County Sport Partnership Active Devon has today urged Devon people to get behind them and vote for the Devon Active Villages project to win the National Lottery Awards 2013. The project is competing against six other projects for the title of Best Sport Project and is the only local project in England in its category.

The Awards are an annual search to find the UK’s favourite Lottery-funded projects, and they aim to celebrate and recognise the difference that those projects have made to people, places and communities all across the UK. The project could be in with the chance of...

Dirt Pie Press is a small-scale not-for-profit publisher that has been producing the highly acclaimed Riptide ( www.riptidejournal.co.uk ) short story anthologies since 2007.

Each collection features work by established and up-and-coming authors but the aim is also to discover and encourage new writing talent.

Over the years Riptide collections have included stories by such luminaries as Michael Morpurgo, Helen Dunmore and Philip Hensher but also the first work by newer authors who have gone on to publish novels of their own, including some writers from Devon - Penny Feeney...

Local floristry College, The Academy of Floral Art, has recently released their first book, published by David & Charles, called Chic & Unique Flower Arrangements .

Comprising of over 35 stunning designs submitted by a range of talented florists, Donna Cann MDPF, Catherine Date NDSF Cert Ed and Amanda Randell MDPF including the authors Tina Parkes and Julie Collins who wanted to create a cookery-style book on floral table arrangements including an ingredients list, the recipe on how to make each design, tips, timings and skill knowledge required.

The book has also...

A bus service with a difference is to be launched in Devon catering for foodies and partygoers looking for a new al fresco eating-out experience.

On The Green bus is a restaurant on wheels with a dining room on the top floor and a first-class catering kitchen and bar below.

The bus is available for private parties or events but will also be taking to the roads of South Devon so diners can eat, drink, and take in some of the jewels of the area.

Customers will be able to mix and match five routes with five menus of locally sourced, top-class food – or create their own...

Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group’s (CCG) member GP practices have been rated among the highest in the country – by the patients they serve.

A national survey showed that patient experience of local doctors’ surgeries in Devon was consistently better than the England average.

Almost nine in ten Devon patients said they would recommend their GP surgery to someone who has just moved to the area and 95 per cent said they had confidence and trust in their GP.

A total of 84 per cent of patients in Devon reported they found it easy to get...

Mindfulness – a mental training that develops sustained attention that can change the ways people think, act and feel – could reduce symptoms of stress and depression and promote wellbeing among school children, according to a new study published online by the British Journal of Psychiatry.

With the summer exam season in full swing, school children are currently experiencing higher levels of stress than at any other time of year. The research showed that interventions to reduce stress in children have the biggest impact at this time of year. There is growing evidence that...

An abandoned penguin chick is being fed fish soup six times a day by dedicated zoo keepers.

Staff at Living Coasts, Torquay’s coastal zoo and aquarium, are caring for the baby macaroni penguin. The chick is fed every 3 hours from 7am to 10 o’clock at night.

The egg was abandoned by penguin parents Corrine and Blue. Living Coasts Head of Operation Clare Rugg explained: “With macaroni penguins, the first egg is usually discarded and rarely hatches, but keepers found this one was fertile.”

The chick hatched on 27 May. It eats fish soup delivered gently through a...