Area: Exeter, Devon
Exeter and District UNA is celebrated the UN's 70th aniversary with a two week exhibition, at Exeter Cathedral. The Exhibition took the form of a video montage, highlighting young people's perceptions of the varied work of the UN. Exeter and District UNA have also written to their local papers about the connections their communities have with the global work of the UN.
Here are some of the local links that Exeter and District share with the UN:
- Ian Holland, with his wife and children, are a local family who live in some of the most troubled areas of the world, as part of his work with the UN. The Exeter Express and Echo describe him as an "All-action hero and United Nations worker who ventures into the world’s trouble-spots to help bring aid and promote development".
- Devon firefighters responded to a UN call for help and traveled to Nepal at the request of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). They provided much needed training to the country’s ill equipped fire service. The Daily Exeter Life reported how the team from Devon and Somerset would be providing training on firefighting techniques and identify gaps and priorities in their existing equipment provision.
- 720 soldiers from the Devon & Dorset regiment supported UN peacekeepers in Sarajevo, in 1995. According to the BBC, a UN spokesman described the mission as a "turning point". In addition, thirty two army reservists from 165 Port Regement, with its regemental headquarters in Plymouth, were deployed to support UN peacekeeping operations in Nicosia, Cyprus, in 2013. Similar deployments have been to Jordan & Afganistan.
Exeter is another of our local UNA's who presented a commemorative charter to their local Mayor.