East Devon District Council will be re-opening 12 play areas from Monday (13thJuly) following the relaxation of restrictions around the coronavirus lockdown.
The district council manages 71 play areas and eight outdoor gyms which were all closed in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. In the coming weeks, the council will assess the remaining 59 play areas and outdoor gym equipment and will phase the re-opening of these sites once safety inspections, risk assessments and mitigation measures have been put in place.
A brand new helipad at the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust (RD&E) is now open, thanks to a £1million donation from the HELP Appeal – the only charity in the country dedicated to funding NHS hospital helipads.
The hospital’s previous helipad was unable to receive night landings, but the new helipad is equipped with lighting so air ambulances will be able to land during darkness hours. The new helipad, which has been built on the same location as the previous one, has also been enlarged to enable the latest generation of air ambulances to land. These bigger aircraft...
Exeter Chiefs have today added to their playing ranks with the capture of promising fly-half Jack Walsh.
The playmaker has agreed an initial one-year deal with the current Gallagher Premiership leaders, arriving in the Westcountry from Australia where he has been playing his club rugby at Manly Marlins.
Welcoming the 20-year-old on board, Chiefs’ Director of Rugby, Rob Baxter, said: “He is one of those guys who has ended up here probably on the flip side of what was going on with COVID-19. We were looking at seeing what options were around and what would fit in and Jack...
Holidaymakers looking to spend a summer staycation in Devon will soon find all the information they need at the click of a mouse.
Celebrity chef Michael Caines MBE is spearheading a new initiative which he hopes will encourage those who would usually be planning a foreign break to look closer to home.
His new website, Destination Devon, will feature guides, reviews, tips, advice and a whole host of other information.
Michael has teamed up with publisher Nick Cooper, whose team produce a range of food and drink magazines and websites, including Food Magazine and...
Exeter City Futures has announced the appointment of their new Managing Director, Andrew Hardwick.
Having previously worked as Regional Stores Director for Tesco (Westcountry), Andrew brings 20 years of senior executive management experience across retail, hospitality, leisure, and not-for-profit sectors.
Andrew takes up the role from Liz O-Driscoll, and joins following the curation and publication of the Net Zero Exeter 2030 Plan . As the new Managing Director, Andrew’s focus is to ensure Exeter City Futures delivers effective collaborations that facilitate Exeter’s...
People in Devon who are worried or anxious about coping with the newly relaxed lockdown measures are being offered help and support.
A further easing of lockdown measures on Saturday, 4 July, has left many people concerned about going back to pre-Covid social situations, such as visiting a restaurant, or about the catching virus itself while out and about.
Livewell Southwest and Devon Partnership NHS Trust (DPT), the providers of mental health services in Devon, Torbay and Plymouth, are reminding people that mental health services are open for business and available to...
The RSPCA is bracing itself for a surge in abandoned animals and fears the fallout from the Covid crisis could see more owners struggling to keep their pets.
Typically, the charity sees abandonment peak in the summer months. Between June and August 2019, 16,519 animals were reported abandoned to the RSPCA which accounts for 30% of all animals reported abandoned that year.
During the summer months the charity received 282 reports about dumped animals in Devon.
This included a poorly rabbit who was abandoned on a roadside in Brixham last summer. Found in July (...
Drivers are being asked to help deliver a network of electric vehicle (EV) charging points across Devon by revealing their driving habits and attitudes towards EV in an online questionnaire.
Devon County Council (DCC) is working with district councils and the private sector on two projects which aims to deliver more than a 100 EV charging points across Devon.
Now DCC has launched three online questionnaires, each one targeted to a specific group, to gauge the public’s attitudes towards EV.
Drivers are asked to choose a questionnaire that best describes their...
A national research collaboration has been awarded £1.85 million to investigate children’s health and maternal wellbeing.
Researchers from PenARC (NIHR ARC South West Peninsula) based at the University of Exeter Medical School have collaborated with colleagues from ARC Yorkshire and Humber to develop the national research programme.
PenARC is one of the leading Applied Research Centres (ARCs) funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), conducting research to improve the health and needs of patients in the NHS. The new £1.85 million collaboration is...
PEOPLE across Devon are being urged to shop to save lives, as Cancer Research UK stores re-open after three months of devastating closures.
The majority of the charity’s shops are getting back to business to tackle a shortfall in funding caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
With its shops typically contributing more than £25m every year to vital research, Cancer Research UK has suffered a dramatic loss of income since they were forced to close temporarily at the end of March.
Highlighting the scale of the funding gap, the call to support shopsacross the region...
