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It was a real honour for me to host the Express and Echo ‘Teen Team’ awards at the Thistle Hotel earlier this week. As you'll see from the special pull-out in this week's edition of the paper, the event celebrated success in our local schools. It was fantastic to see at first hand what many of our youngsters are achieving, despite a perception that budget pressures these days are compromising standards. This is clearly not true. There were winners from both the private and state sectors, and it started me thinking about the relative merits of both.

My parents in their wisdom sent me to Central Junior School (now St. Leonards) until the age of 11 and then into the privately run Exeter School. So I have experienced both sides of the fence.
I have to own up here to not being the most gifted academically, so I suppose the few ‘O’ levels I went away with perhaps didn't merit the financial outlay. 
However there are many people I know who still claim that the only education worth having is one that you pay for. They argue that those schools have a monopoly of motivated teachers and, together with all the resources at their disposal, are the only ones able to maximise the potential of their students. Results pretty much guaranteed, if you like, as long as you hand over your cash!

Don't believe a word of it. While we do have some excellent and highly rated private schools locally, there’s so much more to the story than that.

I grew up in Earl Richard’s Road South in Exeter which leads down to Isca college of Media Arts. In my school days of course it was the old Priory School, and I can remember getting some good natured banter (I think) from the Priory pupils as I walked past them in my Exeter School uniform.  Back then, 35+ years ago, Priory had a mixed reputation.
There’s absolutely no doubt that since then, that school has undergone a remarkable transformation. It was already well underway before the private finance initiative (PFI) across the city gave it, and other schools, a massive push forward.
I've been lucky enough to have had guided tours at Isca and Westexe in recent weeks and I was really impressed with what I saw. PFI funding schemes may have their detractors and clearly there are pros and cons, but one thing you can't argue with is the standard of facilities available now to the majority of teenagers in our local schools.
Providing a better environment definitely works. As I walked around, I saw at first hand just how motivated the youngsters were, and it seemed to me that the majority didn’t need too much ‘persuasion’ to learn ! 
I’m convinced bright kids will now succeed in the state system, and there is real evidence that others are not just allowed to disappear, academically, without trace.

I am sure that the private versus state school debate will continue for some parents. For the obvious financial reasons most others won’t even be able to contemplate the choice. The Teen awards illustrated clearly how the gap is closing, and if I was 35 years younger I suspect my Mum and Dad would be sending  me to the school at the bottom of our road !

Anyone who remembers the golden era of Blue Peter will understand why i’ve had a memorable, if slightly surreal, week. I grew up hanging on the every word of John Noakes, Peter Purves and Valerie Singleton, so if you’re of similar ‘middle age’ to me you’ll realise what a momentous occasion the burying of a time capsule in the programme’s garden was. There have been a couple over the years I believe, but the one i remember most was in 1971 when I was 8 years old.  It was dug up a few years ago, and although there were a few leaks, and a bit of water damage, a collection of Blue Peter Annuals, badges, videos and various bits of memorabilia remained largely intact.
It was an era when we only had a couple of TV channels and everyone seemed to watch the same programmes.  Because of that, the BP ‘time capsule’ has taken on legendary ‘iconic’ status over the years. So I hope you can imagine my delight when i was asked to play a part in providing some content for a time capsule buried in the centre of Exeter this week. It’s on the site of the old Texaco garage in Western Way which is currently being redeveloped by the Cornerstone Housing Association. Not only will it become a new head office for the company, but nine social housing flats are being built there and should be ready to live in by the middle of next year.
Chief Executive Rick Williams came into the Exeter FM radio studio to be interviewed by me, and suggested a copy of the recording could go into the time capsule. An audio keepsake, if you like, to explain what the project was all about for future generations, along with company information, brochures and lots of pictures of how the site used to look, and images of the building work.
After some discussion about which format to use we decided on a memory stick, although, as someone pointed out later, there’s no guarantee that, with technology moving on so fast, there will be anything suitable to play it on in future years !
The idea is to dig it up in 2061, so if I make it to 98, I have made a note in my diary to be at the unearthing !
Because radio broadcasting is normally so immediate, it was a little odd, to say the least,  making a recording which could survive for 50 years.  You feel the need to say something deep and meaningful in the best Queen’s English, so apologies in advance to my grandchildren if I have failed miserably.
It seems that business is booming for time capsule manufacturers. Just take a look on the internet if you don’t believe me. Nowadays they’re purpose built and you can get loads of stuff inside, and it’s pretty much guaranteed to survive the test of time. So i’m really tempted to get my own and bury it in the back garden !  Mind you it would probably take me a few years to decide what to put in it !  I do have one definite thought though. That parking ticket I got outside Central railway station a few weeks ago. I’d be quite happy not to see that again for several decades !

It was great to catch up with Exeter celebrity chef Michael Caines last week. He was celebrating the Royal Clarence Hotel being named in the Michelin guide for an incredible 100th successive year.
After interviewing him for Exeter FM radio, we started talking about a subject very close to our hearts. We are both adopted and represent the Devon based Families for Children charity which does fantastic work in placing youngsters locally with loving parents.
This year alone, nine children have found new homes in Devon.

Recently there have been headlines about a fall in the number of adoptions nationally.  This is clearly a worrying trend, so please forgive me for making a personal plea.

At the moment we are half way through National Adoption Week which is aimed at raising awareness about what’s involved, and appealing for potential new parents to put their names forward for consideration.  However there are many misconceptions.

There are no ‘blanket’ bans, so don’t think you’ll be turned down if you are over 40, single, or don’t own your own home. There is no upper age limit, and you won’t be discriminated against because of ethnic background, religion or gender.
Basically if you can offer a child a loving and supportive family for life, I would urge you to find out more. Families for Children can give you all the information you need and plenty of help and support too.  This week you can meet them at their temporary shop in Paris Street.
I was adopted in 1963 through a forerunner of ‘Families for Children’ called the Council for Christian Care which was based in Old Tiverton Road in Exeter.  My adoptive parents Dorothy and Henry lived just off Topsham Road and they picked me up as an eight week old from St Olaves in the city centre, which now of course is a hotel and restaurant.  I still find it strange to know that my birth name was David !

Twenty years ago I traced my natural parents. My birth mother turned out to be living in Wagga Wagga in Australia and I flew out there to have an emotional meeting with her and my two half sisters.  Despite that, I very much regarded my adoptive parents here as my ‘real’ mum and dad.

Times have moved on quite considerably since then of course, and attitudes have changed enormously.  The stigma of young, single, mothers giving birth has largely gone away, so the number of very young babies available for adoption has dropped. This may be off putting for some, but I’ve seen at first hand through my work with FFC how rewarding it is for families to give a home to older children. The average age is now 3.5 years, and I understand that if you already have children, an adopted child would be at least two years younger.

There are 4,000 vulnerable children awaiting adoption in the UK.  I can’t think of many better places than Exeter and Devon for them to discover a happy, loving family life. If you can offer one, please take this opportunity to seriously consider putting your name forward.
You won’t regret it.