Day 42 – Yeovil, Somerset

Day 42 – Yeovil, SomersetI have enjoyed a tremendous first day in the South West and I am on a bit of a high! Today I was in the ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset and my walk was organised and hosted by Yeovil College http://www.yeovil.ac.uk/ .

Mandy Morton and Christine Burton from Yeovil College were integral to the coordination of my visit and I am sincerely grateful for their super support at such short notice.


It was a pleasure to meet the Mayor of Yeovil Town, Councillor Philip Chandler, who kindly attended the start of today’s BRIT 2012 Challenge walk and spent time talking to the young people in attendance.

As well as acting as Chairman of the Town Council, Philip undertakes a wide variety of civic duties and responsibilities on behalf of the Town Council and the people of Yeovil. He is supported in this role by his partner, Linda - Mayoress of Yeovil, and by the Deputy Mayor, Clive Davis and his wife, Sally.

Yeovil College staff members, Steve Berryman and Kath Purnell, came with their Uniformed Public Service students who not only walked with me, but assisted as marshals and helpers.

It was an absolute pleasure to be able to talk to this motivated group of young people and listen to their career aspirations.  They stayed with me for the full 24 laps around the athletics track and we had some very interesting conversations.

Talking to students and young
people during the 24 laps of the
athletics track today

Elwin Higgins, another staff member of Yeovil College, brought along students who are attending the Preparation for Life & Work Course.  Once again, I was fascinated to hear the hobbies that they like to enjoy out of college and all the skills they are learning on the course.  The differing skills they are learning are vast and every student was clearly enjoying the course and the rapport with the members of staff was a joy to see.

With students on the Public
Services Course at Yeovil College

Paul Duffet and George Mapletoft staggered the arrival and departure of over 30 young people who are students at Lufton Manor.  Lufton Manor is a residential care home run by Mencap for students with severe learning disabilities/difficulties and challenging needs.

For more information on the facility and the many others that Mencap runs, the website link is here; http://www.mencap.org.uk/. It was super for me to spend time walking along with this group of very happy and enthusiastic students who had an endless list of questions to ask me about what I was doing and why.

With the Mayor of Yeovil & young people
from Yeovil College, Lufton Manor,
Oaklands Community Primary School,
Milford Infants School & the Yeovil
College Children's Centre pre-school group

I also had the pleasure of being joined by young people from Oaklands Community Primary School http://www.oaklandsprimaryschool.co.uk/page/default.asp?title=Home&pid=1 and Yeovil College Children’s Centre pre-school group.

I had great fun chatting to the children from Oaklands School. All the pre-school children did very well and completed two full laps of the athletics track.

Clearly evident, was the way in which the community came together to support me and how strong the relationship is between Yeovil College and the Community Schools through the Yeovil Federation.

The older students were remarkably patient and understanding of the younger children and this added to a very happy and enjoyable day.  I am deeply grateful to everyone for an unforgettable first day in the South West of England and making my visit to Somerset and Yeovil such a positive experience.

1685 miles to go.

With kind regards,

Phil