Stories you may have missed

Clothing for orphaned Ukrainian children, a celebrity advent calendar with a mental health message and the life of a footballer who also tackles fires have all hit the South West headlines this week.

Here is a run down of seven news stories from Devon and Cornwall which you might have missed.

New coats, shoes and hooded jackets are being gifted to orphaned children in Ukraine for Christmas after a fundraising campaign.

David Pond, from Kingsand, Cornwall, helped set up a crisis response centre when the war in Ukraine began in February 2022 and has since raised funds to provide supplies, including medical equipment and humanitarian aid for the country.

He said the gifts would be delivered to 80 children, ranging from two to 19 years old, at an orphanage in Lviv, on 12 December.

Mr Pond said: “This is a wonderful opportunity to give children who are suffering significant turmoil a set of brand new clothes.”

A century after a charity was created by ground-breaking MP Nancy Astor, it is still changing lives in her city.

Lady Astor made history in 1919 as the first woman to take a seat in the House of Commons, representing Plymouth Sutton.

The Plymouth Astor Trust, founded by Lady Astor and her husband in 1925, has donated nearly £485,000 to causes across the city since 2006.

Children’s Wishes Plymouth, which received £1,000 from the trust, was among a number of charities receiving grants from the trust at Lady Astor’s former home on Plymouth Hoe on Tuesday.

A mental health charity has launched an advent calendar which shares celebrity messages to encourage people to talk about mental health.

Spark UK, a charity launched in North Devon, has released its fifth and final advent calendar, external which includes celebrities such as Sir Stephen Fry, Henry Rowley and Alfie Boe.

The non-profit mental health charity was launched in 2020 by teenager Conor Warren with the aim to help young people to talk about mental health and to provide them with accessible resources.

Mr Warren said its advent calendar theme was “a message to my younger self” and it had been “an amazing journey” with the amount of celebrity support it had received.

Schools in Devon and Cornwall have asked their pupils to lock away their mobile phones until the end of the day.

Brannel School, near St Austell, Cornwall, is among a number of schools in the South West which are clamping down on phones due to the distractions they create.

Head teacher Tristan Muller-Forster said the system tackled what he called “mobile fatigue”.

At Chulmleigh College in Devon the rules are even tougher, as phones can be brought in but they cannot be seen or heard and any rule breach has the risk of a pupil losing their phone for weeks.

Residents in a rural village say they are concerned about a “life line” bus service after its operator said it would withdraw its 14 services.

First Bus announced plans last month to withdraw from its five depots at Camborne, Falmouth, Penzance, Summercourt and Truro due to rising costs and falling passenger numbers.

Bus operator Go Cornwall said it would step in as a replacement by the middle of February 2026 when First Bus would stop operating.

Managing director for Go Cornwall Richard Stevens said no community “will be left unserved”.

Police are asking people to register CCTV and doorbell cameras so they can potentially request footage when needed to investigate crimes.

Devon and Cornwall Police said it had introduced a new digital media management system which would allow it to request evidence from businesses and communities across the force area.

The system, called NiCE Investigate, is currently used by 24 police forces across the UK.

Assistant chief constable Dave Thorne said he hoped the new process of collecting digital media evidence would “lead to faster results for victims of crime”.

A footballer has said her other job as a firefighter provides good preparation for what happens on the pitch.

Exeter City captain Bow Jackson has worked with Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service for the last seven years.

Since joining the Grecians in 2022, she has helped the club gain promotion to the third tier of the women’s game.

Speaking about her two contrasting roles she said: “I’m probably exposed to pressures more than most people, but it doesn’t mean I’m indestructible.”