The culinary prowess of an East Devon teenager has been recognised in a prestigious regional cookery competition.
The King's School Ottery St Mary student, Melissa Johnson, age, has been crowned Junior South West Chef of the Year after a hotly-contested final at Ashburton Cookery School earlier this month.
Melissa was one of four chefs aged between 11 and 16 to win their local heats and win a place in the final, where they were judged by an expert panel of chefs including two Michelin star chef Michael Caines MBE, Darrin Hosegrove, Ian Webber and Neil Haydock.
To win the coveted award Melissa prepared a dish of roast Ark chicken, chicken leg tortellini, smoked bacon, wild mushrooms, garlic, and parmesan.
After winning her heat, Melissa was mentored by Matt Durrant, chef lecturer at Exeter College, who helped her prepare for the final.
Mr Caines, said: "The standard of cooking from all the junior chef finalists was exceptional and all the judges were reassured that the South West's food industry is in safe hands for the future.
"It is fantastic to see such young talent and so much passion, commitment and knowledge about regional produce.
"All of the dishes from the finalists were absolutely delicious and choosing a winner was a tough decision."
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Top East Devon teen Melissa named junior chef of the year
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Neil Parish and his pet compete in MPs' dog show
Neil Parish, Conservative MP for Tiverton and Honiton, and his seven-year-old Labrador Wilberforce, will compete with other politicians and their pooches to win the coveted title of Westminster Dog of the Year 2014. Dogs of all shapes and sizes will be whipping their MP and Peer owners into shape as they head to Victoria Tower Gardens, Westminster, London to see who will be crowned top 'pawlitical' dog for 2014. Organised jointly by Dogs Trust and the Kennel Club, the competition offers the unique chance for Neil Parish MP, who is also chairman of the Associate Parliamentary Group on Animal Welfare, to show off his loyal four-legged friend Wilberforce, who has supported him on the political trail. The competition encourages an open dialogue on important dog welfare issues ahead of next year's general election.
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Explore Killerton after dark with a night run
On Saturday, November 22, runners, joggers and active youngsters can experience a new night time running event at Killerton Estate near Exeter.
Killerton Night Run offers two cross-country distances to either walk or run. Both the 1.5k Explore Route and the more challenging 6k Adventure Route are traffic free and marshalled by volunteers. Mulled wine and hot food will also be on sale.
The event takes place on the same night Killerton switches on their Christmas lights. However, the Night Run courses are not lit, so head-torches or good hand torches are essential. Runners are encouraged to enter into the festive spirit and come in fancy dress with prizes for the best costumes.
Sandi Holland, Killerton sports development officer, said: "Killerton Night Run follows off-road tracks and trails through our historic parkland and woodland. The Explore Route is perfect for families with youngsters or new runners aiming for their first organised running event. The Adventure Route is ideally suited to new runners looking for a bigger challenge or to experienced runners".
Sandi continued: "This is a rare opportunity to explore Killerton after dark. The Christmas illuminations will make it a magical evening whatever the weather."
Entry fees range from £7 for the Explore to £14 for the Adventure. To register visit nationaltrust.org.uk/nightrun
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Reader's Letter: State of St James' Weir has got worse
A FEW years ago you ran a front page article about the dire condition of St James' Weir. I am now writing not just as a concerned local resident but because the weir is a well-known beauty spot much appreciated by Exonians and indeed other visitors who admire the view from Duckes Marsh, an area which has been much improved over the last few years as a result of council expenditure, as well as enjoying the walks alongside the old mill stream which is fed by the river just upstream of the weir.
Since your article appeared the condition of the weir has greatly deteriorated.
The Environment Agency has commissioned an assessment report (May 2013) highlighting the poor state of the weir, and giving a probable lifespan of less than 10 years before the river breaks through and completely changes the local environment, certainly causing the mill stream to run dry.
A comprehensive repair of the weir to include a new fish-path would probably cost in the region of £1 million, and even a provisional patch-up would be a six-figure sum. Now I am very pleased to see that the Environment Agency is undertaking the new phase of flood prevention for Exeter at the cost of some £13 million, and while realising that financial considerations are uppermost in the minds of the relevant authorities, do the EA and our city council really want to see this ancient structure swept away, with unknown environmental consequences?John Whitton
Salmon Pool Lane
Exeter
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East and Mid Devon district council chief executives accused of "brazenly" breaking the law on voting register
THE chief executives of East Devon and Mid Devon district councils have been accused by the Parliamentary Select Committee of "repeatedly and brazenly" breaking the law in their failure to ensure everyone who is eligible to vote in their districts is registered to do so.
Mark Williams, Chief Executive and Electoral Registration Officer for East Devon District Council and Kevin Finan, Chief Executive for Mid Devon District Council, gave evidence on Monday, October 13, at the House of Commons on Political and Constitutional Reform who are investigating "Voter engagement in the UK".
Both Mr Williams and Mr Finan denied the accusation that they had broken the law in their falling short of the committee's requirements for door-to-door canvassing.
One committee member said that 3,231 homes in East Devon had not been canvassed after non-registration in 2013.
Mr Williams confirmed that he had employed all door-to-door canvassers who were being paid £8 an hour, yet the council had sent correspondence to parish council clerks less than a week before requesting canvassing assistance.
A report by the Electoral Commission found that East Devon had not met the canvassing standards as Mr Williams has said it had done. He then admitted to the select committee that no door-to-door canvassers had been used as other methods such as phone canvassing had been instead.
He also said that as his job was to ensure as many eligible voters were registered to vote as possible, if someone discovered they were not registered to vote on the day of an election, he would use the clerical error procedure to allow them to vote – contrary to the Representation of the People Act which states that no one can register to vote after the notice of election.
Mr Finan estimated that house to house canvassing would cost the authority around £40,000.
Both he and Mr Williams said their way of canvassing was more cost effective than door-to-door canvassing, such as phone or internet registration.
One member of the Select Committee said that if all Electoral Registration Officers had done as Mr Williams and Mr Finan had done, there would be more than 3m people missing from the electoral roll.
When Mr Williams was asked why the council's scrutiny committee had not examined the issue he said it had been the choice of the committee.
In July, members of the East Devon Alliance campaign group discovered that thousands of East Devon residents were not registered to vote ahead of the European Elections which may have been due to East Devon District Council's failure to fulfil a Government canvassing exercise.
A report by the Electoral Commission revealed that East Devon District Council was one of 17 local authorities across the country which fell short of its canvassing requirements to register households in person ahead of its introduction of a "major change" in registration format on June 10, 2014.
The change meant people who are eligible to vote must individually register instead of the head of the household registering for all members.
The switch was meant to cut down on potential for fraud, but campaigners fear it could mean people drop off the register though still wishing to remain on it.
In March 2013, all local authorities were tasked with contacting households which were not registered.
Mid Devon District Council was one of five councils, all based in Devon and Somerset, which reported that they did not meet the house-to-house enquiry standard in 2013; it had not conducted door-to-door canvassing.
And East Devon was one of the 17 which did not ensure that all non-responding properties were canvassed in person.
Chairman of the East Devon Alliance, Paul Arnott, said: "We were very concerned to hear that Mr Williams was called to Parliament to explain himself and no one at the council new.
"We are now gravely concerned that there seems to be a disparity to what he said to the committee and what appears to be the facts."
An East Devon District Council spokesperson, said: East Devon has one of the highest percentages of the population registered to vote (95%) in the country, with the national average at 84%.
With 3% of properties in East Devon second homes and 1.7% empty at any one time, the percentage of eligible voters currently not on the register is very small indeed.
Follow-up calls and visits are triggered when the original form and two follow-up postal reminders have failed to gain the required information.
Turning to the question of door-to-door canvassing, this was done in East Devon until several years ago when one of the council's canvassers was mugged whilst carrying out her duties and door-knocking was found to be a less effective method than data-matching with other information held by the council – such as council tax payers and housing benefit claimants.
This method involves telephoning or emailing people thought to be potential voters and the success rate was good compared with travelling to remote rural areas in the autumn months.
However, Electoral Registration Officers and the Government formed the view that the system of asking the head of household to list voters on one form was not fit for purpose and that is why one of the important changes in the change-over to Individual Elector registration (IER) is that each potential voter is now responsible for registering themselves.
Mark Williams attended the committee in his capacity as Electoral Registration Officer for East Devon, along with his Mid Devon counterpart, Kevin Finan. Mr Williams maintains that his decision to focus on data-matching as a means of capturing missing voters was the most pragmatic solution to the task of raising the percentage of voters registered.
He and Mr Finan told the committee that in interpreting the rules governing electoral registration methodology, they had used their best judgment to deliver the most effective electoral registration percentage for their constituency.
East Devon now has a pool of 25 canvassers, who will carry out household visits between 28 October and 28 November this year. The majority of those appointed have resulted from an internal advertisement among EDDC staff.
A previous external advertisement did not prove successful in recruiting the necessary numbers and so the remuneration was increased and the opportunity promoted within the council and via parish clerks. By the time the message to parish clerks had been sent, the necessary number had been recruited internally.
On Cabinet Office advice, East Devon's register was 'cleansed' in readiness for the new IER system. The 'old' list was retained and, though dormant, was run in parallel with the new list. Whilst 6,000 voters who had not returned forms were taken off the list prior to the Euro elections in May 2014, individuals who arrived at a polling station and who turned out to have been on the previous list were allowed to vote. There was a 41% turnout at that election – one of the highest in the country (34% nationally).
Kevin Finan, Chief Executive of Mid Devon council said:
"The accusations related to 2011-2013, during which time there was no legal requirement to carry out door to door canvassing. The decision on whether to employ such methods was left to individual ERO's to decide as they felt appropriate. There was therefore no law breaking. We actually achieved better results through using more efficient methods of data matching than we did when we employed canvassers to knock on doors.
From 2014 the legal position has changed and we need to send someone to every household where we have not had a response to our issue of notices and letters."
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Commuters told to expect delays caused by storms at Dawlish despite £35m track repairs
Trains through Dawlish remain vulnerable to storms, despite the £35 million repairs to the track.
A Cross Country train was halted last week after it was hit by a wave at Dawlish, bringing delays of more than 35 minutes to morning commuters.
And now Network Rail admits that it cannot do anything to prevent similar incidents.
A four-mile stretch of track at Dawlish was severely damaged by storms in February this year. Part of the line was left hanging in the air after the sea wall was demolished. The damage caused months of disruption to rail services west of Exeter.
Last week the 6.34am train on Monday,from Bristol towards Plymouth, was swamped by a wave at Dawlish. Cross Country said its relatively new Voyager trains were vulnerable to seawater because air intakes in the roof allow water to get into the electrics.
A Network Rail spokeswoman said: 'Our control room can confirm that the train was struck by a wave on Monday at Dawlish.
'This happens from time to time and is nothing unusual given the location of the railway line and its proximity to the sea wall.
'Normally it isn't a problem and trains can carry on as normal, as other than Cross Country, other train services are equipped to deal with salt water.
'However Cross Country trains aren't.
'We have a long-standing agreement with Cross Country that if bad weather is expected we will notify them and they will not run services on the line.
'We didn't have any notification of bad weather and therefore it appears that this was a rogue wave.'
She said Network Rail was doing 'resilience' work in the Dawlish area, but added: 'This isn't really a resilience issue.
'Our work is to prevent what happened at the beginning of the year happening again, however we cannot help the fact that waves will hit trains - this will always happen due to the proximity of the line to the sea wall.'
Devon County Councillor Andrew Leadbetter, chairman of the Peninsula Rail Task Force, said: 'This is not entirely unexpected, and we are likely to see similar incidents in the future.
'It goes to show that as an absolute minimum the Dawlish line must be reinforced to withstand winter weather.
'The Peninsula Rail Task Force partnership is holding the Government to its pledge to ensure the line is resilient, as well as looking at additional routes.
'Any additional route will take time to implement, so regardless of future plans, ensuring safe and regular access in and out of the South West is vital, and that means ensuring Dawlish is able to withstand severe weather.'
Last month Network Rail's engineers started improvement work on the final section of seafront walkway between Rockstone and Coast Guard footbridges at Dawlish.
The work includes building a new protective wall and raising the walkway so that it can be used in all tidal conditions.
The walkway is closed until work ends in the new year.
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Newton St Cyres pub and brewery goes up for sale
A popular public house in Newton St Cyres has been brought to the market.
The Beer Engine, a local institution that dates back to the 1850s, is for sale for by leading property consultancy JLL for a guide price of £695,000.
The pub comprises a main bar and restaurant, split-level beer garden, commercial kitchen and two separate customer car parks, as well as a three-bedroom apartment on the first floor. Also included in the sale is a successful brewery that has been operating for more than 30 years.
Michael Easton, associate director in JLL's Hotel and Hospitality team in Exeter, said: "It is incredibly rare for a well-known and popular public house such as The Beer Engine to come to the market, especially one that offers a 24-hour drinking licence. With this in mind and given the pub's healthy balance sheets, we expect there to be significant interest from those looking to take on an already well-established business venture."
Mike and Jan Tutty, owner's of The Beer Engine, said: "We have spent many happy years building on The Beer Engine's reputation into the successful operation that it is today, though we're happy to admit there is still room for improvement! The brewery has a huge amount of potential on which we did not fully capitalise during our tenure and we believe that a new owner would be able to raise the profile of the pub to a wider catchment area.
"We feel extremely privileged to have been part of such a local institution and hope the new owners can enjoy it as much as we have."
The Beer Engine is situated in the village of Newton St Cyres, approximately four miles north-west of Exeter and easily accessible from the A377 which connects Exeter and Barnstaple.
The village is supported by another public house, a Post Office and a primary school, as well as other local amenities. Plans are afoot to have a new school location and 25 extra houses built within walking distance of The Beer Engine.
The current owners are assisted by a full complement of staff and further details will be available to interested parties once formal viewings have taken place.
For more information please contact Michael Easton at sole agents, JLL on Michael.easton@eu.jll.com or 01392 423696.
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Case delayed after accused refuses to leave Exeter prison cell
The case against a man accused of escaping from police custody has been delayed after he refused to leave his cell and go to court.
Richard Harrison is alleged to have run away from police after being arrested on suspicion of shoplifting in Bideford.
He is also facing three charges of dwelling house burglary, which he has admitted.
Harrison's case was due to be heard at Exeter Crown Court but he refused to leave his cell in Exeter Prison and it was adjourned until the week after next so he can be seen by his solicitors.
The prosecution are also going to consider whether they are to continue the case of escaping from lawful custody in the light of the more serious burglary allegations.
Harrison, aged 43, of Geneva Court, Bideford, is accused of escaping from custody last month. He is also due for sentence at Exeter for three burglaries in Bideford.
Mr David Bowen, prosecuting, said the file will be reviewed to see if the escape charge will be pursued.
Mr Nigel Wraith, defending, said he did not know why Harrison had refused to leave his cell, but hoped progress can be made on the case when it is listed later this month.
Judge Erik Salomonsen adjourned the case and said urged both sides to have the case ready to be dealt with when it comes back into the list.
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Nightmare neighbour jailed for hate campaign against NHS consultant and his family
A nightmare neighbour has been jailed for carrying on a three year campaign of racist abuse against a Lebanese born NHS consultant and his family.
Retired nurse Angela French repeatedly shouted racist abuse across the fence at surgeon Michel Kenaan and his wife Joelle and in the past has vandalised their car and thrown burning rubbish into their garden.
The couple were scared to allow their school-aged children to play outside because 60-year-old French screamed at them and told them they were 'f***ing brats'.
French had already gone to prison once for harassing the family at their home in Barnstaple, North Devon, but two months after her release she got drunk on cider and started abusing them again.
She spent five hours standing in her garden or at the front door of the Kenaan's home and repeatedly made racial remarks including asking why they didn't go home to where they came from.
She even said Britain had enough of its own doctors and did not need Mr Kenaan's skills, Exeter Crown Court was told.
Mr Kenaan is a consultant at the North Devon District Hospital and all the incidents have occurred at his home nearby.
Grey haired, bespectacled French, of Barlow Road, Barnstaple, admitted breaching a restraining order and was jailed for eight months by Judge Erik Salomonsen.
The Judge told her:"You are at an age when most people are looking forward to retirement and a quiet life but you are before a Crown Court to be sentenced for being abusive to your neighbours.
"They are of Lebanese origin. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. The husband is a public servant working at a local hospital. They and their young children are entitled to protection and an understanding and civilised approach.
"On this day you had been drinking cider and you became very abusive. They have been victims so often they don't even want to let their children go out to play.
"I remind you, the maximum sentence for this type of offence is five years. If there are further offences, the prison terms will only get longer."
Mr David Bowen, prosecuting, said this is the sixth time French has been in court for offences against her neighbours since 2011 and happened two months and two days after she was released from an earlier prison sentence.
The trouble started at 2.20 pm when she began shouting foul mouthed insults about the Kenaans' children and carried on until her arrest at around 7 pm.
He said:"At one point she shouted 'Why don't you go back to your country. We have enough English doctors here'.
"The victims' school age children were present for some of the time and Mrs Kenaan says the defendant's behaviour has meant they do not let them play outside because of her abusive language."
He said previous incidents have included slashing of car tyres and throwing burning newspapers over the garden fence.
Mr Nigel Wraith, defending, said French's actions were caused by her excessive drinking, which she is trying hard to control. She wants to leave the house but her partner is reluctant to sell up because he is unwell and likes to live near the hospital.
He said:"On this occasion she had been drinking and was feeling depressed and about her situation. She knows she needs to move away and she plans to take an alcohol recovery course in prison."
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Exeter Royal Mail looking for over 200 Christmas staff
Royal Mail has launched a drive to recruit around 220 temporary workers in Exeter to help sort its Christmas mailbag.
Temporary positions across a variety of shifts will be available between mid-November and early January 2015. The peak of the additional temporary work will be in December.
Parcelforce Worldwide is also looking for drivers and indoor workers as the whole organisation gears up to delivery at Christmas, the busiest time of the year for everyone working in the postal service.
The recruits will help to sort Christmas cards and parcels before they go to around delivery offices for postmen and women to take out on their rounds. Royal Mail Group's express parcels business, Parcelforce Worldwide, is also recruiting extra people throughout the UK.
Royal Mail has set up a dedicated website for people to apply for the positions – www.royalmailgroup.com/xmasjobs.
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220 jobs up for grabs as Exeter Royal Mail launches Christmas worker drive
Royal Mail has launched a drive to recruit around 220 temporary workers in Exeter to help sort its Christmas mailbag.
Temporary positions across a variety of shifts will be available between mid-November and early January 2015. The peak of the additional temporary work will be in December.
Parcelforce Worldwide is also looking for drivers and indoor workers as the whole organisation gears up to delivery at Christmas, the busiest time of the year for everyone working in the postal service.
The recruits will help to sort Christmas cards and parcels before they go to around delivery offices for postmen and women to take out on their rounds. Royal Mail Group's express parcels business, Parcelforce Worldwide, is also recruiting extra people throughout the UK.
Royal Mail has set up a dedicated website for people to apply for the positions – www.royalmailgroup.com/xmasjobs.
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Proposed changes to Devon library services given cautious welcome
THE proposed changes to library services in Devon have been given a cautious welcome by Exeter councillors.
At last week's cabinet meeting, Roger Croad, Devon's cabinet member with responsibility for libraries, went out of his way to say that there were no plans to close any of the county's 50 libraries.
The county council is proposing setting up trust/mutual status for the whole library service, which would give people greater opportunity to get involved in the way their local library is run, so it meets their own community's needs.
There would be paid staff as well as volunteers.
At the cabinet meeting, Richard Westlake, county councillor for Newtown and Polsloe, said that he gave the proposals a 'cautious welcome' and said he was pleased that there had been a lot of consultation of the proposals and that notice appeared to have been taken of what the public said.
He added that he was pleased that the county council appreciated that both Pinhoe and St Thomas had been recognised as areas where there would be population growth.
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Talk to discuss Exeter grave robbing
WILLIAM Cooke, a 19th century Exeter-based surgeon, was the first to be prosecuted for grave-robbing in 1826 for the removal of a female body from St David's cemetery.
He will be the subject of a talk by Dr Sadru Bhanji on Saturday, October 18, in the Rougemont Room in Exeter Central Library.
It is the latest in a series of Saturday morning talks organised by Exeter Civic Society and will run from 10.30am to noon.
Further information is available from the society's secretary Pamela Coleman on 07857 599232.
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Badgers wreak havoc on Exeter allotments
BADGERS have been wreaking havoc to produce grown by allotment holders in Prince Charles Road, and it seems that they particularly like sweetcorn.
The badgers are gaining access through small holes in the bottom of the concrete fence which divides the allotment from the old railway sidings at Exmouth Junction and Ken Cann, chairman of the allotment association, said that he can't remember any maintenance being carried out on the fence in all his 37 years as an allotment holder.
However, a spokeswoman for Network Rail has told Community News: "With thousands of miles of railway track and its associated infrastructure to manage across the country, we welcome any information from members of the public which helps us keep it in full working order.
"We have informed our maintenance team of the concerns raised in relation to the fence and they will look into the issue.
"If members of the public want to bring anything to our attention, they can contact the Network Rail national helpline on 08457 114141 at any time."
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East Devon serves Breach of Condition Notice to developers of Feniton homes
EAST Devon District Council has ordered a developer to comply with a condition of its approval of 50 homes In a flood beset village within six weeks.
The council previously warned that there is a "very real threat" to Feniton becoming more vulnerable to flooding if Wainhomes does not "urgently" install two attenuation tanks near the development on Louvigny Close, for surface water run-off to relieve flooding.
The local authority has now served Wainhomes with a Breach of Condition Notice for failing to comply with the planning condition, when they granted approval of the scheme on appeal in 2012.
Due to an overloaded sewerage network and surface water from surrounding fields, some residents in the village have, over the years, been forced out of their homes due to flooding for months on end.
Residents and councillors claim their village has been "under siege" from developers, with a so-called super inquiry in January seeing the district council fighting three appeals for a total of more than 200 homes, winning two but losing one for 32 homes.
A crew from The One Show visited Feniton this month and presenter Lucy Siegle interviewed council leader, Councillor Paul Diviani about the issue of flooding and development in the village.
The programme is likely to be aired this month.
District ward member Councillor Susie Bond, said: "The condition requires installation of two attenuation tanks, which are designed to capture the surface water runoff from the site to a level which would be 10 per cent better than is currently seen.
"In other words, the tanks would mitigate the effects of concreting over a greenfield site and give a marginal improvement on the amount of surface water which comes down from the development into the rest of the village.
"These conditions are not placed lightly on development.
"In this case, given that Feniton has a long and well-documented history of flooding, this particular condition is crucial.
"The very robust response by the council is to be applauded in the light of cynical indifference on the part of Wainhomes to the plight of the existing community in the village."
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Petanque: Defeat for Ottery St Mary
Ottery St Mary lost 4-1 in the third round of the European Cup qualifying competition on Sunday.
They travelled to Compton Dando in Somerset to face the Compton Inn, but lost both triples matches to leave them needing to win all three doubles games. They could only manage one.
In the first, Pete Smith, Derek Hansen and Dave West were beaten 13-0, with John and Rose Thatcher playing with Barrie Hall going down 13-5 in the mixed triples. Smith and Hall lost their doubles match 13-3 and the Thatchers were in a good position, but the luck of the piste went against them in one end and they lost 13-8.
Playing on highest of the three pistes, Hansen and West dug in to record a 13-7 success.
Away from the action on the pistes, the club are hoping to be successful in the forthcoming parish vote for distribution of section 106 money, which would enable them to move to the town council-owned field in Strawberry Lane where a permanent base could be established.
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Karate experts descend on Exeter for seminars
Exeter's Damian Abbott will welcome black belts from across the world to the city this weekend for a series of seminars.
More than 20 kenpo karate experts will head to Fitness First on Friday and Saturday for the talks, with the events ending with Abbott's seventh degree testing. The event will be the largest gathering of kenpoists in European history, and follows on from Abbott winning self defence gold and silver at the 50th anniversary IKKA competition in America in August.
For tickets to the seminars and grading, contact Abbott on 07760 229974.
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Bowls: Isca B beat Torquay United in over-60 competition
Exeter's former county president David Oakey skipped Barry Grinham, Harold Finch and Frank Skidmore to victory over Torquay United's Geoff Bellamy 27-12 as Isca B won 45-43 in the England over-60 inter-club double rink competition.
Madeira ladies beat Torbay 50-30 in the national Masons Trophy and will play North Devon in the next round.
Dee Williams, Dee Norman, Angela Denner and Sue Harriott beat Jean Townsend 26-16 while Jan Roberts, Nicky Fiddimore, Brenda Marks and Catherine King beat Lynn Broughton 24-14.
In the same competition, Sidmouth beat Madeira's B team 40-30.
Isca will play either Torbay A or South Hams in the next round while Sidmouth's defeat of Madeira B earned them a tie with either Honiton B or Exonia A.
In the national Yetton Trophy inter-club competition, Madeira were beaten by Torquay United 98-58, with Jacky Howles' rink the only winner for the Exmouth club after they won 20-16.
Sue Harriott suffered a first ever defeat against Torquay's Jeanette Bratcher 17-12 and the other Madeira away rink of Jan Roberts, Joy Penberthy, Brenda Marks and Catherine King slumped 43-11 to Ruth Rogers.
Torquay's England international Barbra Bellamy beat Annette Flockhart 22-15.
However, there was success for Roberts and King in the England ladies' pairs as they beat Isca's Nikki Parsons and Jean Chudley 21-13 at Exeter.
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Athletics: England call-up for Honiton's Jill Harrison
Jill Harrison has been selected to represent England – 36 years after making her international debut.
The remarkable 56-year-old athlete from Honiton will race for England in the British & Irish Masters Cross-Country Championships in Nottingham at the end of next month.
Selection continues Harrison's impressive record of representing her country in almost every year of her long career and one of which she is understandably very proud.
"I am very old school so I like to get into the national team for an international event whereas many of the new runners aren't so interested in that," said Harrison. "To get picked for the Masters International you have to send in your last few performances to the selectors and I nearly didn't bother as I hadn't broken 20 minutes for 5k and didn't think I deserved a place in the England team.
"But then I ran 19.58 for the Yeovilton 5k last month when I was also suffering from a stitch so at the last minute I decided to apply and made the team."
While Harrison would be embarrassed to be compared to Exeter Olympian Jo Pavey, there is no doubt she is cut from the same cloth in terms of her dedication and love of the sport and her continuing success yet again illustrates that when it comes to long distance running age is no barrier to success.
She showed that last year when winning the 1,500m, 5,000m and 10,000m in the W50 age category at the World Masters Championships in Brazil, adding yet more medals to her bulging collection.
"I can't train as hard as I used to and self-preservation is more of a factor these days and trying to stay fit and healthy," said Harrison, who works on reception at Honiton Leisure Centre.
What has also changed beyond recognition since Harrison launched her career is the means by which selection is announced. She received an email confirming her place in the England team next month but when she made her international debut it was a much different world.
"I was a student at Birmingham University living in halls when I was first selected to run for England in 1978 and I remember receiving a telegram!" said Harrison.
"We had no phone where I lived and of course there were no mobiles or internet in those days. So the telegram was given to me saying I had been picked to run the 3,000m for England against France and Germany in Strasbourg and my teammates were Joyce Smith and Glenys Penny.
"So 36 years on I am delighted to be still making international teams and I am really looking forward to the event in Nottingham."
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Athletics: Exmouth Harriers dominate relay race
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