Exeter Stories

Paul Batterham
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  • Documentary
  • Updated Biweekly

Exeter Stories showcases the changemakers, entrepreneurs, and community leaders transforming Exeter and the Exe Valley. Host Paul Batterham interviews local heroes building a better future across health, culture, business, and social innovation. Discover inspiring stories from brilliant people doing brilliant things right on your doorstep. From a multi-agency support model, to a volunteer-run theatres, to a vision of the city as a place for everyone, each fortnightly episode showcases the positive impact happening across our region. Perfect for residents, business leaders, and anyone interested in community development, local innovation, and grassroots changemaking in Devon. New episodes every other Wednesday on all major platforms. ====== This podcast has been made possible by the support of the University of Exeter's Innovation team, and the Arts & Culture team. The idea grew out of civic innovation workshops led by Julie McLaren and Kate Jago in early 2024. Without their work bringing together Exeter's movers and shakers, this podcast wouldn’t exist. Thanks also go to Adrian Webb at Outcome Path for marketing support and for encouraging me to think bigger and bolder. And finally, to all of the interviewees: thank you for being candid, funny, serious, passionate, and for all the brilliant things you do.

  1. Jen Harris: Leading the Cloth Nappy Revolution

    14h ago

    Jen Harris: Leading the Cloth Nappy Revolution

    Jen Harris, founder of the Baby Room on Paris Street, traces an eighteen-year journey from a cold scout hut in Heavitree to one of the most essential community spaces in Exeter, and makes an unanswerable case for what new families need. Jen arrived in Exeter at sixteen and has never really left. When her first daughter was born in 2008, she wanted to use cloth nappies and asked the council about a job she had seen advertised in Scotland. They offered her a voluntary role instead. She said fine, and started Nappucino, a weekly drop-in for cloth nappies, slings and breastfeeding support that grew from once a month to twice a week, from a scout hut to a school to a three-floor city centre shop. She and her colleague Jill have been running it together ever since. The Baby Room, a not-for-profit Community Interest Company at 23 Paris Street, is now home to the Exeter Sling Library, the Devon Real Nappy Project trial kits, nearly 60 hireable breast pumps, birth pools, maternity and nursing clothes, a free accessible baby change, and a breastfeeding lounge where anyone can walk in and be given tea. In the last month alone they gave out 97 pieces of cake and 59 bowls of soup at Nappucino. Jen talks about the numbers behind disposable nappies waste in Devon (roughly one every two seconds going in the bin), why the closure of children's centres has sent pump hire through the roof, and what happens when a mum does not make it across the buggy park and stands in the car park crying instead. Get Involved The Baby Room Exeter websiteThe Baby Room on InstagramThe Baby Room on Facebook23 Paris Street, Exeter, EX1 2JB. Open Monday to Saturday, 9:30am to 4pm.Nappucino runs every Wednesday, 9:30am to 3pm. Cloth nappies, slings, breastfeeding support, soup and cake. Check the website for the current schedule.Cloth nappy trial kits and sling library hires are free to borrow. Breast pump and birth pool hire from £20/month. Book or drop in during opening hours.Full class and session calendar at thebabyroomexeter.co.uk including baby massage, Sing and Sign, postnatal pod, new dads group, Pride and Joy, home birth group, and active birth yoga.

    45 min
  2. Debbie Bucella: Alibi and the Case for Children's Creativity

    Jun 24

    Debbie Bucella: Alibi and the Case for Children's Creativity

    Debbie Bucella, Chief Executive of Alibi, tells the story of one of Devon's most significant arts organisations; forty years of taking world-class theatre into school halls, and a reinvention that turned a funding crisis into a community hub. Debbie arrived in Exeter in the late nineties. Her route into theatre ran through the Bike Shed — the legendary two-damp-cellar venue on Fore Street that she helped found. A decade ago she joined Alibi, which had been making theatre for children and school audiences across Devon, Somerset, Dorset and Cornwall since 1982, reaching between 11,000 and 13,000 children in their school halls every year. Alibi made a deliberate choice to open their doors rather than close them. Emmanuel Hall in St Thomas is now shared with St Thomas Library, Zero Mile Gardens CIC, a weekly children's choir, free early years music sessions, and a programme of community events. Its annual Christmas show, an immersive experience that has filled the hall with fifty real pine trees and, most recently, a full hotel populated by quirky animals, has become one of the most inventive family events in the city. Debbie talks about what it takes to keep an organisation alive on its own terms, why creativity is the skill that matters most as AI reshapes the economy, and what it means to a child to be the one running the lights. Get Involved Alibi website theatrealibi.co.ukEmmanuel Hall, Emmanuel Road, St Thomas, Exeter EX4 1EJ.Check the website for upcoming events, workshops, holiday clubs, and the Big Silly Sing children's choir.Space hire available for rehearsals, meetings, and events — including kitchen. Contact details on the website.To volunteer or find out about supporting Alibi, visit theatrealibi.co.uk or contact the team directly.

    34 min
  3. Maresa Bossano: Building a Community Food Hub on Cowick Street

    May 27

    Maresa Bossano: Building a Community Food Hub on Cowick Street

    Maresa Bossano, founder of Love Food CIC, shares the story behind Exeter's community food hub on Cowick Street in St Thomas, and makes a compelling case for why local, plant-based food isn't a lifestyle choice but vital to public health infrastructure. Maresa has spent thirty years working in sustainable food, first as a five-a-day coordinator for the NHS, then running a food co-op at Sustain in London, managing a vegan cafe in Hastings, and leading the Community Supported Agriculture Network. She moved to the Exeter area and set up Love Food CIC in 2021. In the years since it opened, around a thousand people have come through the door. About half are regulars. The hub runs a pay-what-you-can Thursday lunch club, a community fridge stocked from surplus donations, free and low-cost cookery sessions focused on food waste and budget eating, and a swap shop for clothes, toys and books. It also serves as a warm space, a hiring venue for community organisations, and a drop-in for anyone who needs to sit somewhere safe and charge their phone. Maresa talks frankly about what the food system gets wrong, why cooking is not about skill or willpower, and what it would take for every neighbourhood in Exeter to have something like this. Get Involved Love Food CIC websiteLove Food CIC on InstagramLove Food CIC on FacebookCommunity food hub at LOVEFood CIC, 95 Cowick Street, St Thomas, Exeter EX4 1JF. Open Monday to Thursday, 10am to 3pm.Thursday lunch club 12:30 to 1:30pm, pay what you can. Not running during school holidays — check the website for dates.Cookery sessions free and low cost, usually Tuesdays or Wednesdays. Check the website or follow on social media for upcoming sessions.Community fridge free surplus food for anyone, open during core hours. Donations of home-grown or surplus food welcome.To volunteer, donate, or hire the space: visit lovefoodcic.co.uk or email lovefoodcic@gmail.com.

    39 min
  4. Will Adamsdale: Building Exeter's Comedy Scene From Pub To Festival

    Apr 22

    Will Adamsdale: Building Exeter's Comedy Scene From Pub To Festival

    Perrier Award winner, actor, and the man behind Locally Sourced comedy night, Will Adamsdale traces the unlikely journey from a comedy emergency in a Sidwell Street cafe to founding Exeter's own annual comedy festival, now running around 90 shows across some of the city's most unexpected spaces. Locally Sourced comedy night began in 2021 at Ebdon's cafe, born from a chance meeting with comedian Charlotte Evans. Since moving to the Little Drop of Poison on Fore Street, it has become a community, with returning faces, an alphabetical raffle, and a WhatsApp emergency group to keep things moving. The festival grew in the same way: developed with Spencer Jones and Georgia Thomas, it has expanded from a single day at the Sidwell Street Bakehouse into a multi-day programme taking over bars, music shops, and established venues across Exeter. This year's festival runs from 3rd to 6th June. Get Involved Exeter Comedy Festival website https://www.exetercomedyfestival.com/Locally Sourced on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/locallysourcedcomedy/Exeter Comedy Festival on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/exetercomedyfestival/ Locally Sourced runs every Tuesday from 7:30pm at the Little Drop of Poison, 154 Fore Street, Exeter. Free entry / pay what you can. Exeter Comedy Festival 2026 Gala on 3 June, festival 4–6 June (plus family shows 7 June). Volunteer sign-up available via the website.

    39 min
  5. Lightbear Lane: Building Culture and Community Across Exeter's Streets and Stories

    Apr 8

    Lightbear Lane: Building Culture and Community Across Exeter's Streets and Stories

    Dr Sarah Spencer and Dr Judith Morgane, the partnership behind arts and heritage organisation Lightbear Lane, share how they are using community film, creative mapping, Shakespeare and asset-based development to help Exeter find its identity, neighbourhood by neighbourhood. Founded in 2023, Lightbear Lane takes a deliberately inside-out approach: rather than parachuting in with solutions, they ask communities what they already have. That philosophy produced the Proud to Be film project in Mincinglake and Whipton: a co-created portrait of a neighbourhood that generated a wassail song still sung every January, film-making skills workshops, and a set of resources now available for other communities to use. From those roots, the organisation has grown with work ranging from heritage consultancy at St Nicholas Priory to touring theatre across the South West. Now they are launching the South West Shakespeare Festival, a three-day programme across Exeter's historic venues that draws in the Cathedral Archives, the Devon and Exeter Institution, the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum and a Young Poets competition, to prove, as Judith puts it, that you do not need to go to London for world-class culture. They also discuss Lit Lab, their monthly creative gathering for professionals and curious minds, and an as-yet-unannounced publishing venture illustrated by Sarah and written by Judith. Get Involved Lightbear Lane website – https://lightbearlane.orgSouth West Shakespeare Festival – full programme and ticketsProud to Be — film and community resourcesLightbear Lane on TicketSource — book eventsSign up to the Lightbear Lane newsletter via the website to hear about Lit Lab and upcoming workshops

    43 min
  6. The Modern Earl: Heritage, Innovation and the Future of Exeter

    Feb 4

    The Modern Earl: Heritage, Innovation and the Future of Exeter

    Recorded live at the Devon & Exeter Institution, this episode features Charlie Courtenay, the 19th Earl of Devon, as he reflects on heritage, stewardship, and the future of Exeter. We explore: What it means to “inherit” a story and reshape it for the modern world.How the historic Earldom and the city of Exeter remain intertwined, from medieval trade to modern innovation.His dual life as a barrister in technology and intellectual property law and a custodian of Powderham Castle, balancing tradition and sustainability.Insights from his work with the Exeter Place Partnership, uniting city and rural Devon around shared environmental and economic challenges.Powderham’s approach to sustainability, land management, and cultural preservation as a model for intergenerational stewardship. Resources & Links Powderham Castle https://www.powderham.co.ukExeter Place Partnership https://placeexeter.co.ukHouse of Lords Members Profile: Earl of Devon https://members.parliament.uk/member/4744

    22 min
  7. CoLab Women: Compassion, Connection and Recovery

    Jan 21

    CoLab Women: Compassion, Connection and Recovery

    Jeanie Lynch, Head of Service for CoLab Women, reflects on decades of community work and what it means to build trust, safety, and hope in Exeter. We discuss: Her early activism in the 1980s Exeter women’s movement and her journey back to the city.The origins of CoLab Exeter and how it evolved into a multi-agency support hub.Founding Resilient Women, now CoLab Women, a programme helping women rebuild their lives after trauma, homelessness, or the justice system.A relationship-based model focused on “what’s strong, not what’s wrong.”The new Devon Domestic Abuse Alliance and innovative recovery programmes tailored to each woman’s pace.How creativity, art, and belonging underpin recovery. Resources & Links CoLab ExeterDevon Domestic Abuse AllianceJulian House Devon & Cornwall

    37 min
  8. Making Change by Hand: Craft, Community and Circular Economy

    Jan 7

    Making Change by Hand: Craft, Community and Circular Economy

    We sit down at Exeter’s quayside with Tim Stares of CoCreate CIC, a creative social enterprise turning waste timber into purpose and connection. You’ll hear about: How CoCreate combines sustainable design, mental health, and skills training.Their four pillars: Community, Collections, Courses, and Commissions.Projects like Boatyard Bikes, Women in the Workshop, Chop & Chat, and Holy Fool Coffee barista training.Building partnerships with local groups such as Hospiscare, CoLab, and Ride On Exeter to create a circular, inclusive local economy.The joy and power of “making things together” as a route to wellbeing and belonging. Resources & Links CoCreate CIC https://www.cocreatexeter.co.ukHospiscare Exeter https://www.hospiscare.co.ukHoly Fool Coffee https://www.holyfoolcoffee.comRide On Cycling Exeter https://rideoncycling.org

    29 min
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About

Exeter Stories showcases the changemakers, entrepreneurs, and community leaders transforming Exeter and the Exe Valley. Host Paul Batterham interviews local heroes building a better future across health, culture, business, and social innovation. Discover inspiring stories from brilliant people doing brilliant things right on your doorstep. From a multi-agency support model, to a volunteer-run theatres, to a vision of the city as a place for everyone, each fortnightly episode showcases the positive impact happening across our region. Perfect for residents, business leaders, and anyone interested in community development, local innovation, and grassroots changemaking in Devon. New episodes every other Wednesday on all major platforms. ====== This podcast has been made possible by the support of the University of Exeter's Innovation team, and the Arts & Culture team. The idea grew out of civic innovation workshops led by Julie McLaren and Kate Jago in early 2024. Without their work bringing together Exeter's movers and shakers, this podcast wouldn’t exist. Thanks also go to Adrian Webb at Outcome Path for marketing support and for encouraging me to think bigger and bolder. And finally, to all of the interviewees: thank you for being candid, funny, serious, passionate, and for all the brilliant things you do.

Information

  • Creator
    Paul Batterham
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    17
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Paul Batterham 2025
  • Show Website
    Exeter Stories