LOCAL MUSICIANS PLEASE NOTE. Competition Soundtrack on Your Road Trip

Fantastic opportunity for local musicians to put the perfect Soundtrack on this video and be in with a chance of winning £2000's worth of studio time. The music can be in whatever style you feel inspired to create – for example, electronic dance music (EDM), heavy metal or orchestral as long as it’s inspired by the video and fits its exact length. The competition ends on April 17. Travelsupermarket.com have filmed five road trips in five different locations around the UK, here is the one for the Atlantic Highway. Good luck everyone...

 Tap link for Soundtrack Competition Details when you view the video.

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Nature: This general election's missing issue?

West Country's leading nature charities unite to put nature on the agenda The National Trust, RSPB and The Wildlife Trusts are calling on people across the West Country to put nature at the heart of debate in the run up to May's General Election and encourage candidates to support nature. Together the three charities have produced South West Nature 2015 - a new website that details landscapes, wildlife and the issues these face, across all 55 Westminster constituencies in the south west. 

Speaking for the partnership, Harry Barton (CEO of Devon Wildlife Trust) said; "Nature is the missing issue from this general election. We need greater political commitment to nature's recovery and fundamental changes in how we value, use and interact with nature. This is as relevant to the stunning wildlife we have in our seas as it is to our internationally famous landscapes. What happens in the next parliament, and the decisions our elected representatives make, are going to be crucial to the nature we cherish and depend on." 

The charities are encouraging people to visit the website - www.swnature2015.org - or to find it on their local Wildlife Trust website, and discover the big nature issues where they live, then ask their local parliamentary candidates to show that they care about nature and that they will work individually and within their party to look after wildlife and natural spaces. 

Sarah O'Brien, South West External Affairs Advisor speaking for the National Trust said: "The South West has some of the country's most stunning landscapes and richest habitats, all surrounded by our world class coastline. Our natural environment is important in its own right, but it also underpins our economy, health and our wellbeing. Yet nature is in decline. It is vital that we halt this decline and secure nature's recovery in a generation, not only for its own sake, but for what it does for us." 

Simon Brenman speaking for The SW Wildlife Trusts said: "Our environment is under more pressure than ever before. The State of Nature report published in 2013 found that 60% of UK species we know about are in decline and many of the "free", but invaluable, services provided by nature are under threat, such as pollination, resilience to flooding, clean water supply, and food production." 

The charities, who have the support of hundreds of thousands of people across the West Country, say that nature is crucial to our economy, health and wellbeing.

Mark Robins, speaking for the RSPB in the South West said; "The West Country trades on the relative quality of its natural environment. It's one of the principle reasons why people choose to live, work and do business here." "But we need leadership, not only to commit to the recovery of nature, but also to make the most of the opportunities a thriving natural environment provides for healthier and more prosperous communities".  

To find out more visit www.swnature2015.org

'Nature is crucial to the South West's future prosperity, but are our politicians doing enough to safeguard it?' 

Photo:Devon Wildlife Trust's Emsworthy nature reserve, Dartmoor copyright Simon Williams (All rights reserved)

SCHOOL WORK EXPERIENCE PLACEMENT PRODUCES CAPTIVATING SURF FILM

A North Devon teenager has produced a captivating short film about local surf forecaster Trev "Toes" Lumley during his work experience week at North Devon Moving Image (NDMI). Fifteen year old Tom Taylor, who is a student at Pilton Community College in Barnstaple, says "When I saw the work experience blog on the North Devon Moving Image website I knew that this was the right place to go. Film making is a career I want to go into when I'm older so this was the perfect opportunity to see what it involves and what it takes to do film making." "I chose to make a film about the North Devon surfer and owner of Eyeball Surfcheck Trevor Lumley. Surfing is a much loved sport locally as much as it is around the world so I felt it would be interesting to make a film about it." Tom shot his film at Putsborough Beach where Eyeball Surfcheck have one of their webcams. In the film Trev describes his passion for surfing "It's like a really strong drug, it's like being addicted to something that you just can't let go." He also talks about the dilemmas he sometimes has with the surf reporting which brings surfers from far and wide to catch North Devon's waves, saying "I feel like Dr Frankenstein sometimes, like I've created a monster."
Amanda McCormack, Creative Director of North Devon Moving Image enjoys working with enthusiastic students like Tom "Outreach and skills sharing is a big part of what we do here at NDMI. It is really rewarding enabling young people to achieve their dreams. Tom really threw himself into the project and showed a lot of creativity and quick thinking which is essential in documentary film making. He even co-produced the music which has turned out to be a really key element in this film's success." "This was a real experience of the community film making business for Tom. As well as researching and producing his own film, Tom found out what it is like to run a small business and juggle time and money to maximise output."
Amanda thanked North Devon Councillors Brian Moores, Colin Payne and Chris Turner who are all supporting the NDMI Outreach programmes with funding from their community grants this year "Without these generous contributions we would struggle to offer opportunities like this to North Devon's next generation of documentary film makers."
Tom summed up his week at NDMI "Working at North Devon Moving Image has been brilliant. I have had a real insight into what film making is about."

Tom's film is now part of the North Devon Moving Image collection and available to watch on the NDMI website http://www.northdevonmovingimage.org.uk and YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpBF315n8us

Photo: Trevor Lumley with young film maker Tom Taylor (15) from Pilton Community College