As community support builds for Devon’s wild beavers, an oil painting of a Devon beaver has raised £700 for Devon Wildlife Trust’s work to keep the animals on the River Otter. The canvas, by renowned east Devon wildlife artist Emma Bowring, was donated to the charity’s Devon’s Wild Beavers fundraising appeal. Support has also been forthcoming from Ottery St Mary schools, Exeter businesses – and even TV presenter Chris Packham. The aim of the appeal is to keep the wild beaver population on the River Otter by securing a licence from the government for a five- year monitoring project to...
Pupils at a Devon primary school have created their own ‘pop-up’ World War One museum which will be open to the community all next week.
The museum will feature period artefacts such as gas masks and shell casings which have been discovered in relatives’ attics as well as websites and projects featuring the children’s own research into family members who were involved in the war.
The extended project, at Landscore Primary School at Crediton, has been funded by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund which has enabled Years 5 and 6 to work with a professional ancestry...
The graduation extravaganza held at River Cottage HQ was marked with a banquet cooked by Chef Tutors, speeches given by Steve Lamb followed by a certification ceremony presented by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. The graduates then danced the night away as they celebrated their achievements. The event attracted visitors from across the world, as families flew in from Malta and Australia to see their sons and daughters graduating. The 48 ecstatic graduates were the first to complete our Young Chef Apprentice Scheme – a professional and personal journey that aims to equip young learners with...
Birds learn new foraging techniques by observing others in their social network according to a study involving University of Exeter researchers. The report on how innovations spread and persist in wild great tits (Parus major) shows that ‘copycat’ behaviour can sustain foraging ‘traditions’ that last years. The study involved experiments with eight local populations of great tits in Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire (UK). In five of the populations two male birds were trained to slide a puzzle box door either to the left or to the right. In three control groups two males were captured but not...
Twelve communities across Devon have been chosen to take part in a pioneering new partnership project to test how they can support their local libraries and expand the services they provide.
Devon County Council will work with the dedicated community groups to help shape the new organisation and try out new ways of involving local people so they can have more say on how their library is run.
Those chosen include Colyton, Bampton, Moretonhampstead and Ottery St Mary.
Topsham Library has been working with the Estuary League of Friends and will also form part of the...
On Wednesday 10 December Bill Douglas Cinema Museum is launching a pop-up cinema event with five exhibitions in diverse themes held by MA students in International Film Business from University of Exeter.
Pop-up cinema is in the air. As one of the most influential Exeter local museums, it is the second time in 2014 for the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum to hold a pop-up cinema event which will create a bigger impact to the local film and other creative industry.
The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum is home to one of the largest collections of material on the moving image in Britain....
The decision announced by the Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to only provide one hearing aid for people who have hearing loss in both ears has caused concern at the National Deaf Children’s Society.
As the leading charity dedicated to creating a world without barriers for deaf children and young people, the National Deaf Children’s Society is raising concerns today around the lack of consultation and evidence base being used before the CCG made their decision.
Speaking on behalf of the National Deaf Children’s Society, Sarah Collinson...
People in the South West have a dramatically higher level of trust in businesses in their area than they do in UK business as a whole.
The CBI’s Great Business Debate (its campaign to increase public trust in business) is today (Monday) publishing a YouGov survey of over four thousand people, including 350 in the South West. It shows that, when people’s feelings about businesses are determined by their direct experience, they are overwhelmingly positive but that this often fails to translate into support for business generally.
A teenager who was involved in a collision with a car in Paignton has died.
The 16-year-old male pedestrian, a foreign student, suffered serious head injuries and was taken by air ambulance to Derriford Hospital.
He died in hospital in the early hours of Sunday 7 December. His family have been informed.
Police are appealing for witnesses to the collision that happened at 12.15pm on Saturday 6 December on Great Western Road, on the one-way system outside Paignton train station.
The driver of the silver Vauxhall Vectra, a 42-year-old local man, was uninjured...
The South West private sector economy registered a pick-up in growth in November from October’s recent low, according to PMI survey data.
The rates of expansion in total activity and new business both accelerated for the first time since June, but remained weaker than the respective UK averages. Job creation continued at a solid pace and outstanding business increased further, while inflationary pressures remained historically muted.
The seasonally adjusted Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking South West Business Activity Index signalled growth of private sector output in...
