Around 200 community members joined us for this year’s Community Resilience Day at Taunton Racecourse! The day was filled with several informative workshops and presentations about creating more resilient communities. Our highlights for the day included a keynote speech from Clinton Rogers and our annual Community Resilience Awards that were kindly presented by the Lord Lieutenant, Mohammed Sadiq. We were very pleased to have a wide range of stalls and talks from our partners who were able to join us for the day.
This year we welcomed the following organisations:
If you would like to find out more about what each organisation does please following the links below:
Flood Control International | The Water Stops Here®
Flood Re – A flood re-insurance scheme
FloodKit – Flood Prevention Products That Help Protect Your Home From Flooding
Rheos Environmental Consulting
Workshops & Presentations
We had so many great workshops and talks at this year’s Community Resilience Day. You can access some of the presentations and supporting materials by clicking on the links below:
SRA – Riparian Ownership Workshop
The Somerset Assembly Group – Solving Crises with Community Assemblies
EA – Coastbusters Presentation
Somerset Council EPRR – How to Test and Refresh Your Emergency Plan
Stormwater Shepherds Presentation
- If you would like to sign up to Stormwater Shepherds newsletter, please follow the link: https://www.stormwatershepherds.org.uk/
Key Note Speaker – Clinton Rogers
Our key note speaker for this year’s Community Resilience Day was former BBC Somerset West reporter Clinton Rogers.
Clinton, who had worked for the BBC for over 40 years, shared his own personal stories of how he has become more resilient. From his work reporting from global conflict zones to local flooding in Somerset, Clinton showed how even the most simplest actions can enhance our preparedness for future events.
Many thanks to Clinton for joining us!
Community Resilience Awards!
The day also featured the Somerset Prepared Community Resilience Awards. We were delighted to have the Lord Lieutenant of Somerset, Mohammed Sadiq, present these awards to our winners, runners up and commendations. All of our nominees have made real differences within their communities and have shown what it means to be more resilient!
You can read a bit more about them below.
The Individual Award Winner –
Chris Hillier of Oake
Chris Hillier has made an outstanding contribution to building community resilience in the Wellington and Wiveliscombe Local Community Network area.
Through his leadership and commitment, he has offered his services and expertise to help inform local communities to prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies, helping them to understand what is required to face future challenges.
He has led the development of our community’s Emergency plan. In doing so this has shown how fragile our communities are to issues that are outside our sphere of influence but will effect our way of life. The emergency plan ensures the parish will be as ready as is can be.
Individual Runners Up –
Tim Adams (Compton Pauncefoot) & Susannah Clemence (Glastonbury)
Tim has dedicated a vast amount of time to everything related to flood risk mitigation, and for several years now has made important contributions to helping protect communities from flooding by researching the topic and liaising with the relevant bodies.
He did a significant amount of work to support the process of installing river‐level warning gauges along the River Cam. He has set up a WhatsApp channel to provide alerts to anyone concerned about flooding. He also researched suitable apps which could provide a better alert system, and then liaised with the app providers to ensure that two different apps could be used to receive customised alerts.
He continues to provide support for all the Cam communities by attending workshops and meetings, passing relevant information on to parish councils and other relevant contacts, as well as still maintaining a very useful public WhatsApp channels and sharing useful information via various social media.
Susannah continues to work non-stop on a wide range of community projects that help to build our town’s resilience. By building networks and skills, our community will be better prepared for future emergencies. She has an impressive ability to keep trying in different ways, and is responsible for bringing people together and making things happen, no matter who says that things won’t work.
She has a relentless belief that people are good, and that things can get better.
Individual Commendations –
Amarachi Mbanaso , Kevin Entwistle, Jane Lawrence
Amarachi Mbanaso –Amarachi has supported many Nigerians in so many ways ranging from helping them know to get different things such as food and groceries. She has also supported most Africans that are stranded in the community. She has also champion raising of fund for African people who do not have food to eat and have helped to drop some at their different places of work. She has also helped people to find accommodation here in Somerset
Kevin Entwistle – Kevin has not only recruited and led a new team but has taken on all of the most challenging work, in particular approaching all the various agencies, landowners and farmers to find solutions. He’s also handed over projects to other members of the team whilst keeping an overall handle on progress. He is always patient, courteous, respectful and somehow has a great sense of humour.
Jane Lawrence – Jane has been tireless in supporting the local community that flooded badly in 2024. She has written and got a local council agreement, for the Emergency Flood Plan and has visited all flood victims in her community of West Camel.
The Group Award Winner –
Martock Flood Group
Martock Flood Group have been operating a flood warden scheme to protect their community for over eleven years. Since January 2024, the Flood Wardens from this group have attended 23 flooding incidents, some lasting for 2-3 days, where assistance has been given to residents, together the constant monitoring of rising water courses and flood alarms. Flood warning signs have been deployed on flooded roads, coupled with operating sluices on flood storage areas. The sluices on the River Parrett at Parrett Works and Gawbridge Mill are operated by Wardens throughout 24 hour periods when flooding is likely and where nearby roads, like the Martock to South Petherton road, providing access to the local hospital and surgery, are susceptible to flooding. Martock Flood Group are also working with Somerset Council to trial a pilot scheme for save closures of roads during flooding incidents.
The Group Award Runners Up –
Knole Community Flood Group & Great Mead Project, Chard
Knole Community Flood Group have pulled together to find solutions to the frequent flooding problems in the village. They have together identified several schemes, some of which have already been implemented, and are in the process of searching for funding for further flood management. They have worked closely with all organisations concerned with water management, and also The Parish Council. Knole Community Flood Group have also encouraged individual house owners to protect their own properties, with information on how best to do this. Lastly, they have formed working parties to clear The Mill stream where appropriate. It has been a great community effort to attempt to prevent further flooding in the village.
The Great Mead Project have been working over the summer holidays to increase community resilience through a wide range of activities happening at this location. This has offered an opportunity for local people to engage in a local green space including children’s play sessions, workshops for adults, including natural projects and painting, meetings around promoting local green spaces. As a result, the project has increased social connections, friendships and have helped to build community capacity whcih in turn has allowed people to start relying on new peers and community groups/spaces.
The Group Award Commendation –
Wincanton Cares
Wincanton Cares provides a broad range of face-to-face support and advice, including links to paid carers to local vulnerable older people and their unpaid carers, typically family members. They work in conjunction with statutory health and social care services and other voluntary organisations seeking to refer people for specialist help to enable them to continue to live independently.
Congratulations to all of our winners, runners up and special commendations!
Thank You!
Thank you so much for those who participated in the 2025 Somerset Prepared Community Resilience Day. The organising team hope that you enjoyed your day, learned new things and expanded your resilience network. We are already planning ahead to 2026 and so would really appreciate if you could complete our short evaluation form here: https://forms.office.com/e/0ShsmPYb3g . It would be great to hear about your highlights of the day and any ideas you have for content or possible venues for 2026.
Thanks again for your attendance and we look forward to seeing you in 2026!