Charities

A man mountain himself on the field, former Exeter Chiefs star Simon Alcott has himself been scaling new heights recently as part of a fundraising scheme for the charity Restart Rugby. Having been forced to quit the professional game last season through injury, Alcott chose the official Rugby Players’ Association charity to benefit from his sterling efforts to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain. During the very early hours of Sunday 22 September – a very tired posse of Devon’s finest ‘brave-lads’ picked their way along the lofty summit ridge of the iconic mountain. Former...

On Thursday 10 October a charity dinner, organised by The John Casson Foundation, took place in aid of South West adoption agency Families for Children. 70 guests attended the sell-out event at Gidleigh Park, generously sponsored by wealth Management Company Brewin Dolphin Exeter and independent wine merchant Private Cellar raising £23,000 for the charity.

Guests enjoyed an entertaining and memorable talk from the award-winning actor and writer of Downton Abbey , Julian Fellowes, which was made even more special as the fourth series is currently showing on ITV. This was followed...

This National Knitting Week (14-20 October) international animal welfare charity, The Donkey Sanctuary, is seeking knitters to take up the challenge of creating a donkey to raise funds for donkeys and mules worldwide. Novice knitters or super stitchers are invited to download a free donkey knitting pattern from The Donkey Sanctuary’s website and turn their knitting needles towards producing a herd of knitted donkeys. Since they first arrived at the Sanctuary, the adorable knitted donkeys have been growing in popularity every year. They are knitted by supporters and then sold in both the...

A mother-of-two from Exeter will take on the race of her life for Hospiscare in October when she completes the York Marathon in memory of her father. 40-year-old Natalie Roberts has been training for her first ever marathon over the past few months and is hoping to not only cross the finish line on 20 October but also to raise money for the charity who looked after her dad in his final days. Despite being naturally sporty, Natalie has never competed in a long distance run but said that she wanted to give something back to the charity who had shown her father and her family such support....