MEI’s Chief Executive Charlie Stripp, from Exeter, has been awarded an MBE in the 2015 Queen’s New Year Honours List in recognition of his services to education.

Charlie taught mathematics for 10 years in the state sector before joining Mathematics in Education and Industry (MEI) in 2000 to set up the pilot project that eventually became the Further Mathematics Support Programme.

He became MEI’s Chief Executive in 2010. Charlie is also Director of the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM), seconded from MEI on a half-time basis, and is...

Graeme Smith, a Maintenance Assistant from the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust Estates Department who is well known around Heavitree Hospital for his successful charity book stall, has just published his very first novel - The Awakening of Abraham Brown.

Over the past five years Graeme has raised over £10,000 for charity by wheeling out his charity trolley, stacked mainly with books and some bric-a-brac, into the main entrance foyer of Heavitree Hospital. Patients and staff kindly donate items to the stall each week, which supports two main charities, the Devon Air...

Exeter residents are invited to bingo nights at Tiverton Golf Club, which are now open to the public.

The club's first bingo night of 2015 is on Friday 9 January (7.30pm).

Jim Bray, social committee chairman, said: "We've recently been granted a premises licence by the district council and this offers a great opportunity to open some of our events to the public and let them sample our excellent facilities.

"If you enjoy a game of bingo, we'd be delighted to welcome you for a fun, friendly and relaxing evening."

The club's next two Friday bingo nights are on...

As Twelfth Night approaches, and thoughts turn to ‘un-decking’ the halls and taking down the tree, the Woodland Trust is urging everyone to help protect the UK’s woodland by dropping their Christmas cards off at their local M&S store.

For every 1,000 cards recycled in store, M&S will fund the planting of one tree.

The UK is already 8,135 trees richer thanks to customers’ efforts last year – when a staggering 8.1 million cards were dropped into M&S stores. This season, special card collection bins are already in M&S stores* - where they will stay until 31...

Police in Exeter are appealing for information to help identify a woman whose body was found in Topsham earlier today (Friday 2 January).

Police were called at around noon to the dock area near to St Margaret’s Church on Ferry Road, in Topsham, following the discovery of a woman’s body.

It is believed that the woman had been in the water for sometime but the death is being treated as unexplained.

The woman is described as being, approximately 60-75 years of age white, approximately 5’4” in height and medium to large build with blue/hazel eyes.

Her hair was...

The Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital is urging anyone who has suffered from symptoms of the highly infectious Norovirus bug to stay away from the hospital until they have been free of the symptoms for at least 48 hours. Cases of Norovirus, which causes vomiting and diarrhoea and is more common in the winter months, have been rising at the RD&E over the Christmas and New Year period, placing extra pressure on hospital bed capacity at a very busy time for the hospital. At the current time the hospital has closed Lowman and Okement wards and isolated areas in three other wards – Torridge,...