Devon

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...

Devon’s NHS has been shortlisted for a prestigious national award thanks to improvements it has made to dementia care in the county.

The local NHS, which includes Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, will find out if it has won a Care Integration Award at a ceremony in London on Tuesday 9 July 2013.

The nomination is for the development of a dementia care pathway that has already reduced the waiting times for specialist dementia diagnosis and memory assessment, and has improved awareness of the benefits of diagnosis at an early stage by the patients’ GP.

It means people with...

New research from a leading train company has found that littering on trains is the number one source of rail-rage amongst passengers in Exeter, but travellers would need to be overwhelmed by passengers’ smelly odours before acting on their annoyance.

The survey, conducted by train company CrossCountry, found that more than half of people in Exeter (57%) are most aggravated by passengers leaving their rubbish behind – making them the least tolerant of litterbugs in the UK.

Despite the fact that half of passengers (52%) in Exeter are annoyed by passengers talking loudly on...

Big Lottery funding of nearly £378,000 over four years has been awarded to St Petrock’s, just at a time when Exeter’s charity for people who are homeless is reporting a 29% increase in demand for its services over the last year.

“This is very good news and we are very grateful to the Big Lottery for this award,” said Mel Hartley, Project Manager at St Petrock’s. “It has certainly come at the right time with homeless figures rising and more people struggling to keep a roof over their heads. This funding will support a number of our housing projects and help us to provide a fast...