2009 Exeter School leaver Tom Rainey visited Exeter School this week to give a talk on his epic row of 3,800 miles unsupported across the North Atlantic Ocean to honour the memory of his father Luke, who died from a brain tumour and raise £250,000 for the Brain Tumour Charity.

Tom Rainey and his rowing partner Lawrence Walters also managed to break a world record by rowing 112.5 nautical miles (129 miles) in 24 hours at the end of May, breaking the existing Guinness World Record by nearly 10 nautical miles (11.5 miles).

The Andrews Hall was packed with pupils and staff who...

With 2015 proving to be another successful year for British SMEs, Jackie Jenks, senior manager, enterprise mentoring at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, gives her views on how small businesses in Exeter can get the most out of enterprise mentoring.

This follows the successful Meet a Mentor event held in Exeter Castle aimed at helping local SMEs earlier this month.

Expert guidance and mentoring is crucial to the ongoing success and growth of SMEs. We know that start-ups have a one in four better chance of surviving and thriving over three years if they have a mentor. Studies...

Award winning comedian and comedy writer Andy Hamilton is back on the road and on the stage this autumn with a brand new solo show.

In his 60 years on this planet, Andy has experienced many changes. For instance, he was once a 6’4” tall professional basketball player, until a tree fell on him.

But, of course, change is an inescapable part of the human condition. Why? Is that fair? Some changes are good, some bad. Why can’t they be more clearly labelled? How did we end up working longer hours? Where did all the sparrows go? If you’re feeling flustered because of flux, Andy...

The Heart of the South West (HotSW) Local Enterprise Partnership held its first business conference this week, 21st September, which is set to become an annual feature in the HotSW calendar.

The event was a resounding success, with of 250 delegates from the HotSW business and partnership community.

Productivity was the theme of the conference, which opened with a welcome speech from HotSW LEP Chair Steve Hindley, outlining some of the distinctive assets of the area, followed by presentations on HotSW LEP achievements.

Delegates took part in a series of break-out...

The harp is one of the world’s oldest and most diverse instruments appearing, in Greek mythology through to Harry Potter. In Celtic tales harps often have magical powers of enchantment and this queen of instruments is deep rooted in our musical and cultural history. It is amazing that despite this, many of us have never played a harp or even been up close to one! On 3 October Harpist Shelley Fairplay will change that for twelve adventurous first time harp students on a momentous one-day learning journey, from plucking their very first note in the morning right through to performing in the...

Local cycling club Exeter Wheelers hosted the city’s first Hill Climb festival on Saturday 19th September.

Cyclists of all ages and abilities took to the challenging 1.2 mile closed road course up to the top of

Stoke woods to celebrate one of the British cycling scene’s proudest traditions; hill climbing!

The big cash prizes of the morning’s open events attracted top riders from across the UK including the

reigning national hill climb champions Dan Evans and Maryka Sennema, plus junior national champion

Harry Luxton and Team Raliegh rider George Pym...