The Exeter Daily

Devon-based Gregory Distribution announces purchase of Philson Haulage

Gregory Distribution (Holdings) Ltd, the parent company of Gregory Distribution Ltd, has purchased Philson Haulage Ltd from its owners, Phil and Sonia Dickinson for an undisclosed sum.

Philson Haulage is a southern-based transport and distribution business with a turnover of around £7 million and employs 56 people at its base in Chichester. It was founded in 1995 by Phil and Sonia and has successfully developed a strong reputation for service and reliability within the fresh produce distribution sector during the past 17 years.

Commenting on the sale, Phil Dickinson said: “...

Charity Cycle Challenge for Children's Hospice South West

Exeter-based Girling Jones (Recruitment Company) is the latest business to register a team of 6 employees to take part in a 200 mile cycle challenge for Children's Hospice South West.

Ride for Precious Lives takes place over three days in June and is the charity's leading cycling challenge for 2013. For more details of the event and how to register visit www.chsw.org.uk/rfpl .

From statistics to screwdrivers for business-minded Exeter dad

When Martyn Lufkin graduated with a degree in statistics, he had no idea that some 13 years later he would return to education - this time to train as an electrician.

The 33-year-old father of two who lives in Exeter is one of a growing number of people who retrain and switch to a completely different career after years, even decades, of doing the same thing....

Martyn had studied statistics because he was good at it, rather than because he had a specific career in mind, graduating in 2001. In fact he was so unsure what career he was suited to that he signed up with a...

The Daily UK set to launch first franchise in Plymouth

The team behind The Exeter Daily are poised to launch their first franchise. After just five months of trading in Exeter, The Daily UK, is to expand into Plymouth next month. Meanwhile, talks are at an advanced stage in a number of other areas across the UK.

The Daily model was created by Marc Astley, who stood down as editor of the Express & Echo in Exeter shortly after it turned from a daily to weekly. And he said his user-generated model had captured the imaginations of a new generation of news consumer.

Mr Astley added: “Everything we are doing now is six to 12...

Joss Stone talks to Jonathan Ross about Mama Stones and China gig

Devon songstress Joss Stone has told how soldiers ushered fans out of a gig as she was playing in China.

Joss, who's mother owns a club in Exeter, told Jonathan Ross how the bizarre incident happened when she was performing at a festival in Beijing. She said she was the last act on stage but before her set ended the military began to clear the venue.

Joss explained: "It was a bit mad actually... I think they decided it was time everyone should leave and there must have been about 200 of them, maybe more lining all of the audience… and they were slowly pushing all of the...

Police appeal for information following Cullompton burglary

Police are appealing for information following a burglary at a house in Cullompton, which took place between 6.15pm and 10.15pm on Saturday, 16 February 2013.

The property was entered and numerous items stolen, including a pair of drop earrings worth £900, a Sharp video camcorder, valued at £200, a red Samsung digital camera, worth £200 and an HP Photosmart Series 420 camera, valued at £179.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, quoting refrence KU/13/139.

BDA Supports Calls For Hospital Food Standards

The British Dietetic Association (BDA) is supporting a new report from Sustain (the alliance for better food and farming), calling for better hospital food with the introduction of hospital food standards (in England).

The BDA, founded in 1936, is the professional association for registered dietitians in the UK. It is the nation's largest organisation of food and nutrition professionals with over 7,000 members. The BDA is also an active trade union.

As part of its Better Hospital Food campaign, the Sustain report called Twenty Years of Hospital Food Failure found that...

Close to 500 Rohingyan refugees have died at sea reports UNHCR

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has estimated 13,000 mostly Rohingya people have fled Burma's Rakhine State since an outbreak of violence in 2012, and close to 500 have died at sea when their boats broke down or capsized.

However Myanmar's Deputy Minister for Immigration and Population, Kyaw Kyaw Tun yesterday stated that the Rohingyan people are not included in Myanmar's more than 100 national races.

"There has never been a Rohingya race in Rakhine State. According to the censuses collected in the colonial period, in 1973 and in 1983, the country's ethnic groups...

Campaign to tackle illegal tobacco trade launches in Devon today

On Monday 25 February 2013, Smokefree South West launch a multi-partnership initiative alongside HMRC, Trading Standards, the Police, Crimestoppers and other enforcement partners, Primary Care Trusts and Local Authorities as part of on-going efforts to tackle the illegal tobacco trade in the South West.

Progress is being made. HMRC figures show that in 2010 the associated revenue loss caused by illegal tobacco in the UK was estimated to be £2.18bn, today that figure has dropped to £1.86bn. Illegal tobacco however remains a serious issue. According to research, 1 in 20 (5.2%)...

Torquay school teacher conquers 203-mile trek

Last year 54-year old special school teacher Edward Thompson from Torquay set out to walk round Dartmoor on foot and climb 100 tors in 10 days for charity while living rough on the moor.

203 miles and over 105 hours of walking later, he had conquered 156 tors, walking at an average speed of 1.93 mph, and raising over £3,000 for the charity Dream-A-Way in the process.

Now, on the back of that success, Edward has set his sights on visiting a marathon 200 tors, hills and rocks in 10 days, a feat that will require him walking for up to 12 hours a day in order to complete a...

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