In a typical month the Exeter, Mid and East Devon branch of the Samaritans charity receives 1,800 telephone calls from people in distress - and that figure increases in December and especially around Christmas time.
Those calls - along with SMS text messages, emails and face-to-face meetings - are dealt with by some 100 volunteers who work at the central Exeter base of the charity.
This Christmas and New Year - as always - they will be on duty around the clock.
“Many people love Christmas and New Year with their families and friends, but it’s not the same for...
The British way of dealing with family quarrels may be to sweep them under the carpet. Yet re-playing upsetting or annoying events like an argument in your head and recalling what happened in detail can in fact be therapeutic and prevent you getting quarrels out of proportion, or becoming depressed and anxious as a result.
Psychologists at the University of Exeter have found that recalling the detail of shouting matches and disagreements, including exactly who said what to whom and how, may not be destructive and prolong the tension, but could help people keep incidents in...
Exeter Chiefs delivered the perfect Christmas present to their Tribe of supporters as they leapfrogged Leicester Tigers into fourth place with victory at Sandy Park.
Rob Baxter’s side notched up their fourth Aviva Premiership win on the bounce, courtesy of a dominant first half display that yielded tries for Jack Yeandle and Thomas Waldrom, along with a Penalty Try, which was also converted by skipper Gareth Steenson.
The Irishman added to his tally early in the second half with a penalty, before rounding off another impressive display with the boot by converting Ollie...
Householders are being urged to think of the environment over the festive period and keep recycling to ensure that Devon has a ‘green’ Christmas.
Christmas is one of the busiest times of the year for households and often recycling, and the reason it’s so important, falls to the bottom of the priority list.
But with many homes generating more waste over the period than they would usually, Recycle Devon, says it’s the ideal time to recycle everything you can.
For instance glass bottles and jars can be recycled again and again. If everyone in the UK recycled one more...
Ring in 2017 our essential guide to What’s On in and around Exeter this weekend:
THEATRE
Peter Pan Exeter Northcott Theatre Escape to Neverland this Christmas. Join Wendy, John and Michael as they soar into the night sky with Peter, to a magical land of mermaids and fairy dust, where children can fly and all sorts of exciting adventures happen every day. But beware – danger is just around the corner. Captain Hook and the pirates are looking for revenge and Peter Pan is top of their list! The show runs until 1 January. https://exeternorthcott.co.uk
Devon and Cornwall Police is launching a campaign designed to raise awareness of how domestic abuse can affect anyone and takes many forms.
The campaign will highlight the fact that domestic abuse can happen to anyone, at any age, in any kind of relationship. This phase will be highlighting the fact that domestic abuse can happen among groups such as the elderly, the disabled and same sex couples.
Domestic abuse isn’t just physical and can take many forms, such as intimidation, financial control, psychological abuse and others.
A trip to Newton Abbot’s markets turned into a Christmas surprise for one lucky Teignbridge resident.
Mr Roger Lloyd from Kingskerswell was drawn as the winner of a £100 Christmas hamper packed full of festive goodies supplied by Bakers the Butcher, The Market Deli and Home Bake - from Newton Abbot's Indoor Market. A popular annual event on the market calendar, the competition saw market shoppers completing an entry form for a chance to win the fantastic festive prize.
Earlier this year Teignbridge District Council, which is responsible for running Newton Abbot's range of...
The Exeter Forum have donated bags of knitted woollen hats to the Emergency Department (ED) at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital to help warm up hypothermic patients this winter.
The Forum is a social group for active retired people who meet regularly in Exeter. Members of the Forum were keen to continue their support for the Emergency Department after they donated a large number of knitted Twiddlemuffs to help patients with Dementia earlier in the year.
They asked staff what else they needed and the ED team gratefully took up their kind offer by requesting a batch of...
Top 40 accountants Bishop Fleming and Top 200 lawyers Stephens Scown, both with head offices based in Exeter, joined forces last Friday (16 December) to bring Christmas cheer to the shoppers of Princesshay.
The firms' choirs, ABBA-cus (Bishop Fleming) and The Rolling Scowns (Stephens Scown) provided a joint performance of Christmas songs to help Exeter shoppers get into the festive spirit whilst also raising valuable funds for Age UK Exeter.
A total of £209.72 was raised for the charity during the hour-long carol recital.
