27/01/2017 Spotlight

The South West has been told it could do better when it comes

The head of Visit Britain, Sally Balcombe, says the region's

economy is missing out on the untapped market because 18-35

year olds don't know what's on offer at the region's coastal resorts,

Kirk England is in Tiverton, where Sally Balcombe

The South West is already incredibly popular with lots of visitors. We do

get our fair share of surfers and a stag and hen dos. But are we missing

a trick when it comes to this crucial and 35 market? That's what's

been discussed at this tourism conference in Tiverton. Sally Bolcom

is the chief executive of Visit Britain and Visit England. We

missing out? I think we are. I think there's been a good recent research

by the Coastal Academy done, but shows that this group recognised a

few places in Britain. Brighton, Blackpool and Cornwall have come

through. But other areas are not getting the cut through with

audience. What about these services, stag and hen dos, we must get plenty

of under 35s? You do, but in certain honeypot places. Cornwall does

particularly well. Perhaps Devon and Somerset are not doing as well with

that audience. And this audience have a massive choice in a

competitive environment. They can get from a plane very easily and go

somewhere exciting and different. It is a challenging environment and

lots of opportunity to do more. So more tempted to jump on a plane and

go to Prague for a couple of nights? Potentially there are some transport

challenges. It takes time to get here. They have a short amount of

time. They want to be connected all the time with broadband. They want

to share on social media. All of these challenges for the South West.

Lots of challenges for businesses in the South West to tackle together

crucial under 35 market. We will have more tonight and Spotlight.

White thank you. Two men have been killed in a car

crash on the A39 near Truro. The accident happened

at about 10:30 last The driver and one passenger,

both in their 40s and from Truro, The other passenger has

a serious leg injury. One of the first "nature schools"

in the country could be The Devon Wildlife Trust says it

wants to develop a different type of learning for three to eleven year

olds as part of the Government's But it's not the only group

wanting to establish a new school in the town,

as our Environment Correspondent, We're going to do a little bit

of an explore of nature! Outdoor learning can

inspire children. Everyone go onto that

end and stand together. The Devon Wildlife Trust is already

working with a school in Exeter, where staff say they value the idea

of building nature and the environment

into the curriculum. I get a huge pleasure from seeing

the children outdoors because you see them focused,

and the concentration You see them talking to completely

different friendship groups than they might work

with in classrooms. You see the girls being

really adventurous. And I think that's

a really positive thing. The Wildlife Trust plans

to set up one of the These are schools that can be set up

by groups such charities, They're funded by central

government, but they don't have to follow the national curriculum

and are independent The Trust says nature helps teach

subjects such as maths and science. There's no subject that

you can't teach with the help You can look at the structure

of a flower or a leaf, and you can teach basic principles

of geometry along that. Some critics say free schools take

away resources from other schools. There's at least one other proposal

for a new school in Okehampton. It involves a partnership

to establish a Church of England primary and nursery school,

with strong emphasis Now, if you see smoke coming

from Plymouth's Civic Centre and a huge emergency response

this weekend, don't be alarmed - The largest fire drill ever held

in Devon is taking place will see 15 fire fighters involved

in tackling a simulated blaze It's to help test the procedures

for tackling fires in the region's increasing number of

high rise buildings. It was the biggest fire to his post

for Plymouth. Dingles department store, 1988. Since then, the city's

skyline has only gone one way and that's. As the buildings get taller,

the challenges or the Fire Service increase popular if you have a look

round our major cities in the country, especially the South West,

we have more and more high-rise buildings being built, mainly for

student accommodation, high-rise lap. We need to be prepared and

aware of the internal structures of these buildings. Plymouth today

looks skywards as well as seawards. The new council houses are worth up

to the minute as elsewhere... At 14 floors Gemili Civic Centre used to

be the city's tallest Olding. It stood empty for a couple of years,

that this weekend it will be the centre of the largest fire drill

staged. If you can imagine coming into here. If every dark. It's going

to be very smoky. Fireman Steve Anderson has been working on turning

the building into every firefighter's worst nightmare. We

have a few surprises in law, but I'm sure they'll be able to cope with

anything that's thrown at them on the day. On Sunday morning smoke

will billow down the empty corridors will stop sirens will sound the

actors will scream and fired cruise from as far as Yeovil and

Bridgewater will swing into action. A pensioner from Devon has raised

thousands of pounds for charity Paper boy David Rickard gives

all his earnings to charity, and plans to keep going

as long as he can. Eleanor Parkinson has

been to meet him. 77-year-old David Rickard,

handing over yet another cheque. This time for ?1,500 to the RNLI,

and the crew of the Penley lifeboat. So how did he raise

so much money on his own? I do a paper round in Honiston

every Wednesday, and I'm also doing And the money I from get those

activities, I donate to a Cornish charity in memory of my mother,

who died in 2006. Over the last ten years,

David has walked hundreds of miles and raised almost ?15,000

for seven Cornish charities, including the RNLI, the air

ambulance and two hospices. This time his money will

be used to help build The old one is so small that

there's barely enough room for the crew to change

into their waterproofs. Three times he's been down

and presented us with cheques. So how do you repay such

a loyal fundraiser? With tea and home-made

cakes, of course. Now with a look at the weekend

weather prospects. More unsettled, here is something we

haven't even for a while - some puzzles. Through this afternoon

Raval move into more areas. Here's what's going on, a weather front

across Cornwall has been bringing rain. That's moving eastwards over

the next 24 hours. Writer for a time but by the town we get to send a

further weather fronts bringing some rain. This is what we see this

morning. Here is that rain in the Isles of Scilly. Cloud increasing.

As well as that band of rain, we have rain moving up from the south.

Patchy in nature at first, but becoming widespread this afternoon

and overnight. Temperatures reaching highs of 9-10 Celsius. Overnight, a

damp night with temperatures not fallen as low as they have.

Typically down to around 4-6 based macro Celsius. Tomorrow night starts

cloudy. -- tomorrow morning starts cloudy. Drier and brighter

conditions with sunshine into the afternoon, but also the chance of

some showers. It could become heavy thundery for a time. Highs of 9-10

Celsius. A westerly outflow so it will feel that bit milder.

I'll be back with Victoria Graham for more on that and all the latest

news from the South West in Spotlight tonight at 18:30.

From the lunchtime news, have a very good afternoon.

The FA Cup fourth round, next weekend, across the BBC.

It's incredible, the changes that have occurred in just 50 years.

Oh, my goodness me, I don't like the look of that.

The Robshaws are going back in time again...