best-known music festival, encouraged others to get the vaccine if offered.

"It is really important that everyone takes the opportunity to have the free vaccine when it is offered to them," he said.

"It is our only real chance of protecting ourselves and our friends and family from this disease.

“As far as the festival is concerned, wouldn't it be wonderful to get the majority of our population vaccinated before June 2021, so that we can celebrate next summer in proper 'Glastonbury style'?"

The victim, in his 60s, died at family-run Crapper and Sons near Wootton Bassett.

David Pittam
BBC News Online

Police are appealing again for help to find one of two convicts who absconded from a Derbyshire prison earlier this month.

Rory Allen left HMP Sudbury, an open prison, on Saturday 5 December with two other convicts.

One, a killer convicted of manslaughter, has since been found. But Allen and one other man - Daniel Gerald Ferris, a 30-year-old convicted robber - are still at large.

Allen, 33, was convicted in 2018 for being concerned in the supply of cocaine and heroin.

Image source, Derbyshire Police

He is black, 6ft 2in tall and has brown eyes, black hair, a black moustache and is of thin build with the word "Tug" tattooed on his right arm.

He has links to the Birmingham, Walsall and Wolverhampton areas but officers think he may be in the Bristol area.

They warned members of the public not to approach him and to contact the police instead.

The leader of Somerset County Council says cases have been trebling over the past three weeks.

Anita Ellis said she was "overwhelmed" by support but the school has a "lot to do" before it reopens.

Campaigners opposed to the £1.7bn scheme want to challenge the decision to grant approval.

The 108-year-old Curzon in Clevedon has struggled because of lockdown restrictions.