Devon

Devon’s finest were honoured by the Queen last week when they were presented with a British Empire Medal.

Chosen for their tireless community work and dedication, the eight men and women from across the County were named in the New Year’s Honours List 2013. They were presented with their awards by Devon’s Lord Lieutenant, Eric Dancer CBE JP, the Queen’s representative in the county, at a Investiture at County Hall on Friday 24 May. He said: “These people are true community champions, and have been carrying out so much exceptional work to help others by fundraising, volunteering,...

A depleted Exiles squad with a few borrowed local Greek Grecian vets pulled off a shock result, or two, to win the annual Andros cup!

There were four teams taking part, Exeter Exiles, Hydrousa Vets, Youth, and their main team.

In a very close affair the youth pulled off their own shock to beat the main team 2-0 in the first semifinal.

In the second semifinal the Vets took a late lead against the Exiles after some neat build up through the middle left their striker one on one with yours truly who he sent the wrong way.

The Exiles' equaliser was even later and...

Notwithstanding the 2012 deluge, the progress of English wines in the last year has been remarkable. You can hardly open a paper or magazine, or a wine website or trade publication, without a eulogy to England appearing.

Take this from Berry Brothers & Rudd in October last year. They went on record in the Independent..."The quality (of English wine)... stands up to the rest of the world and, in the case of some sparkling wines, exceeds their rivals."

The newspaper asked "Is English wine now exceeding the quality of French?" and returned the answer: yes. "Start with...

New bus services linking to Cranbrook will be launched next week. The Services 4, 4A and 4B will be introduced on Tuesday (28 May) and will replace services 60, 60A, 60B, X60 and 380 on the route between Exeter, Clyst Honiton, Cranbrook, Ottery St. Mary, Honiton and Axminster.

Devon County Council is using developer contributions to fund the services, and its existing funding for Service 380 along this route will also continue towards the additional services.

There will be a half-hourly service between Exeter and Cranbrook, with most buses continuing to Ottery St Mary and...

Devon’s Crealy Great Adventure Park is inviting intrepid youngsters to come along this half term and become a Crealy Explorer by taking part in their Explorers' Week. Using an ‘Explorers' Map’ guests can follow the trail and solve the clues around the park to win a medal and the chance to take part in a daily prize draw!

Find out what animal guards the thrilling rollercoaster Maximus or head to the top of the Vortex and see what colour the lights in Viper are! Explorers who correctly solve all of the clues will earn themselves an Explorers Medal and be in with a chance of...

Devon County Council leaders issued a swift response to a report finding its child protection services inadequate.

They said they were already taking steps to deal with a number of issues set to be highlighted by Ofsted inspectors in a report next week.

They declared that the safety of children in Devon was an absolute priority.

They pointed out that the inspectors had not reported on a single child who was at risk of immediate harm.

And they said the inspectors noted staff were following child protection procedures correctly.

Devon’s new Cabinet...

All you need to plan for a fun-packed Bank Holiday weekend...

THEATRE

Vienna Festival Ballet: Sleeping Beauty Friday, 7.30pm, Exeter Corn Exchange A classic fairy tale set to Tchaikovsky's magnificent score, stunning choreography, beautiful costumes, all combine to portray the struggle between good and evil. Tickets: £20 adult, £15 under 16s. Box office: 01392 665938. www.exeter.gov.uk/cornexchange

Theatre Open Day Saturday, 10am-4pm, Exeter Northcott Theatre If you've always wanted to go behind the scenes, now's your chance as the Exeter Northcott throws open...

A series of information sessions for anyone interested in fostering are planned for next month, as Devon County Council continues its drive to recruit carers.

The Council is hosting a mixture of information events and stalls in a bid to encourage more people to consider becoming foster families and give those interested the chance to find out whether fostering would be suitable for them.

Devon has over 700 children in care, and just over 300 fostering households. However many current foster carers are approaching retirement age so the County Council needs to recruit new...

Dream-A-Way, the Exeter-based charity that provides holidays and outings for people with disabilities across Devon and Cornwall, is celebrating a big success as the Official Show Charity at the Devon County show at Westpoint last week. This is also the charity’s 20th birthday year so the Trustees were delighted to be chosen as charity of the year and then to receive a royal visit in addition was a huge Bonus.

The Dream-A-Way stand was the first to be visited by HRH the Duchess of Cornwall after she had officially opened the County Show. She was introduced to Dream-A-Way Chairman...