Exeter chartered accountancy firm Simpkins Edwards is thrilled to announce that the top auction lot at its 12th annual Really Big Quiz will be a very special evening and night’s accommodation aboard HMS Defender – a Daring-class air-defence destroyer whose White Ensign was raised for the first time as a Royal Naval vessel in 2012. Under the command of Commander Stephen Higham, HMS Defender is the affiliated ship of the City of Exeter.

The unique experience for two people includes a Navy escort from home to where the ship is docked (at either Plymouth or Portsmouth), dinner with the...

Boys and girls at Exeter Cathedral School are getting ready to move into a brand new, state of the art, single storey nursery in May.

The nursery pupils aged from rising three to five, will benefit from two new classrooms, a sensory room and newly landscaped gardens in two distinct zones– an ‘active zone’, where the children can ride bikes and let off steam, and a ‘natural zone’ which will include a ‘bug hotel’, sandpit, tree house and gardening plots for each teaching group.

The school has invested over half a million pounds in this exciting project in order to offer the...

Multi award-winning developer Renaissance Villages is pleased to announce the unveiling of a stunning new show home at Exeter’s only age-exclusive retirement village, Millbrook Village.

The launch event will take place on Friday 17th April between 11am and 3pm and visitors are invited to join the Millbrook Village team for light refreshments and to find out more about the unique lifestyle this prestigious new village provides.

With potential interest being so high, guests are encouraged to book their appointment to view by calling 01392 275335 or emailing sales@...

Run or Dye, the World’s most colourful 5km will be coming to Exeter on Saturday 30th May for a colour-filled 5km run in the stunning grounds of Great Fulford House. The Fulford family will welcome runners of all ages and abilities, taking part in the most colourful party the Great House has ever seen.

Nearly 500 people have already entered into Exeter Run or Dye with participants encouraged to run, jog or walk to the finish line, getting covered head-to-toe in colour as they go. Four Dye Zones throughout the route will ensure there’s no getting away from the all-encompassing and...

Emergency services are currently at the scene of a serious collision in Ipplepen, Devon, which has left five people injured.

Police, fire and ambulance crews and the air ambulance were called to the collision between two cars on the A381 Totnes Road at 1pm today (10 April).

The occupants of one car, a woman and two young children, have sustained serious injuries and have been taken to hospital.

One child has been taken by air ambulance to Derriford Hospital and the other child has been taken by ambulance to Torbay District Hospital.

Two people were extracted...

Young visitors to the X-ray department at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital are being asked to help decide on a design theme for a new children’s X-ray room.

Having an x-ray can be quite a scary experience for young patients so the Medical Imaging staff are keen to create a clinical area that is more welcoming and friendly.

Children visiting the X-ray department can now vote for a theme – underwater, jungle or space – by placing a token in the corresponding voting box in the waiting room.

The team are hoping to raise funds to refurbish an existing X-ray room with...

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter says it’s unlikely Scottish international Moray Low will play for the club again this season.

The 30-year-old tight-head was forced off during last weekend’s European Challenge Cup victory over Newcastle Falcons at Sandy Park with a a hamstring injury.

Scans this week have since revealed that Low - who was signed from Glasgow Warriors last summer - has caused significant damage and will now sit out the remaining weeks of the campaign.

It’s an untimely blow for Baxter, whose side this weekend play host to league leaders Northampton...

Debbie Cole joins independent accountancy firm ahead of important changes affecting employers

Leading independent accountancy firm Thomas Westcott has strengthened its payroll team in readiness for legislation changes affecting every employer.

Experienced payroll expert Debbie Cole has joined the firm ahead of the Government's changes to pensions, holiday entitlement and parental leave.

Debbie, who has more than a decade's experience helping clients' payroll issues, described joining Thomas Westcott as "an exciting new challenge".

She continued: "New...

As the academic year finally nears an end in the UK and here in Exeter all the students have started to make their way home for the Easter holidays. The city centre vastly changes when this happens as there are no more young and excitable people making their way to and from the campus at all hours of the day, the streets are a little quieter as no loud music blares from the houses accompanied by the sounds of fun and laughter. No it’s all gone a little dark as most of the 30,000 or so students that dominate the inner city have trundled home or to some exotic place as there are no more...

Easter was the busiest period of the year so far for Exeter Airport with over sixteen and a half thousand inbound and outbound passengers using the airport over the holiday period; a figure which was helped by the re-introduction of the Flybe ‘sun routes’ to Alicante, Malaga and Faro.

A high level of bookings on the other Flybe services, together with those of Skybus and Thomson flights which operated to as far away as Sharm El Sheikh, meant that the airport was over fifteen percent busier than Easter last year.

Exeter Airport managing director Matt Roach said: “The Easter...