A WEST Devon town has successfully joined forces with four communities to help promote local events and stories online.

The Hatherleigh.Net website, which has been running for the past three years, has now reached more than 3,000 visitors a month.

The site now represents a group of five communities after it was recently joined by Meeth, Highhampton, Exbourne and Jacobstowe.

Co-editor of Hatherleigh Net Geoff Hodgkinson, said he was impressed by the number of visitors to the site.

He said: 'We have signposts in the headers of each section so it's easy to find your way round the localities.

'These communities found they couldn't do it themselves, so it made sense to collaborate.

'They each have customised home pages, but they overlap where it makes sense too, for example, on events.'

Mr Hodgkinson said Exbourne and Jacobstowe had been particularly active with news since it joined.

He added: 'I always thought community websites might follow the route taken by local papers in the 1800s, when they started to combine, ending up like they are today with each covering a wide area — I wonder if we are online trailblazers?'

For more information and to browse the website visit http://www.hatherleigh.net">www.hatherleigh.net