South West

Chris victorious in Omelette Challenge

Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Mon, 04/27/2015 - 10:32am

Eight business people from around Exeter took part in the Kirk Hills Omelette Challenge, the second year that it’s run at the Exeter Festival of South West Food and Drink.

The Challenge was judged by Michael Caines MBE who showed the contestants how it should be done with a time of 28 seconds. Paul Nero from Radio Exe was compere for the event.

Keith Biggs from OTB Eveling was defending champion and looked like he would win again this year with the best time in the initial round. However there was an ‘egg off’ between Keith and the second fastest Chris Bentley from Exeter...

Stagecoach SW announces fare changes

Authored by Mary Youlden
Posted: Thu, 04/23/2015 - 12:40pm

Stagecoach confirmed that bus fares in the South West are to rise by an average of 1.8% from 3 May, reflecting rising costs and reduced public sector investment in buses.

However, within this review a number of cheaper fares are being introduced to encourage more frequent usage.

The changes mean that weekly unlimited local travel with Stagecoach in the South West, which has the lowest bus fares of any major operator in the UK, starts from just £1.16 a day*.

Stagecoach has once again frozen the price of many of its popular Exeter and Torbay day and season tickets, as...

Michael Caines launches Adopt South West

Michelin-starred celebrity chef Michael Caines, MBE, has today announced the launch of a unique partnership of adoption agencies based in Devon, Adopt South West.

The new partnership includes the adoption agencies of Devon County Council, Plymouth City Council, Torbay Council and charities Barnardo’s and Families for Children.

Adopt South West, who are committed to finding and supporting stable and secure placements for children, are also launching a campaign to break down the myths surrounding adoption. The campaign will also focus on encouraging people who have not...

SW’s law firms report strong year

The Law Management Section's 2015 Financial Benchmarking Survey, sponsored by Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, and compiled by Hazlewoods LLP, has showed that financial stability in the South West is 'on the up'. Compared with findings from last year's survey, it is clear that there has been a dramatic rise in the percentage of practices operating profitability and within their overdraft limit. One in six were likely to seek external investment for expansion, and a similar number were likely to bring in one or more non-lawyer owners, for example HR, IT, Finance etc. In line with last year,...

SW Construction Summit to bring together leading industry experts

The South West has a thriving construction industry with the region predicted to exceed the projected average UK growth rate for 2015 to 2019 according to a recent CITB report.

The regional estimated average output over this period is 3.6%, considerably higher than the UK predicted rate of 2.9%.

It is this prosperous growth and promising future that has prompted the first South West Construction Summit. The Summit aims to bring together key contributors of the regional construction industry and its supply chain to support and underpin the progress already being made. The...

Paws for Thought family dog show

Hounds First Sighthound Rescue will be holding a Family Dog Show at Westpoint in Exeter on Saturday (25 April 2015) from 10am-5pm. Showing is from11am.

The charity has been chosen as one of a small number of charities to hold an event after entering a competition to mark Westpoint’s 25th anniversary.

Paws for Thought is an event for the whole family. Entry to the event will be free, but there will be donation buckets on the gate.

There will be an entry fee of £1 per class for the dog show. All proceeds from the show going to Hounds First Sighthound Rescue, to help...

Candidates urged to back SW investment opportunity

Regen SW has today written to MPs and Parliamentary candidates in the south west urging them to support the development of a world-leading renewable energy industry in the next Parliament by signing the South West Renewable Energy 2015 General Election Manifesto.

Candidates have been asked to pledge their support for the manifesto's eight specific commitments, which could help deliver to the south west more than £10 billion of investment, 34,000 jobs and energy security to thousands of local communities.

The commitments include:

• Putting local communities at the...

Warming seas risk for fishy favourites

Popular North Sea fish such as haddock, plaice and lemon sole could become less common on our menus because they will be constrained to preferred habitat as seas warm, according to a study published in Nature Climate Change.

Fish distributions are limited by water temperature and some species can only thrive in certain habitats and depths. In the last 40 years the North Sea has warmed four times faster than the global average and further warming is predicted over the coming century, leading fisheries scientists to study how this will impact on commercial species.

The...

Lack of properties pushes up prices

The number of properties coming onto the market continued to drop, pushing prices rapidly upwards in the South West, according to the latest RICS UK Residential Market Survey.

In most parts of the country, the supply versus demand imbalance led to a rise in house prices in March and in the South West 36% more chartered surveyors reported a rise in house prices in March (up from 31% in February) and 16% more chartered surveyors expect prices to increase over the next three months in the region compared with 6% in February (albeit the results for both are significantly lower than in...

Positive Outcomes boosts apprenticeships awareness

Authored by News Desk
Posted: Tue, 04/14/2015 - 11:38am

A leading training provider is boosting awareness of the wide range of apprenticeship opportunities in the South West.

Positive Outcomes has apprenticeships available across sectors such as IT, business, property, customer services and retail.

During the Skills South West event, it held a competition to win £100 high street vouchers in an aim to draw attention to apprenticeships and what they offer. The competition was very popular and was won by 14-year-old Sophie Sproston from Paignton who is shortly due to receive her £100 worth of high street vouchers.

The...

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