The installation of a statue commemorating Nancy Astor, the first female MP to sit in the UK Parliament, has moved a step closer after an artist was chosen to sculpt it.

Hayley Gibbs has been announced as designer of the statue by the judging panel for the committee that ran a successful Crowdfunding campaign to raise the required money to commission it.

“I am so honoured and excited to have my design selected for this ground-breaking piece of public art,” she said.

The target of £125,000 was smashed on January 30, allowing the committee to move onto the...

Many businesses would squirm and shiver slightly at the notion of offering a free service. However, such companies aren’t so respected and beloved by the buying public. After all, delivery companies are far from bulletproof , and even they need to get that perfect balance of profit and customer satisfaction. In this sense, they’re just like any other business too.

But how can free delivery benefit a business? Can profits still be made, or is it exposing a series of crippling weaknesses in firms the world over who adopt these strategies? Well, all the naysaying isn’t necessary....

Exeter’s longest-established estate agent and one of the UK’s oldest family businesses, Force and Sons Exeter, has been taken over by lettings’ experts Cardens Residential.

Cardens Residential has taken over the lettings business of Force and Sons Exeter as it grows its offering of rental properties in the city. Staff from Force and Sons Exeter will join the team at the Cardens Residential office in Longbrook Street.

Jon Carden, managing director of Cardens Residential, said: ‘We are delighted to complete this takeover, Force and Sons Exeter has been a well-respected...

The charity team at Otter Garden Centres in Ottery St Mary is delighted to reveal the total raised for 2018 charity of the year, Alzheimer’s Society, which came to just over £8,000.

The money will help fund services across Devon and fund important research into dementia.

Team Leader Mary Harrison, who helps coordinate the fundraising, said: “Each year we are amazed by the generosity of customers and staff, and we’re delighted that the total is even higher than the last one, so a big thank you to everyone who donated.”

Staff quizzes and the annual Memory Tree helped...

The Healthy Pets Devon National takes centre stage at Exeter Racecourse next Friday (Feb 22) where racecourse director and former champion point-to-point rider Polly Gundry will be hoping to keep the crown in Devon for the second year running.

Polly, who trains racehorses near Ottery St Mary, is planning to run her popular bay Dawson City who won the race last year.

Andrew Thornton, who has since retired, was in the saddle, and when the pair galloped to victory, cheers could be heard across Haldon forest, such was the popularity of the win.

Polly said: “It was great...

The idea that we need to make our cities more sustainable isn’t a new one. However, instead of talking about how important it is to establish these more environmentally-friendly cities, our focus perhaps needs to lie more in howwe achieve this.

Granted, there isn’t a magic solution as to how we can do this, nor will the same approach work for each and every city. But there are some key ideas that could work in the cities and towns we know and love.

Here are just some of these ideas:

1. Aiding Mobility

It probably goes without saying that if we want to...

Is your boyfriend or husband an incredibly difficult man to buy gifts for? If so, then you might want to check out the guide below. By doing so and taking the advice that is given, his birthday will no longer be a date that you dread, your Christmas shopping will be made a lot easier, and Valentine’s Day will be a breeze.

Here are some of the best present you can gift your male partner:

Cook him his favourite meal

How often do you cook for your partner? More to the point, how often do you cook his absolute favorite meal? You will make him feel really special if you...

Bucking the trend for high street closures, zero waste provisions business Nourish is to open a second branch the heart of Exeter in mid-April.

Founder Sarah Martin announced plans for the new shop in popular independent shopping destination Magdalen Road, recently named as one of “10 cool shopping districts around the world” in the Guardian.

Nourish of Topsham launched in March 2018 and with business booming, Sarah has been on the lookout for an additional location. The perfect opportunity arose when Phil and Stella Brock, owners of wholefood shop The Bran Tub, decided to...

A Devon couple have invented two new seagull deterrents which humanely prevent gulls from landing on roof tops.

The two new products, the Defender® Roof Ridge Bird Spike and the Defender® Chimney Pot Bird Spike, were devised by husband and wife team David and Kursty Jones. The products attach around chimney pots or directly to roof ridges and stop seagulls landing without hurting them.

The growing nuisance value of noisy seagulls is a well-recognised social problem and, until now, opinions have differed on how to handle the problem.

The birds can often be seen...

After the huge successes of Old Herbaceous and Fagin? Hampshire based theatre company Kick In The Head are back with a rip roaring barrel of fun, Three Men in a Boat, with Giles Shenton (Old Herbaceous himself!) playing the part of Jerome K Jerome.

The play is based on the hilarious book by Jerome K. Jerome which, since its first publication in 1889, has never been out of print and is regarded as one of the funniest books ever written.

In the play, Jerome recounts the hilarious story of his boating holiday along the magnificent River Thames with his two companions and...