January

A COUPLE from Okehampton, who were lucky to be alive following a horrific motorcycle accident, paid an emotional visit to the paramedics who played a vital role in saving their lives.

Vince and Andrea Vanstone were riding their Yamaha 1,100cc motorcycle in 2013 when they collided with a Land Rover on the A386 near Mary Tavy. They both suffered life threatening injuries and spent months in hospital recovering from their injuries. When they returned home, the couple paid a visit to the the Devon Air Ambulance Trust headquarters in Exeter and met the paramedics who saved their lives.

LUCY Clark from Callington spearheaded a campaign to get people in West Devon signed up to the stem cell donor register after following the story of a little girl who lost her battle with leukaemia.

After seeing the story of 17-month-old Margot Martini while browsing through Facebook and following the journey of her struggle with the disease, including a bone marrow transplant which ended up failing and resulting in her death in October, Lucy organised a donor registration event later this month to help more people find a match and to enable more lives to be saved.

AN agreement was reached to secure GP services for the people of North Tawton. Bow Medical Practice signed a one-year contract with NHS England to run North Tawton Medical Practice from the beginning of April.

AFTER making do with a damp, cold, cramped cabin for a number of years, the young people of Bere Alston’s youth club celebrated the completion of a brand new, ‘fit for purpose’ base next to the parish hall.

February

GOVERNMENT spending cuts were heavily criticised by Okehampton councillors, as frontline services felt the strain.

Devon County Council wanted to save £110-million by 2017 — £50-million in the coming financial year — due to its reduced settlement from central government. In the past year, these cuts had led to the impending closure of Wardhayes Care Home, the reduction of opening hours at Okehampton Recycling Centre, and saw 11 stops removed from Okehampton’s mobile library service.

TAVISTOCK Golf Club was recognised as a dementia-friendly organisation — a first for Great Britain and Ireland.

With more than 2,700 golf clubs in the British Isles, Tavistock is the very first to achieve the dementia-friendly status — and members are proud to have received the recognition.

AN all-time high of recorded dog attacks on livestock sparked a move which could make it easier for owners and their pets to be tracked down.

Dartmoor Livestock Protection Society called for dogs’ DNA to be taken and recorded on a register at the same time the animal is microchipped.

The DLPS, farmers and interested organisations hoped the ‘Catch the Canine Culprit’ campaign for DNA samples to be taken would make it easier to identify the owner and dog involved in any attack.

March

SOUTH Tawton School children, staff, governors and guests gathered to see the chairman of Devon County Council, Cllr George Gribble, cut the first turf to mark the building of the new school facilities. The youngest and the oldest pupil assisted with the cutting to mark the start on improvements that included three new classrooms and a new school hall.

A NEW lifeline service was launched in Tavistock to help the increasing number of older people living on their own or suffering from loneliness.

‘A Voice that Makes A Difference’ was a new telephone befriending service initiated by Tavistock Area Support Services to reach more vulnerable people in the community.

The service came about due to the popularity of the charity’s befriending outreach service, which currently supports around 80 people out in the community — and also the large waiting list for befrienders.

A COMMUNITY project at St James’ Church in Jacobstowe uncovered the remains of an ancient structure under the floor of the church.

Members of the team working at the church believed this could be evidence that the church may date back much further than originally realised.

Excavations at St James have unearthed the ruins of the church’s former eastern limit and an incredibly rare western apse formation. There are only two other examples of a western apse in Britain — at Canterbury Cathedral and at Langford in Sussex.

A FRESH campaign was launched by residents and visitors to Tavistock who were eager to revive the once thriving and much-loved Old Folks’ Rest Room.

The rest room was closed to its members in 2009 and has since remained empty.

But hundreds of people backed a campaign by Tavistock Area Support Services to find out what was happening to the once bustling building.

April

A TAVISTOCK youngster was enjoying life with two hands for the first time ever, after receiving a 3D printed prosthetic hand — thought to be the first of its type in the country.

Four-year-old Abbi Jillians was born without a left hand (Amniotic Band Syndrome) and has had complicated operations in an attempt to form fingers using parts of her toes.

OKEHAMPTON Rugby Club’s Paul Lawrence made his debut on the national stage after playing in an England Deaf Players XV against Wales.

A CAMPAIGN began to have life-saving defibrillators installed in Okehampton town centre and all the villages and communities in the Okehampton area.

There were four community defibrillators in Okehampton, two in North Tawton and others in Drewsteignton, Hatherleigh and Halwill.

May

LIVESTOCK on Dartmoor which had been attacked by dogs were DNA tested by farmers and vets. The initiative was agreed during a meeting in Princetown which saw local farmers, police, interested organisations and leading DNA experts from America attend.

The conference was called by Dartmoor Livestock Protection Society (DLPS) and Streetkleen, a bio-technology company.

IN a night which saw shock after shock in constituencies across Britain, Conservative Geoffrey Cox was elected with the biggest ever majority, 18,000, in Torridge and West Devon in a General Election — he described it as simply the most extraordinary in his lifetime.

THE General Election in Central Devon mirrored the national picture as Conservative candidate Mel Stride won his seat in the House of Commons with a dominant victory in the polls. In a huge turnout of voters — 75.11% of those eligible to vote in Central Devon went to the polls Mr Stride won 28,436 votes with UKIP’s John Conway coming second with 7,171 votes.

COUNCILLORS who wished to see a permanent rail link return to Okehampton urged the public to ‘let the train take the strain’ to prove there is demand for rail travel.

The Sunday Rover service, which runs trains from Okehampton Station to Exeter each Sunday throughout the summer months until September, ran its first trains. Advocates of a permanent rail service through the town were desperate to see people use the rover trains and prove to decision makers in government that there was an appetite for better transport links to Okehampton. One of the most staunch advocates was Cllr Dr Michael Ireland, chairman of Destination Okehampton, a town council working group.

The group was set up to look at ways to make the town a more enticing and exciting destination for local people and tourists alike. In the last year or so one of its key focuses has been improving the chances of returning the railway to Okehampton.

A NEW threat to the future of the already diminishing number of Dartmoor ponies was revealed following a statement that their existence was not critical to the ecology of Dartmoor.

The statement sparked huge uproar among people dedicated to their protection. The moorland icon has taken another hit after representatives of Natural England revealed in a meeting that there was no evidence that ponies were vital to the ecology of the moor.

June

CHILDREN from Bere Alston Primary School, played a starring role in the celebrations to mark the 125th anniversary of the opening of the railway line between Plymouth and Lydford. The children received commemorative certificates and recited a poem at Bere Alston Railway Station, where a plaque was unveiled by the Mayor of West Devon, Cllr David Cloke.

A DEDICATED West Devon woman was recognised for all her work within the community by being awarded an MBE by the Queen — an honour she said was not just for her but for all her fellow team mates at the Mary Budding Trust.

Seventy-five-year-old Ann McDonald, from Tavistock, who was the secretary for the trust and helped to set it up in 2003, was announced in the Queen’s birthday honours list for her services to children with special needs.

July

OKEHAMPTON Primary School pupils were celebrating after being announced as the national UK Total Green School Award champions.

Thirty pupils and five adults had an all- expenses paid day out at London Zoo as regional winners.

They met Dermot O’Leary and Naomi Wilkinson — two trustees from Young People’s Trust for the Environment.

A SECOND application to build homes on a greenfield site on the outskirts of Tavistock, a year after the first one was unanimously refused by planners, baffled local residents.

The detailed proposal for 110 homes at Butcher Park Hill was thrown out the year before after much local opposition, because it was outside the development boundary and there were concerns over the access road to the site.

OKEHAMPTON rock band DownFall did the town proud by beating musicians and bands from across the country to be named ‘Brand New Artist 2015’ in a national competition.

The band, comprising Jake and Mack Hodgson, Karl Little and Nathan Bostock, had been working hard to try and secure the Brand New Artist 2015 crown.

The competition organised by Neil Garton looked to promote the best unsigned talent in the country with the aim of making the competition winner reach the Christmas number one spot on the charts.

A FABULOUS town centre with great local businesses supporting each other to improve the offer of the high street — that’s how government minister Marcus Jones summed up Tavistock during a three day tour of the South West’s town centres.

The High Streets’ Minister spent an afternoon in the town meeting with shop owners and hearing how new initiatives to boost business had a marked effect on footfall.

August

A new organisation was established to champion Tavistock’s heritage and drive forward exciting plans to transform the town into a gateway to the Cornwall and West Devon World Heritage Site. Two partnership groups — Tavistock Townscape Heritage and the World Heritage Site key centre working group — joined forces to co-ordinate work on initiatives to bring some of the oldest buildings in Tavistock back into public use and put the town firmly on the tourism map as a centre of culture.

CONTROVERSIAL plans to extend a quarry in West Devon were objected to by parish councillors — much to the relief of most of the 80 or so residents that attended.

Burrator Parish Council’s planning committee considered an application to extend the working area of the existing active Yennadon Quarry in Dousland last Thursday. The application was the second submitted by the quarry after a similar application was refused last year.

September

IN a response to the Syrian refugee crisis, a group of local mothers volunteered to collect donations to ship to desperate families in Kos, Lesbos and other Greek islands.

Rhiannon, from Tavistock Enterprise Hub, was shocked into action after seeing an image of a young Syrian girl, of similar age to her own daughter, waiting for help in the sea.

Feeling a desire to help, she began to search for a local donation collecting service in the area on Facebook but found that the majority of campaigns were looking for men’s clothing and accessories.

As a single mother, Rhiannon said she didn’t own a lot of men’s items so contacted her friends to develop a Facebook- based donation collection, which accepted clothing and accessories for men, women and children.

A campaign was launched to buy a Second World War RAF control tower near Winkleigh and turn it into a museum.

The Save Winkleigh Tower crowdfunding campaign attempted to raise £38,000 to buy RAF Winkleigh’s control tower and turn it into a living history museum to honour the men and women who were stationed there during the Second World War.

October

A?WEST Devon teenager petitioned for a disused building in Princetown to be used as a centre for Syrian refugees.

Compassionate Ezra Rickman, 15, collected hundreds of signatures which he planned to present to the owners of the former arts centre and West Devon MP Geoffrey Cox.

After seeing the plight of the struggling refugees at Calais, Ezra, from Princetown, was eager to do something to help their situation.

Together with a few of his friends he started the petition which he hoped would be supported by many more people.

Ezra said: ‘When I saw about the refugee crisis on the news it made me feel quite upset. There were loads of people who had made it to Calais and then they got stuck there in the camps that are like shanty towns. As one of the more developed countries in Europe we should be taking more responsibility to help.’

OKEHAMPTON Rugby Club launched a £600,000 project over five years to try to secure new and improved pitches for the town.

The club launched its Pitches Project Five Year Plan, developed by the club’s grounds sub-committee, to improve the two current pitches at Oaklands Park and for the provision of additional playing facilities at Hilltown Cross.

OKEHAMPTON Police Station was one of 34 stations earnarked to close across Devon and Cornwall in the next five years due to budget cuts — less than a year after reassurances that it would remain open. Devon and Cornwall Police are planning to close it in 2018/2019.

November

DEVON and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Hogg announced that he will no longer be seeking to persuade the public to support paying an extra 50p on their council tax to keep police officers on the streets.

Mr Hogg was suggesting a 15% increase on the police’s share of council tax to combat Government cuts — this would have equated to an extra contribution of £25 a year for those in a Band D property.

‘THE streets were lined with people and everybody was cheering so it was lovely and warms your heart’ — the words of The One Show and Countryfile presenter Matt Baker after riding into Okehampton as part of The One Show Rickshaw Challenge.

The challenge passed through Cornwall and West Devon before reaching Okehampton where the team stayed for the night.

Matt and six young riders supported by projects funded by Children in Need pedalled a rickshaw 477 miles from Lands’ End to Elstree Film Studios in London on behalf of BBC Children in Need appeal.

THE Okement Surgery based at Okehampton Community Hospital was to close, leaving 1,700 patients looking for a new GP within the next six months.

NHS England said that within the national vision for the NHS, small practices like the Okement Surgery were not sustainable. An SOS campaign began to save Okehampton’s second doctors’ surgery from the axe.

ANGRY residents and councillors in Tavistock kicked up a stink over the growing amount of dog mess left behind by ‘lazy’ dog owners in areas across the town.

Despite the hard work of the DP (dog poo) Squad, headed by town councillor Allen Lewis, and a potential fine of up to £1,000 for dog owners caught not picking up after their pets, dog mess was discovered in certain areas of Tavistock almost daily. Cllr Lewis said he was worried about the safety of children treading in the dog waste.

December

PEOPLE from across West Devon joined millions of others in demonstrations around the world putting pressure on world leaders to show solidarity for a ‘cleaner planet’.

As representatives from 195 countries met in Paris for a critical UN climate summit to find a new global approach to climate change, demonstrations were held prior to the start of the two-week meeting, titled COP21, including a march up to the ancient Dartmoor Stannary Parliament site, Crockern Tor.

Nearly 150 people from across West Devon and the wider area assembled at the Two Bridges Hotel to walk, along with an almost life-size papier maché polar bear, to Crockern Tor.?Once there, a photograph was taken and send to world leaders at the climate negotiations in Paris as part of a Shared Planet Parliament event.

THE Okehampton band who won a national competition with a top prize of a £100,000 recording contract, warned other artists about the perils of such contests after the organisers failed to fulfil their part of the agreement.

Okehampton rock band DownFall, comprising Jake and Mack Hodgson, Karl Little and Nathan Bostock, had spent several months trying to secure the Brand New Artist 2015 crown.

TAVISTOCK Swimming Club risked expulsion from the National Arena Swimming League rather than pay, what they claim, was a ‘punitive maximum £500 fine’, for deciding against attending a gala more than 100 miles away in Dorset.