Exeter School celebrated the Ides of March, the day Julius Caesar met his end, with a visit by a bestselling author of books about the Romans.
Ben Kane, who has been writing bestsellers about Roman soldiers and gladiators for ten years now, appeared at the school on 15 March dressed as a Roman soldier, bringing with him a complete legionary's equipment: boots, shield, chain mail, helmet and the dreaded gladius, the Roman short sword.
Pupils enjoyed trying the helmet and shield for size and there were some near misses with the sword. Ben then gave a fascinating talk about...
Mush is a new free app that connects mums with other local, like-minded mums and generates friendships.
It’s mission is to make the lives of mums more sociable and fun, enabling meet-ups in real life with other mums who can support each other.
A recent study commissioned by Mush found that 80% of mums prefered to go to a playgroup with a friend, 50% go to shops for adult interation, 22% have only one other mum friend and 60% go through a full day without adult interation.
Mush was born through the experience of its founders Katie & Sarah, who had two small...
Devon County Council has stepped in to secure the main sections of two bus routes in South Devon.
Bus operator Local Link is withdrawing its services which connect to Torbay. From Monday 3 April, a new contract will start with services operated by Country Bus to maintain links from two Devon villages to Paignton.
There will be five buses a day from Stoke Gabriel and one bus an hour from Marldon. The new contract has been awarded to Country Bus after a successful competitive tendering exercise.
Arrangements have also been made with Stagecoach to add a Saturday...
Head coach Rob Baxter today bolstered his options for next season and beyond by bringing in two new faces to the playing ranks at Exeter Chiefs.
Experienced Australian international scrum-half Nic White will head to Devon from French Top 14 side Montpellier, while back-row forward James Freeman will also be checking into Sandy Park having joined from Championship outfit Jersey Reds.
Both men have agreed two-year deals with the Chiefs and takes Baxter’s new faces list to that of five having already brought in England international Matt Kvesic from Gloucester, plus Toby...
Ottery Refugee Response (a voluntary community group) is holding a free awareness evening, Spotlight on Syria in The Institute , Yonder St in Ottery St Mary on Saturday 25th March, 5-8.30pm.
Two Syrian speakers have confirmed they will attend and Syrian food can also be purchased at the event. All are welcome. The event follows the sell-out success of the group’s Rock for Refugees concert in Ottery on 4th March that raised over £1,500 for local refugee charities (RAFT, ABIDE and Refugee Support Devon). “There is so much more to Syria than the violence, death, and destruction that...
Crealy Adventure Park & Resort has raised £10,000 for the WESC Foundation, a specialist day and residential centre for young people and adults with visual impairment including complex needs in Exeter, Devon.
The year-long fundraising campaign, Wheels 4 WESC, aimed to raise funds towards a new minibus which thanks to the success of the partnership has now been purchased. Jon Duckham, Fundraising Manager at WESC, said: “WESC Foundation has had a wonderful fundraising year as chosen charity of Crealy and we can’t thank them enough.
Two hundred and fifty cinemas are hosting dedicated autism friendly cinema screenings this month right across the UK in partnership with Dimensions, a national not-for-profit support provider for people with learning disabilities and autism.
The complete listing of locations is in ‘notes to the editor’ below for ease of reference.
ODEON cinemas show their autism friendly screening on a different Sunday each month at 10.15am. They also show an additional screening aimed at older audiences on a chosen Monday night. This month’s general autism friendly screening is Beauty and...
Stagecoach South West has announced the winners of its romantic Falcon Love Story competition, launched around the first anniversary of the 24/7 cross regional coach service.
After sharing their stories of how they met their partners Ben Rose, Kathy Penny and Richard Day won date nights in Plymouth, Exeter and Bristol,.
Ben has won tickets for Craig David’s sold out ‘Follow My Intuition’ tour at the Plymouth Pavilions Arena on 21 March. He met his partner in Plymouth but lived in Exeter and worked in Taunton so would travel on the South West Falcon every day to see her....
The remarkable story of Devon’s wild beavers goes on with the announcement that the Westcountry rodents have now won a top national award.
Readers of BBC Countryfile Magazine have selected the River Otter Beaver Trial based in East Devon, along with the Scottish Beaver Trial, as their ‘Wildlife Success Story of the Year’ for 2017. The public poll attracted 56,000 votes across its 12 award categories.
The accolade is recognition of the work being done with the East Devon beavers by the charity Devon Wildlife Trust. The beavers are the first wild population of the animals to...
RMBI care home Cadogan Court in Exeter has received top marks in a nationwide survey of care home residents. The results showed that 96% of residents polled said that they were happy overall living at the Home, compared to the national average of 92%. Amongst the findings, all residents surveyed said that staff treat them with kindness, dignity and respect. 100% also said that they can take part in activities and hobbies at the care home if they wanted to. The care home organises regular activities and events, and works closely with local community groups, to support residents’ health and...