Local News

Initiated by the Archbishop of Canterbury and Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, bishops across the country have been encouraged this week to pray for and visit community projects which address growing poverty in Britain.

As a response to this the Bishop of Crediton, Rt Revd Nick McKinnel, and Chair of the Methodist District, Revd Pete Pillinger, visited the Exeter hub of the Devon and Cornwall Food Association (DCFA) on 7 April.

The bishop praised the project and said: “This encouraging scheme is obviously making such a difference to so many local people’s lives and...

Police in Devon have seen a significant rise in the reporting of Domestic violence offences in new figures announced today.

The rise in domestic violence reports, of 22.8% or 886 more reports on the previous year, follows from an effort by officers to encourage victims of domestic violence to report abuse.

While potentially a sign that this effort has been successful police have cautioned that, while these figures are only one indication of how the Force is doing and overall figures rarely show the true picture.

Devon commander, Chief Superintendent Paul Davies,...

A campaign, specifically to find families for local children who have been waiting the longest to be adopted, is launching across the south west this month.

Family for Me (FFM), which is part of south west adoption agency Families for Children, hopes to find parents for these children as soon as possible. Their wait may have been because they are older, part of a sibling group, have specialist needs, or are of mixed heritage.

Cat Gifford, Assessing Social Worker for FFM said:

“We are extremely excited about the Family for Me project. The project’s key objective is...

Children and families in the Barley Lane area of Exeter have an exciting new play area to help burn off those Easter egg calories. Youngsters have every reason to smile thanks to new play equipment installed by Exeter City Council at Sylvan Heights Play Area. The new play area is designed to serve the new housing development at Sylvan Heights as well as children and families already living nearby. Two separate mini play spaces have been provided and each aims to target children of slightly different ages. A new basket swing, an exciting rope climbing structure and a naturalistic balancing...