AN OKEHAMPTON-born radio presenter met pupils and staff from the town's primary school on Monday when he attended an eco-assembly put on by the children.
Presenter for BBC Radio Devon's Breakfast Show Matt Woodley showed his support for the school, which has now achieved its silver eco-status award, presented by town mayor Kay Bickley at the assembly.
And for Matt, it was almost a case of going back to school — he used to be a pupil at the old primary school, now the Ockment Centre, and went on to study at Okehampton College.
Matt said: 'I was born and bred in Okehampton and I love it here.
'I started volunteering at Radio Devon when I was just 17 years old and still at school. I remember the headmaster told me to give up on the radio because I would never pass my A-levels if I carried on volunteering.'
'I didn't listen to him because I was enjoying it so much and I finished school with three A-levels. I will never forget that day he stood up at the end of school assembly and admitted he was wrong.'
Matt, who lived in Cullompton for three years before returning to the town, said he missed Okehampton: 'You do have a strong connection with your home town and I was glad to come home.
'We had a phone-in one morning about the worst places to live in Devon and someone actually said Okehampton. I jumped right in and stuck up for the place.'
Mr Woodley said presenting was not what he originally wanted to do as a career: 'I didn't actually want to be a presenter. It was the technical side of things that I liked.
'I ended up on the radio by accident but wouldn't give it up for the world.'
Matt's appearance on this week's front page comes just a few weeks after another BBC Radio Devon presenter, Morwenna Hortop, was shown in the paper's prime photo spot when she switched on Hatherleigh's festive lights.
That front page appearance and those of other Radio Devon colleagues in newspapers elsewhere in the county, led to some fun banter on Matt's show last week that he had never achieved front page status in the Okehampton Times.
By happy coincidence, Matt's appearance at the primary school this week places him up there with his colleagues — and in his case it's the front page of the favourite paper in his favourite town!