Service invents new way to keep people safe

Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service has partnered with award-winning home care provider Home Instead Senior Care to keep its clients safer in their homes using a new invention.

The Service has designed a smoke alarm testing stick that will help people check their alarms without having to stand on a stool or step ladder.

Now Caregivers working for Home Instead in Exeter and East Devon are carrying the ‘pip sticks’ on their rounds and use them to test the smoke alarms at clients’ homes when they visit.

Watch Manager Gareth Sydenham, of Devon & Somerset...

The most useful thing in the universe? (With apologies to Estate Agents and Hairdressers)

In the Hitchhiker’s Guide series of books, Douglas Adams proposes that the most useful thing in the universe is, in fact, a towel. His rationale for this is that it can be used to dry yourself, as a blanket (or a pillow), to keep yourself warm or for numerous other uses.

Later on, he proposes that hairdressing and estate agency are the least useful professions known to mankind and proceeds to send them all off on a fleet of spaceships on a scouting mission to a new galaxy. A scouting mission that the rest of the population never have any intention of following.

Adams also...

Find a dream wedding at the Southgate Hotel Wedding Fair

Authored by OneVoice
Posted: Fri, 05/10/2013 - 11:44am

Mercure Exeter Southgate Hotel Wow Wedding Fair Thursday 23 May 2013, 5-9pm, Southernhay East

Exeter brides-to-be looking for wedding advice, inspiration and ideas can indulge in a glittering evening Wedding Fair at the Mercure Exeter Southgate Hotel on Thursday 23 May from 5pm-9pm and take advice from the Southgate Hotel’s own Wedding Co-ordinator.

The evening Wedding Fair features a new bridal catwalk show from Angel Face in Buckfastleigh, previewing brand new 2014 season gowns before they reach the stores as well as a wide selection of wedding essentials including music...

Ablutions: FellSwoop Theatre

Event Date: 
06/06/2013 - 8:30pm to 08/06/2013 - 10:00pm
Venue: 
The BikeShed Theatre, Exeter

A dark and modern drama, adapted from the novel by Patrick DeWitt.

Picture yourself as a bartender, sipping top-shelf whiskey and watching your customers descend into nightly oblivion. Your heart is broken by the world around you and leaving your whiskey aside, you hatch a devious, unthinkable plan of escape...

Following the success of Belleville Rendez-vous, award winning FellSwoop Theatre present a dark, boozy, grimly funny tale from the sodden depths of the Los Angeles underworld, blending a live soundtrack, detailed mime and the heart-wrenching humour of Man Booker...

Stover School feels the heat

Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Fri, 05/10/2013 - 11:01am

A Newton Abbot school has become more environmentally friendly with the installation of a school biomass boiler heating system, supported by Lloyds TSB Commercial Banking.

Stover School, founded in 1932, is an independent co-educational day and boarding school teaching three to 18-year-olds. The school incorporates historic buildings that were part of the original Stover Estate as well as a modern building added by the school more recently. The school is set in 64 acres of parkland.

The ever increasing cost of energy led the school to convert to green technology and biomass...

Families rise to the challenge at Wembury Beach

Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Fri, 05/10/2013 - 10:44am

The sunshine drew many families to Wembury beach over the bank holiday weekend to take part in "50 things to do before you are 11¾" with the South Devon National Trust Rangers. Families joined in a variety of activities including mini raft building, kite making, and a family orienteering challenge; as well as an evening rock pool ramble led by the Devon Wildlife Trust Marine Centre Wardens.

National Trust Internship Ranger, Hollie Ferris, commented: "The '50 Things' campaign is all about reconnecting children with nature, getting kids back outdoors and having fun. It was great...

Exeter-based commercial property advisers play key role in Westcountry accountants expansion

Space have helped Old Mill accountants relocate offices in Exeter, Yeovil and a move last month from Shepton Mallet to Wells. Now the firm are taking over a second floor of their new Exeter office as staffing numbers expand.

Space sourced and oversaw Old Mill’s move to the 3,000 square foot ground floor of Leeward House in Exeter Business Park two years ago. Since then the 20 staff have expanded to 30, with plans to add at least a further 20 jobs over the next seven years.

So Space has negotiated a lease on the upstairs floor avoiding yet another site move. "The upstairs...

Police appeal following burglaries in Crediton

Police in Crediton have issued an ‘Evofit’ of a suspect they wish to identify following two house burglaries in the town. The two incidents occurred between 2.00pm and 3.30pm on Monday 29 April in Clifford Gardens, Crediton. In the first incident the offender entered a flat via an insecure door and following a search some cash totalling £15 was stolen from a purse and container. In the second incident at 3.30pm the offender entered another property via an insecure front door. Following a tidy search a purse containing approximately £120 cash was stolen. The elderly female occupant...

Crowdcube Limited raises £1.5 million investment

Crowdcube has used its own platform to raise £1.5 million in just three days from 259 investors. Existing investors met the initial funding target of £250,000 within the first five hours of the pitch going live, making it the fastest equity funding on a crowdfunding website anywhere in the world. The pitch was then opened up for others to invest with one million poundsbeing invested in the last 24 hours. The investment, which sets a new world record for funds raised via an equity crowdfunding platform, will be used to fuel Crowdcube’s next phase of growth. Darren Westlake, CEO and co-...

River Cottage and the SRA tackle food chain issues with a new ‘sustainability’ course

There are serious problems in the food chain in relation to food traceability as the recent horse-meat scandal highlighted. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage and the Sustainable Restaurant Association have taken action, and are breaking new ground by providing accredited training by City & Guilds in ethical food selection and procurement.

River Cottage is famous for blazing the trail for ethically produced ingredients and championing the cause of sustainability. This commitment was recognised recently with the award of a prestigious national trophy from The...

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