Dreaming of a 'windy' Christmas

It looks like we are heading for a windy, rather than a white Christmas this year.

Forecasters are predicting spells of wet and windy weather, more often mild, rather than very cold.

A spokeswoman for netweather.tv said: "The forecasts are showing another stormy area of low pressure heading for the UK around Christmas day. There is some cold air, wrapped up in this but a picture perfect glistening snowy scene is quite unlikely a week Wednesday."

According to the Met Office Christmas 2010 was the last white Christmas. It was extremely unusual, as not only was there...

No room at the inn for BBC carol concert

It was somewhat apt that there was no room at the inn when BBC Radio Devon recorded its annual Christmas carol service at Exeter Cathedral last night.

More than 1,000 people packed into every available space to hear music from performers such as the Choir of St Michael and All Angels at Mount Dinham and the Big Noise Chorus.

They also heard bible and poetry readings from some of BBC Radio Devon’s famous voices including presenters: Judi Spiers, Matt Woodley, Michael Chequer, Tony Beard and John Govier.

Rebecca Shaw, 37, from Christow, said: "The queues were long but...

12-year-old girl critical but stable

Authored by Huw Oxburgh
Posted: Wed, 12/18/2013 - 11:57am

A 12-year-old girl has been taken to Frenchay hospital in Bristol after being hit by a car in Newton Abbot yesterday afternoon. (Tuesday 17 December).

The girl, a pupil at Newton Abbot College, is in a critical but stable condition with a head injury.

The car is thought to have collided with the girl on Highweek Street at around 3.30pm while she was walking back from school.

The collision was witnessed by passersby including school pupils and the school will offer support to the children who witnessed the collision.

The driver, a 69-year-old woman, from the...

Vote for your Healthcare Hero 2013

Authored by News Desk
Posted: Wed, 12/18/2013 - 11:48am

READERS of The Exeter Daily are being encouraged to vote for their Healthcare Hero for 2013.

The Exeter Daily has linked up with the Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust, which is running the Healthcare Hero Awards for the second year.

The Trust needs your help to find those staff who deserve to be recognised and rewarded for going above and beyond the call of duty.

The Trust manages a variety of services in Exeter including Exeter Community Hospital at Whipton and the NHS walk-in centre in Sidwell Street, while its community nursing and therapy teams care for people...

Exeter's the place for an Italian's job!

Authored by Sue Cade
Posted: Wed, 12/18/2013 - 11:47am

A female engineer from Italy has secured a job with design and engineering consultancy Atkins in Exeter after receiving advice from the National Careers Service.

Giulia Magri, who graduated as a structural engineer from University of Rome Tor Vergata in 2005, arrived in Devon in September after finding that opportunities for progression in her field were limited in her native country.

“Although there were jobs available in Italy, and I worked for a number of Italian engineering firms and architects, it became clear that my progression – and my salary ‒ would not meet my...

New Polymer bank notes in 2016

Authored by Huw Oxburgh
Posted: Wed, 12/18/2013 - 11:40am

The Bank of England has confirmed plans to introduce its new polymer banknotes starting with the introduction of a new Winston Churchill £5 note in 2016. The first note will mark the end of a 320 year tradition of using cotton paper notes but will introduce a range of newly developed security features making counterfeiting the notes far more difficult. The new notes are also much more durable than the cotton paper notes lasting more than twice as long before becoming damaged by age. This includes dirt and moisture resistance which mean the new notes will remain cleaner for longer. The Bank...

Exeter cadet commissions at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Wed, 12/18/2013 - 11:20am

Jamie Courtney, 24, from Exeter joined more than 200 officer cadets in a prestigious graduation ceremony at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. Passing out from Sandhurst marks the completion of 44 weeks of intensive military and academic training for the cadets, combined with adventurous training and sporting challenges.

As part of the ceremony, all the commissioning officer cadets took part in the Sovereign's Parade in front of Her Majesty’s representative, Field Marshal the Lord Guthrie. The parade is a key milestone for every Army officer and has been run at the end of...

M&S to only sell "gender neutral" toys

Authored by Huw Oxburgh
Posted: Wed, 12/18/2013 - 10:13am

Marks and Spencer has confirmed that their toy ranges will be gender neutral from Spring 2014.

The store announced their decision on twitter yesterday afternoon following criticism over their separate toy ranges for male and female children.

Shoppers accused the store of “casual sexism” for its “Boy’s Stuff” and “Little Miss Arty” ranges.

The criticism started when twitter user Jane Merrick complained over the branding of a Marble Run game she had planned to buy for her daughter was heavily branded as “Boy’s Stuff”.

The store has since changed their online...

Park all day for price of a stocking filler!

East Devon District Council has announced a further Christmas parking concession to help town centre businesses in the final few days of the run-up to Christmas.

With effect from Wednesday 18 December and up to Christmas Day, there will be daily repeats of the successful ‘Small Business Saturday’ offer that applied on Saturday 7 December 2013. This means motorists can park all day (from 10am) for a maximum daily charge of just £2.

Councillor Iain Chubb, Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “We estimate that on Small Business Saturday an additional 400 customers were...

Exeter School raises over £4,700 for charity in one month

On Thursday 12 December, Exeter School’s Sixth Form girls played a charity football match to raise money for the school’s charities with the Lower Sixth beating the Upper Sixth 2-0. Since mid-November, pupils, parents and teachers have raised an astonishing £4,700 through cake sales, mufti days, Movember and collections at the schools’ Advent service and carol concert. Every year, Exeter School pupils from both the Junior and Senior school help select a number of local and internationalcharities for whom they raise funds and awareness. This year’s charities are Children In Need, Shelterbox...

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