Neil Parish, MP for Tiverton and Honiton, joined the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) on Monday 10 February as the charity crushed hundreds of items of unwanted ivory to help protect elephants from the deadly ivory trade.
IFAW destroyed around 100kgs of ivory items ranging from whole elephant tusks to carvings and jewellery in spectacular fashion in London to raise awareness of the ivory trade and show support for elephant protection ahead of a major international summit on the issue.
Alarmingly, an elephant is killed every 15 minutes for its ivory. It is...
East Devon District Council with partners DCH (formerly Devon & Cornwall Housing) proudly unveiled 12 new affordable flats in Mill Street, Sidmouth, last week. Many have already been snapped up, but a few still remain available to purchase under a shared ownership scheme.
The smart new Holmdale apartments are the result of a partnership agreement between the Council, which retains the freehold of the town centre site, and DCH, who manages affordable housing schemes across the South West.
Built on the site of a former motor workshop, later used as a gym, the 12...
Prime Minister, David Cameron, has today visited the destroyed track near Dawlish as part of his tour of the storm damage in the South West. Mr Cameron met with the repair force from Network Rail and thanked railway staff for their work to retain service via replacement bus and alternative travel schemes. At meeting with Rail operators First Great Western Mr Cameron tweeted “Hearing how @FGW are keeping the SW #openforbusiness. We will look at possible alternatives to the Dawlish rail route.” The Prime Minister later met with local volunteers accompanied by Anne Marie Morris MP for Newton...
Gale force winds are forecast for the rest of this week as the relentless storms continue to batter the South West.
The Met Office’s chief forecaster said: “With ongoing flooding in some places, any further rain will only add to the problems. Very gusty winds may be an added hazard in places.”
The Met Office forecast for the next five days is as follows:
Today:
A wet and windy start with some heavy downpours. The rain will clear eastwards during the morning, leaving the rest of the day bright and breezy, with a few showers, some of which will be heavy,...
The rising number of assaults against frontline staff has seen the Ambulance service re-commit to a zero tolerance approach to abuse. The South West Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) reports that there were 104 reports of physical abuse against frontline staff in the last 12 months. 73 of the reported assaults were referred to the police with 22 incidents leading to the abusive patients to be arrested. There are a number of more serious cases awaiting a court date as a result of these reports. Anne Payne, Health, Safety and Security Manager with SWASFT, said: “All reports of...
Volunteers at A la Ronde, the National Trust property near Exmouth, are busy sorting books of all shapes, sizes, titles and themes ready for the forthcoming season.
The second-hand book sale area in the house is in its fifth year and is hugely popular. We raised over £9,000 last year. So we are asking our supporters to sort out their book shelves and donate any surplus books. The funds raised go towards conservation of the unique and quirky collection in the house.
We are able to collect books if needed. Jigsaws are really popular too, so any complete jigsaws in good...
Premier Communication Electronics (PCE) has designed, provided and installed a new robust digital radio solution for the Cornish Seal Sanctuary ahead of the busy holiday season.
The Cornish Seal Sanctuary, which is part of the Merlin Entertainments Group, was already an established user of two-way radios, but was seeking an upgraded solution that could cope with harsh working environments.
The radios are in use by the staff for up to 10 hours every day in cold and wet conditions so a robust solution was needed to avoid constant repairs or the risk of continual downtime....
The Dream-A-Way team were delighted when some of the HMS Defender crew joined in with the bucket collection at St James Park at the Exeter City v Portsmouth match on Saturday.
While it was a great result on the pitch with City scoring a 94th minute equaliser (1–1) it was also a great result with a very good collection off the pitch too with Lez Miller’s top 20 collectors overcoming the rainy weather and collecting a massive total of £638.15.
Chairman Jeff Merrett said “ Despite the weather it was a great atmosphere at St James Park and Dream-A-Way were delighted to have...
South West Water plans to invest almost £160million in improving its services in 2014-15, and freeze standard tariffs and standing charges for all its household and business customers until April 2015.
A total of £430,000 per day will be spent on improving the region's vital water and sewerage infrastructure in 2014-15.
The year's investment is part of a £700million programme between 2010 and 2015 which supports 4,000 jobs in the wider regional economy.
Exeter is one particular area that will benefit from South West Water’s new improvements. £4.4million is being...
A new National Rural Crime Network, endorsed by eighteen (18) of the UK’s Police and Crime Commissioners, including Devon and Cornwall’s Tony Hogg, has been set-up to help tackle rural crime more effectively in England and Wales. A further 8 Commissioners are considering joining the group which could bring the total to around two thirds of PCCs across the two countries. Once established the Network will provide an online resource for police, community safety practitioners and others to interact, to share information, training development, access to case studies and link up with other...
