A Tiverton boarding school has purchased a new fleet of grounds equipment after securing a six-figure funding package from HSBC UK as part of a wider overhaul of the grounds within the school’s 120-acre site.
Blundell’s School switched banks to HSBC UK in October 2020 and has used additional funding from the bank to purchase a fleet of high-quality grounds equipment, including tractors, a four-meter-long mower and a turf conditioner. Head Groundsman Graham Cox, who joined Blundell’s last January, has seen improvements on many fronts thanks to the new equipment.
When the Devon Air Ambulance (DAA) online shopping site launched last October, the country was about to enter the latest lockdown and a Government instruction for non-essential shops to close was announced. DAA’s strategy was firstly to approach supporters already associated with the charity who were unable to visit their traditional charity shops. Changing shopping habits and switching to browsing and buying online was a great way to continue to lend support to the charity and to accessthesteadily-increasing range of items. Over the months that followed the Shopdaat website has been...
Leading off-grid energy supplier, Calor, has launched a nationwide search for the very best rural community projects, with £85,000 in grants up for grabs.
On top of this, the Warwickshire-based firm is also launching an exciting new award, the Rural Hero of The Year, which will celebrate those who have gone the extra mile for others during the pandemic.
Designed to provide a helping hand and much-needed funding across the UK to rural community groups who aren’t connected to the mains gas grid, the 2021 Calor Rural Community Fund launched on Wednesday 10th March and...
Gallagher Premiership rugby players Joe Simmonds, Jack Maunder and Tom O’Flaherty delighted families from Children’s Hospice South West, surprising them at an evening story time session.
Keen to give back to the local community, the Exeter Chiefs players popped up unexpectedly via Zoom to read bedtime stories to children with life-limiting conditions and their families who are cared for by their local hospice, as well as bereaved families who still have strong links with their hospice. The children and their families were treated to a reading of Jack Maunder’s motivational kids’...
Preparations are well underway for the roll-out of the full fibre network through the recently awarded contracts from the Connecting Devon and Somerset (CDS) programme.
Around 56,000 homes and businesses will be provided with access to Gigabit capable broadband by internet providers Airband, Truespeed and Wessex Internet.
While most of the construction is expected to start in the autumn, Wessex Internet is due to start building the first links to its network in the Galhampton area of South Somerset in mid-April. This main framework, known as the “backhaul network” will...
The past 12 months have exacted a terrible toll on both our population and our economy – but with vaccine delivery progressing well and a roadmap to reopening now defined, thoughts are rightly turning to recovery. But let’s be clear – recovery has to be about more than regaining lost ground. Instead, we must aim higher.
If the Covid-19 pandemic has delivered one unexpected positive, it has been a chance to reassess. With so much of our traditional activity on hold, we have had an opportunity to take stock, to re-evaluate our future,...
A new study launched by the UK’s largest online learning provider, The Skills Network, has found that significant career changes for those in the South West are most likely to happen at age 30.1, but 2 in 5 won’t go after their dream job, due to the daunting prospect of having to retrain.
The research analysed answers from 1,000 people across the UK who have made a significant career change, during their working life, and had to retrain as a result. In the South West, people are likely to make six job changes during their working career, suggesting that you don’t have to have it...
Local Restrictions Support Grant (LRSG) funding for hundreds of East Devon businesses is waiting to be claimed before the deadline at the end of March. Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) will remain open until further notice.
The LRSG emergency coronavirus funding for firms will go back to the Treasury at the end of the month if it is not claimed.
As of 8th March, £14,649,070 has been paid by East Devon District Council in grants to local firms. £14,051,357 has been paid to businesses legally required to close and £597,713 has been paid to businesses which could remain...
Multi award-winning Cofton Holidays, near Dawlish Warren in South Devon, has reported record demand for off-peak holidays following a near sell-out of its summer school holiday accommodation, which is already 91.9% booked.
Following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s announcement that self-catering accommodation can open from 12th April 2021 in England, Cofton saw a staggering rise in its average weekly bookings, skyrocketing by 397%.
While much of the demand was for the school holidays, the holiday park, which offers cottages, apartments, lodges, holiday homes, caravan and...
Thousands of new trees will be planted across the South West thanks to a cash boost from the Woodland Trust.
Both Devon and Cornwall councils will benefit from the charity’s Emergency Tree Fund that aims to make up for a current lack of investment to help cash strapped local authorities break through barriers to get more trees and woods in the ground, giving more local communities the green spaces on their doorsteps that are desperately needed, and which have shown to be so important for people during the current pandemic. In 2019 Cornwall Council declared a Climate Emergency and...
