Cheddar reservoir has been closed to visitors today due to a spike in anti-social behaviour during periods of hot weather.

The decision comes after a “dramatic” increase in people swimming, drinking, littering and gathering at the site.

Steve Smith, head of recreations at Bristol Water, said: “I’m a huge advocate of walking in nature for our wellbeing, so this is not a decision taken lightly.

“We’re sorry that the actions of a small minority are ruining it for the majority, but we cannot risk anyone losing their life.”

The reservoir will be shut on days where the temperature exceeds 23 degrees.

During periods of closure, car parks and gates will remain locked and security will be on site.

Closures will be published at least 24 hours in advance, and signs will be in place locally.

Mr Smith added: “Thank you to everyone who enjoys the reservoir safely and we're sorry that we've had to resort to this.”

He added that this year, anti-social behaviour has been “unlike any other year” – largely, he believes, because people are not going on holiday and also swimming pools have been closed due to coronavirus.

Image source, Getty Images

Bath's Christmas market has been cancelled over concerns about the spread of Covid-19.

The market, which attracts thousands of people a year to the city, was due to take place between 28 November and 15 December.

Chief executive of Visit Bath, Kathryn Davis, said: "It is disappointing that we cannot hold the Christmas Market this year, but I hope everyone will understand the reason for this decision and the early notice we are giving.

"We fully understand the value of the Bath Christmas Market to the city, but public safety and preventing the spread of Covid-19 has to come first."

She added there would still be music and entertainment, cultural events and street stalls and all of this would be delivered in a Covid-secure way.

"Our message is that Bath is still open, however Christmas will look a little different this year so we can all enjoy it safely and we hope to be back to normal next year and celebrating the 20th Christmas market.”

Public health officials are working to contain a "small outbreak" of coronavirus among workers at some of Swindon's biggest employers.

There has been one confirmed case at Honda and 14 spread across Royal Mail, the fire service, and XPO which runs Iceland's distribution centre.

It is believed all of the cases involve people catching Covid-19 outside of the workplace.

Contact tracers will be focussed on the victims' social life.

Public Health England described the numbers as not too concerning adding that local outbreaks will happen.

Steve Maddern, who is the Director of Public Health at Swindon Borough Council, said as people were socialising more, and not necessarily in pubs or restaurants, it more it was important to follow the guidelines.

"People are probably doing what they should be in their workplaces because a lot of support has been wrapped round that.

"[But] they may not have been adhering to the protective messages while out socialising."

The Mayor of Bristol said he is "not in a rush to sort a replacement" for the toppled statue of slaver Edward Colston.

The statue was pulled down during a Black Lives Matter protest on 7 June before being flung into the harbour.

Marvin Rees said the empty plinth is a "powerful statement" and a "space to stop, think and reflect".

The resin figure of Jen Reid with her fist raised, called A Surge of Power, was created by London-based artist Marc Quinn and stood on the plinth for less than 24 hours last week.

After it was removed by the council for not having planning permission, he offered to pay the costs incurred.

Mr Rees revealed the removal cost was £560 for the equipment hire.

He said the authority would not charge the artist for council staff and time.

He also said if Mr Quinn offered the city a maquette of the sculpture it would be taken and displayed alongside the Colston statue and BLM placards from the protest march.

Mr Rees said he is working with a commission of historians and experts, to look at the different aspects of the city's past.

Part of this will involve looking at themes including the working class, women and orphans "rather like the way the programme A House Through Time looked at more than just the homeowners".

It will also include a project to trace Bristolians through their genealogy.

Around 400 protesters gathered in the centre of Bristol on Saturday to call for equal rights for trans people.

Protesters gathered from noon, staying socially distanced from each other and mostly wearing masks, before listening to speeches from 1pm.

Ministers are unlikely to back a major reform to the Gender Recognition Act, it is understood, amid fresh uncertainty over when the government will actually announce its plans.

Sources have indicated the government is not expected to support what's known as "self-ID", whereby a trans person could legally change their gender without, for example, a medical diagnosis.

Last month, the government said it would publish its long-awaited response to a consultation on the act in July. But a statement from the Government Equalities Office outlines a vaguer "intention" to publish a response this summer, which would apply to England and Wales.

A spokesman from he protest group told the BBC: "On 14th June 2020, the Sunday Times reported that, despite 70% of responses to the recent consultation on the reform of the Gender Recognition Act being in favour of self-identification, the UK Government intends to scrap the GRA reform and roll back the hard-won rights of trans and non-binary people.

"In countries where self-identification has already been legalised, such as Norway, Malta and Ireland, no increase in attacks on women and girls has been reported.

"We are protesting this unworkable, unfair and dangerous plan, which would have a huge impact on the safety, dignity and wellbeing of trans people."

One of the men who was part of the operation to towed the SS Great Britain back into Bristol has been recounting his surprise at the reception she got - fifty years on.

Dave Sidwell, a deckhand at the time, says that when his and other boats towed the SS Great Britain out into the Bristol Channel on Sunday, July 5, 1970, ready for her final journey up the River Avon, it felt just like any other day.

But he and his fellow crew were about to realise just how excited the residents of the city were to see ‘their’ ship return home.

Image source, SS GB Trust

“We got to what we call Black Rock and from there you can just see the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

“Then we could see the people all the bridge and we thought ‘what’s all this then?’

“There were people on the Portway and the towpath and when we got level they started cheering.

“It wasn’t until we got there that we realised this was something special.”

Image source, Marion Morrison/South American Pictures

A flotilla of small boats came out to join the SS Great Britain on the final stages of her voyage.

“When we got into the Cumberland Basin I don’t know how many people were there,” added Mr Sidwell. “Thousands and thousands and thousands.”

“That was when it got quite emotional.”

Mr Sidwell is now a volunteer on the ship he helped bring back to Bristol.

Image source, Marion Morrison/South American Pictures

Fifty years ago the SS Great Britain made her triumphant return to Bristol, coming up the River Avon to the cheers of an estimated 100,000 people.

But before the ship’s 8,000-mile journey could begin, she had to be rescued from her resting place off the Falkand Islands and made ready for the long voyage.

It was a delicate and sometimes dangerous operation for the people involved.

Stu Whatley was one of the experienced divers who went into the waters of Sparrow Cove in 1970 to help refloat the ship.

Image source, SS GB Trust

“She was full of holes: one of our first jobs was patching those up,” he said.

“There was a crack from the keel to the deck end - it was wide enough that you could put your arm in it.

“The decking was lethal, the planks were like matchwood.”

Once the delicate operation to refloat the hulk and get her onto a pontoon was completed, the crew had to prepare for the 8,000-mile voyage back to the UK.

An appeal went out on the Falkland's local radio stations for mattresses, seen as ideal for plugging holes.

“We ended up with a boatload of them,” said Mr Whatley.

Image source, Marion Morrison/South American Pictures

Mr Whatley and his fellow divers stayed with the ship as she travelled up the Atlantic towards Bristol in case it sprung any leaks.

They were still on the deck in their wetsuits as she made her slow journey up the River Avon to the edge of the city’s harbour in 1970.

Image source, SLX

The Bristol Old Vic turned red on Monday night as part of the #Lightitinred campaign, which aims to highlight the critical condition of the live events business.

The arts industry has largely welcomed the government's announcement of a £1.57bn support package.

It followed several weeks of lobbying from theatres, music venues, art galleries and other cultural institutions, many of which said they were on the brink of collapse.

SLX lit up the Bristol Old Vic and CEO, Alastair Currie, said: "As ever with these things, the devil is in the detail and it will be vital that this money filters out beyond London and the West End and makes it to the counties and other cities, like Bristol."

A brand new initiative called Ourboretum, which will see communities grow 2,020 native trees from seed, has been launched by BBC Radio Gloucestershire and the Cotswolds Conservation Board.

It's in response to the ash dieback disease which is expected to nearly wipe-out Gloucestershire's third most common tree species.

Over the next year, everyone in Gloucestershire is invited to form a virtual arboretum growing healthy saplings which will be used to replace many of the ash trees which are dying.

Image source, Avon and Somerset Police

Police in Bristol have arrested a driver who reached 130 miles per hour on the M32 early on Sunday.

In a post on social media, Avon and Somerset Police said the driver of this Lamborghini failed to stop, and quoted the story of the hare and the tortoise.

Avon and Somerset Police Road Safety Team said: "However we all know the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. Tortoise 1, Hare nil."

Police added that the driver would be in court for various driving offences.

Press Association
Megan Baynes

Vulnerable people across the UK have expressed fear over the changes to shielding rules which will allow them to meet others for the first time in three months, from Monday.

Those shielding from coronavirus in England will be allowed to meet other people outdoors in groups of up to six from July 6 and those who live alone or in single-parent households will be able to create a "support bubble" with one other household of any size.

However, those who have spent much of the last 102 days avoiding the rest of the population have said they feel hesitant about the risks.

Image source, Getty

Sophie Jones-Cooper, 41, from Cheltenham, spent five weeks isolating in her bedroom, away from her husband and three children, because she was classed as extremely vulnerable due to having Crohn's disease.

She said: "I am a lot warier and scared because I have built up a safety net which has made me feel secure.

"I think everyone else being told that they can relax, that scares me as well. You know, people meeting up in pubs soon and having too many drinks and forgetting to be sensible - they will probably be okay even if they get it.

"But people like me, there's more risk of me getting it and we've done so much as a family and have been through so much emotionally to stay safe. It is a shame if people don't respect that people still are at high risk from it, it hasn't gone away and it's still a problem."

The family will not be "bubbling" with anyone but have considered inviting grandparents over and seeing them in a socially distanced way in the garden.

Image source, Ansty Pick Your Own

A huge maze has been cut in an eight-acre (3.24 hectare) field of maize at Ansty Pick Your Own near Salisbury in Wiltshire, as a thank you to the NHS.

Owner, Karren Price, said: "We designed it with social distancing in mind.

"Normally there are loads of dead ends and places to get lost but we have done one continuous loop this year, which means you have to walk the entire eight-acre maze."

She said despite uncertainty over lockdown restrictions, they had "decided to take the chance”.

"It was obvious to us to dedicate it to the NHS and show our appreciation in the only way we knew how," she said.

"Build them an eight-acre thank you."

On Sunday, people are being encouraged to celebrate the NHS's 72nd birthday and thank key workers for their support during the coronavirus pandemic with a nationwide clap next month.