A new initiative has been launched to enable local communities to raise funds

According to the South Western Ambulance Service, there are several ‘hotspots’ in Plymouth where defibrillators are not within easy reach. The new campaign called Make Plymouth Heart-Safe aims to close those gaps as rapidly as possible.

A Plymouth lawyer has thanked his sponsors who helped him smash his London Marathon fundraising target for the Headway Plymouth charity.

Rob Antrobus, who is head of Enable Law in Plymouth has raised more than £6,500 for the charity which supports people who are living with acquired brain injuries (ABI) to navigate life’s challenges.

Five incredible fundraisers proudly crossed the finish line of the London Landmarks Half Marathon 2025 at the end of April, raising vital funds for the Livewell Foundation – a charity committed to improving health, tackling social isolation, and supporting communities across Plymouth, South Hams, and West Devon.

Austin Marshall, Lydia Helyer, Abi Hooper, Tony Phipps, and Chris Davies took on the 13.1-mile route through the capital’s most iconic sights, cheered on by thousands of supporters. Each participant carried their own personal motivation for running—and in Tony’s case, a fridge too, symbolising the often unseen burden of mental health challenges.

A historic blue plaque will be unveiled in Plymouth in July in memory of a scientist, explorer and military man whose ground breaking work has been recognised by NASA.

Ralph Alger Bagnold OBE FRS KL was born in Plymouth on April 3 1896 and grew up in Stoke. In the First World War he was an engineer in the British Army. When he returned to service in the Second World War, he was the first commanding officer of the ‘Long Range Desert Group.A precursor to the SAS, the unit carried out reconnaissance work and raids behind enemy lines in North Africa.

A scheme which delivered more than 26,000 hours of additional foot patrols in Plymouth and other towns and cities across Devon and Cornwall has been extended thanks to a £1 million funding boost.

The hotspot policing initiative is designed to tackle antisocial behaviour (ASB) and serious violence with targeted police and street marshal patrols in areas with the highest levels of crime.

The project, which was initially launched in May 2024, was made possible through £1 million of Home Office funding secured by Alison Hernandez, Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The Home Office has now committed a further £1 million to continue hotspot patrols over the next 12 months.

The first of 50 zero-emission electric double-decker buses have now arrived in Plymouth, marking a major shift toward cleaner, more sustainable public transport.

The buses are part of a transformative project led by Plymouth Citybus, part of the Go- Ahead Group, in partnership with Plymouth City Council, Cornwall Council, and the Department for Transport. The initiative will replace almost half of the Plymouth Citybus fleet with brand-new electric vehicles.

Over 900 families in military housing in Plymouth and the surrounding area are set to benefit from a new Consumer Charter, with Defence Secretary John Healey promising to ‘stop the rot’ in military housing.

The Labour Government has brought 36,000 military homes back into public ownership, in a landmark deal completed in January this year. It reverses a 1996 sale described by the Public Accounts Committee as ‘disastrous’ saving the taxpayer £600,000 per day by eliminating rental payments to a private company.

Drivers and staff from Stagecoach South West’s Plymouth depot have embraced the spirit of giving and made a series of generous donations of food and monetary donations to the local Plympton Food Bank over the last eight months as part of a drive to support their local community.

In February and March 2025 alone, the depot collected a combined total of 96kg of food and supplies, all of which have been delivered directly to the Food Bank. In addition, during April, staff organised a collection of Easter eggs, which were distributed to families in need to bring a little extra joy during the holiday season.

Student filmmakers from across the South West and beyond are being invited to submit work for the second annual More to Sea festival, a one-day celebration of emerging talent taking place in June at Plymouth Arts Cinema, hosted by Arts University Plymouth.

Part of the university’s commitment to platforming new voices and practice-led creative education, More to Sea is free to enter and open to sixth-formers, college students, undergraduates, and recent graduates (up to two years after graduation).

All selected films will be screened in a professional cinema environment, with separate award categories for Sixth Form/Pre-Degree, Undergraduate and Postgraduate entrants.

Plymouth family-run company GHQ, is celebrating 25 years located in its prime city centre location.

The company marked the millennium in 2000 with the expansion of the training arm of their business into the location in Whimple Street at the top of Royal Parade.

Fast forward a quarter of a century and managing director Jean Rogers and her team are always looking for ways to build on their success.

FareShare South West, the charity that redistributes food to people in need, recently gathered over 120 of Devon and Cornwall’s political leaders, business innovators, food suppliers, charities and educators for its Spring Summit at Plymouth Argyle’s Home Park Stadium.

The event showcased the power of collaboration in tackling hunger and food waste in the South West and announced an urgent appeal for a larger warehouse in Plymouth. The charity has outgrown its current facility and can no longer accommodate additional cold storage, packing lines or the expanding volunteer teams that are critical to the charity’s mission, and needs larger premises in place by autumn 2025 to sustain its much needed expanding operations.

A blue plaque celebrating the life and achievements of Jack Leslie has been unveiled in a special ceremony on May 16 as the Chronicle went to press.

The plaque, located at 8 Glendower Road, Peverell where he lived with his wife and daughter at the peak of his footballing career, was unveiled by Historic England’s chief executive Duncan Wilson and Jack Leslie’s granddaughters Lesley Hiscott, Gillian Carter and Lyn Davies.

It was in October 1925 – nearly 100 years ago – that Jack Leslie became the first Black footballer to receive a call-up as a reserve for the England squad.

Though this honour was rescinded shortly afterwards, it is thought on the grounds of racial prejudice, Jack’s resilience in continuing to excel at Plymouth Argyle and his significance in the history of English football has more recently been acknowledged and celebrated.

The University of Plymouth has won two categories at the biggest event in student nursing education.

Plymouth won the Student Nursing Times Award for Apprenticeship Provider of the Year, and third-year student Pip Raud won Student Midwife of the Year.

Degree apprenticeships enable employees to study for a degree in a field related to their job while maintaining their employment, and the University of Plymouth was hailed as a ‘shining example’ of delivering this successfully in nursing.

Plymouth has been recognised as a Tree City of the World on back of another exceptional planting season this winter.

Since November 2024, thanks in part to a major new partnership effort, there are over 35,000 new trees growing and establishing across the city.

In the city, council teams have helped to plant over 5,700 new trees of all shapes, species and sizes all over the city to further enhance the successful legacy of the Plymouth and South Devon Community Forest.

Meanwhile, in addition to the trees planted in and around the city, council and Community Forest teams assisted with the planting of a vast new 30,000-strong forest on MOD land near Ernesettle.