Friday, March 13th, 2026
Council Defends Social Care Cuts Despite Protests | Body Recovered Near Pulteney Weir | Rare Pink Fungus Found in Radstock | Bath Half This Weekend
👧🏽 The leader of BANES Council, Kevin Guy, has told the BBC Bristol that children’s social care is still a priority despite job cuts. Listen to the full interview here - he answered residents questions about roads, housing, green belt, budgets, students, fostering, parking in Twerton and care issues.
👪 Social workers protesting the planned redundancies interrupted a Council scrutiny meeting this week. They warn the proposed restructure could harm support for vulnerable families, writes Local Democracy Reporter John Wimperis in the Bath Voice.
🇮🇷 Iranians in Bath are calling for a protest on Saturday for the voices of the country’s people to be heard. ➡️ And here is a fascinating investigation into how the Iranian government monitors its citizens.
☀️ A map showing potential locations for solar farms and wind turbines in the parishes of Batheaston and St Catherine is sparking concern. More than 100 people attended a public meeting, reports the Bath Echo.
🏆 7-year-old Jake, a Bath boy who had a liver transplant at age 4 and won gold at the Transplant Games last year, has had a big surprise. Former Team GB sprinter and olympic bobsledder, Montell Douglas, known as Fire, surprised him with a special bravery award while filming a story on the games, reports the BBC. Douglas held the British woman's record for fastest 100m sprint at 11.05 seconds and was one of the new Gladiators in a reboot of the television series of the same name on BBC One.
🧑🏫 King Edward’s Pre-Prep school on Weston Lane is seeking planning permission to be turned back into a house and sold, reports the Bath Echo.
🏘️ The Council has approved three car-free homes on a brownfield site in Westmoreland, reports the Bath Echo.
🪸 A fungus found for the first time in Britain in December has been confirmed by DNA testing to be the rare fairy club variety, reports the BBC. It was discovered in Radstock.
⚽️ UPDATE: Come on Bath! Let’s help Bath City FC get closer to their goal to keep the lights on at the side’s Twerton Stadium. Donate here.
Weather
☔️ Pack the brollies - it’s a wet forecast.
📣 Bath’s biggest sporting event - the Bath Half - is this Sunday. Here’s what you need to know:
❤️ As it falls on Mother’s Day, people can leave tributes to mothers and/or loved ones on a message wall in Victoria Park throughout the weekend.
🏃The Bath Half Marathon runs 8am to 2pm. Roughly 12,000 people are expected to take part, running 13.1 miles. Started in 1982, it’s now one of the UK’s most prestigious half marathons.
💛 The Bath Half is also the largest charity fundraising event in the South West with runners raising more than £30 million for charities since 2000.
🏃 Join the free family running event on Saturday, 14th March in Victoria Park.
Under 11 boys race – 10.30am
Under 11 girls race – 10.45am
Under 14 girls race – 11.00am
Under 14 boys race – 11.15am
Family mile run – 11.30am
❤️ A Bath woman who saved her mother’s life with CPR is set to run the Half. Olivia Sugg, 28, performed CPR for eight minutes when her mum suffered a cardiac arrest in 2024, reports the Bath Echo.
💝 Official race starters are 84-year-old Danny Kay, from Trowbridge, and 77-year-old David Saunders, who have completed the Bath Half an incredible 82 times since the first edition in 1982. Here’s Danny speaking at last year’s race:
🚄 “Bath Bullet” Jason Gardener who won 2004 Olympic gold in sprinting is also running. A Bath local, he broke the magical 10-second barrier for 100m.
🚧 Road closures and parking suspensions will be in place throughout the day. You can view the full road closure map here.
🙋 Want to help out? The event relies on hundreds of volunteers each year. If you’d like to get involved, sign up here.
📌 Bath Bee Noticeboard
🪐 Celebrate the 245th anniversary of Uranus’ discovery! 🔭🌟✨
📆Friday 13 March, 6.00pm to 8.00pm
📍Herschel Museum of Astronomy, 19 New King Street, BA1 2BL
🦋 The Curious Minds Festival has begun!
✨ Highlights include:
📚 The Festival Read with Nussaibah Younis
🎭 An Evening With… Larry Lamb
🎶 Cerys Matthews on Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood
🎤 All Stars Poetry Night with Jasmine Gardosi, Tyrone Lewis and Anthony Anaxagorou
🎬 Movie at the Museum: A Knight’s Tale
🎟️ Book here. ⏳
🀄️ Print & Sip - Lino Workshop
📅 Fri March 13th, 5-8pm.
📍Roseberry Road Studios’ bar and gallery
🎟️ £15 - all materials included. Book here.
💬 Talk: Reading the Records of Enslavement
📆 2 April 2026 ⏰ 6:00pm - 8:00pm
📍Beckford’s Tower
🎫 Book here
🎨 Unapologetic - International Women’s exhibition
📅 7 - 15th March
🥂 Potluck picnic - Save Bath Artists’ Studios
📅 Tuesday 10th of March ⏰ 6pm - 8pm
📍 Bath Artists’ Studios, The Old Malthouse, Comfortable Place, Upper Bristol Road, Bath BA1 3AJ
🎟️ Book here
🎨 Motherland exhibition
📆 23rd–30th March ⏰ Open daily, 10am–5pm
📍Bath Artists’ Studios
✨ Private View (open to the public): 23 March, 7–9pm with a bar and live music. ✨
City & Region
🔮 Glastonbury council has paused the town’s UNESCO World Heritage status bid after more than 3,800 residents signed a petition against the plans, reports the BBC.
🚭 Attention all smokers. A drop-in van offering support to stop smoking, health coaching and heart health check-ups, including blood pressure testing — all free of charge — will be in the Bath area in the run-up to No Smoking Day on March 13th. Dates and locations can be found here.
🚰 A water company is using ancient hedge-laying techniques to improve biodiversity near Blagdon Lake, a 440-acre reservoir in the Mendip Hills, reports the BBC.
Crime
💍 A woman and a teenage girl from London have been banned from entering Bath after admitting a series of jewellery store thefts. The pair pleaded guilty to stealing items worth more than £1,500 from shops and will be sentenced at Stratford Magistrates’ Court in April, reports the Bath Echo.
🚨 A 29-year-old man who repeatedly assaulted his now ex-partner, including in the bedroom of her home in Bath, has been given a restraining order and told to pay her compensation, reports the Bath Echo.
🚘 Police are urging parents to speak to their teens after several incidents of unlicensed teens joyriding in villages around Bath, reports the Bath Echo.
Transport
🤕 More than 700 traffic accidents in 2025 were entirely preventable, reports the Bath Echo.
🚲 Crews have started work on a new walking and cycling route through Bath city centre linking Charles Street, Upper Borough Walls and Pulteney Bridge, reports the Bath Echo.
🚂 Rare video of the last Somerset and Dorset train has emerged from the 1960s. Watch it here on the BBC. ➡️ Read more about the line here.
Sweet stuff 🍯
😇 Bath Abbey has successfully raised a further £90,000 for its Saint Alphege Window Appeal. Saint Alphege was born in Bath more than a thousand years ago and later became thge Archbishop of Canterbury, before his untimely death at the hands of Danish invaders.
💍 A man who lost his wedding ring in a Somerset lake has been reunited with it after volunteers draining the lake came across it, reports the BBC.
🚛 A Bath boy who loves bin day has been surprised with a toy lorry from his local recycling crew in this really sweet video from the BBC.
🐎 A Somerset man has planted a horse shape filled with spring crocuses:
🎩 Top posts from last week’s Bee:
🤔 Help Friends of Sydney Gardens raise money to renovate the LAST GEORGIAN SUPPER BOX - the precursor of modern–day restaurants. Sydney Gardens once had almost 50 Supper Boxes. Find out more here.
🐝 The first-ever Bee from Friday March 7th, 2025.