TWO family law experts have launched a virtual Arbitration Service for divorcing or separating parents to get legally binding decisions potentially remotely about their children rather than going through court.
Founders of the Westcountry legal service, Children in the Middle, family barrister, Elizabeth McCallum and Exeter-based barrister, Sarah Evans, have set-up the service to offer people quick decisions with the same enforceability as a court order.
Elizabeth says: “When there are disputes about children, such as how much time is spent with each parent, what their...
Rock Choir is the largest contemporary choir of the UK and remains unique with over 32,000 Members participating in approximately 400 local communities across the UK. With coronavirus gripping the country and with many of their Members in isolation, Rock Choir Founder and Creative Director, Caroline Redman Lusher , has pledged that Rock Choir will ‘Keep Britain Singing’ .
Rock Choir is known for its unique formula that leads to a natural high and change of mood experienced by its Membership on a weekly basis and confirmed by a singing experiment featured on BBC2’s Trust Me I’m A...
With temperatures set to reach up to 30 degrees this week, an expert is warning pet owners against the potential dangers for dogs and cats eating food from the barbecue.
According to a 2019 study, one in three Brits feed their pets food directly from the dinner table but barbecue foods in particular can be extremely unhealthy and even dangerous for animals.
Leticia Fidalgo Buron, vet and technical manager at Webbox, said: “While many of us love a barbecue, it’s important that people don’t leave food unattended or feed their pets scraps - even if they look like they’re...
A new interactive family story-trail around Exeter will launch on Saturday 4th July. The MonsterHero Safari Trail works on smartphones, challenging families to find hidden ‘MonsterHeroes’ around the city which appear on the phones when you reach their hiding place.
Families and households in Exeter can search the streets for 10 cute and colourful ‘MonsterHeroes’. Using only smartphones, the safari allows players to learn each of the MonsterHero’s name, story, and superpowers. Once all 10 MonsterHeroes are found, a free e-book, that tells the story of their first team-up, will be...
Nesta Challenges has announced the launch of the new Longitude Explorer Prize People’s Choice Award. Since September, teams of young people aged 11-16 have been creating and developing technological solutions to some of the greatest challenges we face. Innovations in the running include robots that clean the ocean and devices to help young people take part in lessons remotely, to tech that helps isolated people connect with others and apps to help people lead healthier lives. The winners of the new People’s Choice Award will receive £5,000 for their school or youth group.
The UK’s number one gift-card exchange platform, Exeter-based Cardyard, has used the COVID-19 crisis to push ahead on major changes to support near-instant delivery, consumer safety, and less handling of plastic cards.
The company, that buys and sells second-user giftcards at discounted rates, has now launched their service so supplies of physical plastic cards are switched into digital vouchers for use online and in-store when trading gift cards online
This was a planned upgrade for 2021/2, and the safety implications for handling plastic (where COVID-19 virus may...
Two Exeter community centres have completed solar power generation projects this month, having faced a deadline coinciding with the COVID-19 lockdown and threatening their viability. Westbank Community Health and Care in Exminster, and The Beacon Community Centre on Beacon Lane are among the UK’s last solar projects to get government feed-in-tariff subsidies.
Exeter Community Energy (ECOE), which owns the solar panels, and installer SOL Electrical had to register the sites with OFGEM, the government power regulator, before the end of March. That was needed to get the subsidies that...
Mental health is a difficult subject in customer service. In an often-stressful environment it’s a big concern, how do you make a difference?
When someone phones our team at Westgate for IT support, it is usually the case that the client or enquirer are having problems with their workstation. They are already frustrated and that frustration can attach on to the person answering the call. We don’t often get phone calls where the client is bouncing with joy and happy with their current IT set up but we do get a lot of thanks, daily, in the form of online reviews or through our...
Exeter’s oldest building is hotting up with an environmentally friendly heating system.
St Nicholas Priory in Exeter is probably the oldest building in Devon, boasting rare Norman architecture, but a brand-new heating system will soon see it brought bang up to date without impacting on the historic structure.
After years of closure, Exeter Historic Buildings Trust took over St Nicholas Priory in 2018, with the intention of painstakingly restoring the ancient building and adapting it for public use. Since reopening, it has become a thriving community venue hosting an...
Yesterday provided some very interesting housing market intelligence. Hard data from HMRC and market commentary from Rightmove showed that the only certainty is uncertainty and there is no need to rush into buying a home today if you don’t actually need to move home tomorrow. Perhaps Time, Time, Time is the new Location, Location, Location
For me, the most telling commentary was from Rightmove for whom the current level of housing market uncertainty rendered them unable to provide guidance on their future profitability. Rightmove’s revenues are generated from estate agents and...
