In the run up to Christmas, members of LV=’s Exeter Community team spent the day delivering 800 presents to eight local preschools and primary school around the local area.

Dressed as Father Christmas, Dave Cotton and colleagues visited the schools in traditional grotto fashion, delighting children with early Christmas presents. Dave Cotton from LV= said: “During the day we travelled over 100 miles and delivered 800 presents, and the best bit was definitely seeing the smiles of surprise and joy on the children’s faces.

“All of the schools were nominated by employees within...

Police in Devon and Cornwall and Dorset will review how the two forces can collaborate more effectively in “all policing areas”.

The review was revealed in a joint announcement from the Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners from both forces.

A project team is expected to carry out the review across a six month period, which will look into how to maintain a good service across both forces at a time when police budgets are decreasing.

Both forces will have to make savings in the next year with Devon and Cornwall police cutting its budget by £51m and...

Local Wealth Management Company Brewin Dolphin Exeter hands over a cheque for £2,500 to its first ever Charity of the Year, Exeter Royal Academy for Deaf Education. The funds raised through a series of events over the last 12 months are being earmarked for new outdoor play equipment for primary-age students when the charity moves to its new Exeter site.

Exeter Deaf Academy is building an inspiring new Academy, designed with and for Deaf children with capacity to take up to 180 students in its pre-school, primary school, secondary school and college. It has full planning...

Local MPs Oliver Colvile, Alison Seabeck and Ben Bradshaw joined the Devon Local Optical Committee and Devon Local Pharmaceutical Committee for a Roundtable Discussion on Tuesday 3rd December 2013 to discuss the management and treatment of minor health conditions in Community Optician Practices and Community Pharmacy.

Visual Impairment is one of the major health challenges facing the NHS, affecting a substantial proportion of the population. 2 million people in the UK are living with sight loss yet over 50% is avoidable. Fewer than 50% of the population visit their optician to have...

Residents in Teignbridge are being encouraged to ‘starve your bin’ by reducing, reusing and recycling waste wherever possible this festive season.

To prevent a build-up of rubbish, all households are urged to visit Teignbridge District Council’s website to check out green gift ideas, how to recycle Christmas wrapping paper, cards and trees and get the revised waste and recycling collection dates.

Over three million tonnes of waste is created in the UK every Christmas and to help reduce the build-up a ‘ Christmas Waste ’ page has been put together and is packed with...

A popular topic in the news at the moment is that the age to receive your state pension has increased to 68, many people are wondering how the changes will affect them.

In this In a nutshell video, Chris Dunston from Artavia PFS explains what Auto enrolment pensions are and how they can benefit you.

“It applies to all UK employers, no matter how many people they employ. If you're an employer, and you haven't yet done so, you will soon need to enrol your staff in a pension scheme and make employer pension contributions of at least three percent of their salaries. Remember, a...

Spiders may not be the pure predators we generally believe, after a study found that some make up a quarter of their diet by eating pollen. Dr Dirk Sanders of the University of Exeter demonstrated that orb web spiders – like the common garden variety – choose to eat pollen even when insects are available. Spider webs snare insect prey, but can also trap aerial plankton like pollen and fungal spores. Dr Sanders, alongside Mr Benjamin Eggs from the University of Bern, conducted feeding experiments and a stable isotope analysis on juvenile spiders to see whether they incorporate plant...

Friday-night footie returns to St James Park, as does the chance to get right back in the mix for the promotion places for Exeter City.

After a frustrating few weeks, results have finally started to pick up again with draws from trailing positions against Wycombe and Bury and a win at Accrington – and victory at home against Chesterfield, second in League 2, would certainly give a fresh wave of optimism too.

The Spireites hit their own rough patch in October – after dropping just two points in their opening eight games, Chesterfield suddenly couldn’t buy a win in the next...

Two police dogs with more than 18 years service between them will retire from the Force next month. German shepherd ‘Asbo’ and sprocker spaniel ‘Springo’ have both enjoyed long careers under the watchful eye of police dog handler, PC Ian Tolchard, based at Camborne. Asbo, a nine-year-old general purpose police dog, joined the Force in 2005 and has been highly successful in his role, finding missing people and locating criminals. One highlight was locating a confused, elderly patient and who had absconded from the Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske. Without being found there are doubts the...

Independent schools could be held to a higher standard of education by regulator Ofsted from next September onwards.

In new plans unveiled today ‘good’ will become the only acceptable standard for independent schools inspected by Ofsted.

Currently, the Ofsted framework for schools has the judgements, outstanding, good, adequate and inadequate. This consultation now seeks views on changing the ‘adequate’ grade to ‘requires improvement.’

This grade will signify that even though a school may be meeting all the independent school standards, this is the minimum...