In 2017 Somerset and Devon-based West Country Windows is celebrating 40 years of being in business and as one of a handful of West Country manufacturers with a business that is still run by two of the same directors who set it up in 1977; it holds a particularly unique position in the double glazing sector.

When the idea of West Country Windows was born in 1977, directors Ken Ashplant and Tim Earle remember the world as a very different place. Tim recalls the first Concorde flight between London and New York - something which was of particular significance to him as he was studying...

Fresh from appearances on ‘Russell Howard’s Stand Up Central’ (Comedy Central), ‘As Yet Untitled’ (Dave) and a month of packed houses at the Edinburgh Fringe, Stuart Goldsmith presents a new hour of funny, not entirely about becoming a parent at Exeter’s Bike Shed Theatre.

The host of the ‘Comedian’s Comedian Podcast’ (over 6 million downloads) finally shakes off an invigoratingly misspent youth.

Finding himself uprooted from his adoptive city and press-ganged into a pastoral existence by a cunning girl, Stu considers the big questions and wonders: how much compromise is...

Exmouth residents will soon be able to recycle up to as much as 60% of their household waste for weekly collection when a new improved recycling service starts in the town from Thursday (February 16.)

East Devon District Council has extended the number of items that households can now collect to include cardboard, mixed plastics, cartons/Tetra Paks and small electrical items.

The new additions mean householders are able to recycle more, throw away less rubbish and put East Devon at the very forefront of environmental sustainability.

With recycling and food waste...

Devon businesses could risk seven figure fines by falling foul of new data protection rules, according to a local expert. A survey carried out at the recent Cyber Security Awareness Week in Exeter showed that none of the attendees were ready for the new law, with half yet to take any action to prepare. The General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (GDPR) will come into force in 2018, bringing major changes to the data protection laws, along with fines of up to two million Euros or 4% of worldwide turnover. The UK is a leading the way on data protection and the government has confirmed the...

Last year, over 200 staff across 33 branches of Bradleys Estate Agents in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset tackled a range of fundraising activities to raise money for Exeter Deaf Academy.

Inspired by Deaf young people and their achievements, Bradleys pledged to spend a year fundraising for the Academy’s New Build project. In 2019, Exeter Deaf Academy will be relocating from their current site on Topsham Road in Exeter to a groundbreaking purpose-built Academy in Exmouth. The new Deaf Academy will be a world-class facility which will change the lives of Deaf students, bring communities...

A new study has revealed that food hygiene standards at takeaways and sandwich shops in the Exeter City area are amongst the best in the country.

With 86.6% of its applicable businesses rated either good (4) or very good (5), Exeter City was found to be well above the national average of 71.9%.

The Food Standards Agency website holds the data from inspections carried out by each local authority under the Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme. Every business that serves food is awarded with a hygiene rating between 0 and 5 following an inspection.

64.2% of the 67 takeaways and...

The story of Call The Midwife’s Jennifer Worth by her sister Christine

“It was the autumn of 1945. I was seven and Jennifer had recently had her tenth birthday. We knew that whatever had occurred had to be serious. What we didn’t know was that our childhood as we had known it was over.” Having returned to our TV screens recently, the BBC’s evocative Call the Midwife drama tells the stories of women giving birth in harsh and difficult circumstances in the East End of London. Call the Midwife is based on the book written by Jennifer Worth, who died in 2011 but the vivid memories have...

Inspiring sportsman, athlete and adventurer James Cracknell OBE has been confirmed as guest speaker for this year’s Devon Sports Awards.

The ceremony will take place at Exeter’s Sandy Park on June 30th 2017, celebrating contribution to sport throughout Devon.

Former rower Cracknell won two Olympic Gold medals and six World Championship titles in an illustrious career, before turning his focus to other challenges including marathons, cross-Atlantic rowing and South Pole races.

It was during a race to cycle, run, row and swim from LA to New York in record time that...