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Library Lates Windrush celebration
A family-friendly Windrush Day celebration with music, poetry, dance, exhibitions and crafts.
Leigh Curtis
Devon Development Education and Exeter Library are hosting a special Library Lates to celebrate Windrush Day on Saturday 22 June.
The family-friendly evening event includes talks, exhibitions and workshops celebrating Caribbean culture.
There will be music from DJ Somatic plus a bar with soft and alcoholic drinks.
Devon Development Education is an Exeter-based charity which provides training and resources to schools and communities across Devon.
It aims to help children and people of all ages to understand global issues and their personal involvement in them, and work for a more just and sustainable world.
Windrush Day is held on 22 June each year to honour the contribution of Afro-Carribean migrants who began arriving on HMT Empire Windrush in 1948, known as the “Windrush generation”, to UK society.
The first Windrush Day was held in 2018 following a campaign by activist Patrick Vernon.
The Library Lates Windrush celebration takes place from 6-9.30pm on Saturday 22 June 2024 at Exeter Library. The event is free to attend.
Exeter City Council is about to seize the helm of Exe estuary maritime life: will it steer it onto the rocks?
Charges for waterways access are set to be imposed from the quay and canal basin to the coast under proposed Harbour Revision Order powers after six years of rising costs propelled by pursuit of Port Marine Safety Code compliance. They risk driving away craft of all sizes, from kayaks to yachts, while redevelopment threatens canalside land – but it’s not too late to change course.
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Exeter In Brief
SOUTH WEST WATER has admitted criminal offences relating to the contamination of drinking water in Brixham in 2024. The outbreak, caused by the parasite cryptosporidiosis, affected around 16,000 properties in the area and led to around 100 cases of illness. The admission, made during a case heard at Exeter Magistrates’ Court, followed news that a claim against the company being brought by law firm Leigh Day on behalf of residents and businesses in Exmouth affected by sewage pollution has been expanded to include people living in Dawlish, Sidmouth, Teignmouth, Newquay and Penzance. A 2025 Ofwat investigation into the management of South West Water’s sewage treatment works and sewerage networks led to the imposition of enforcement measures costing £24 million. During the 2024-25 reporting year the company recorded 109 pollution incidents per 10,000km of sewer &ndash more than any other water company in England and Wales and five times the industry-wide target and more than double the industry average.
EXETER CITY COUNCIL has withdrawn its £2.5 million plans to refurbish the upper decks of the Cathedral and Quay car park and outsource its daily management. A brief report summarising the plans was brought direct to a city council meeting without being first scrutinised by councillors, as required by local government legislation. The meeting was repeatedly paused so council leader Phil Bialyk could confer with senior council officers in response to numerous concerns raised by councillors about the plans. The upper decks of the 355-space council-owned car park were closed six years ago after a survey revealed structural defects. The council says it has been advised that the car park is now capable of “withstanding” the loads it was designed to carry.
A new E-BIKE HIRE SCHEME is expected to begin a pilot in Exeter in the next few weeks, according to Local Democracy Reporter Guy Henderson. Thomas Lloyd Foster, trading as not-for-profit Sprintco Limited, says his app-based scheme will start with ten docking stations on private land in high-footfall areas, and that he is discussing scheme expansion with Devon County Council. Co-Bikes, a previous scheme of around 240 e-bikes operated by shared mobility provider Co-Cars, ceased trading in July 2023 when Co-Cars collapsed.
The UNIVERSITY OF EXETER has made redundancy payments of almost £19 million to around 450 staff who have left under a voluntary scheme over the past two years. Its 2024-25 annual report says that first round of the scheme, which ran from April to August 2024, was taken up by around 180 employees with around 270 employees then leaving during a second redundancy round held the following year, which the university says was prompted by “the acknowledgement of the impact of continued international student recruitment challenges”.
The redevelopment of KING GEORGE V PLAYING FIELD by Exeter City Community Trust has begun after a scheme to install a full-size artificial football pitch with floodlighting, refurbish and extend a sports pavilion and expand its car park was approved by Exeter City Council last August. The decision was made by officers and did not go before the council’s planning committee. It followed a July 2024 council decision to transfer 40 acres of land at the Countess Wear playing fields to the trust which was made without a promised “wide-ranging, fully open public consultation” on the proposal. The trust instead held an informal consultation in December 2024. The council executive is due to hear an otherwise unexplained item related to the scheme next month described as “relating to financial ask of c.£475,000”.
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