First rural fibre being lit in Lancashire UK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB4bFNTNjhY

First rural fibre to the home laid in Lancashire UK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hV3Kv_LVY8

add a gadget to your blog

automate tasks

"How To Automate Tasks
So You Can Do More
Productive Things
With Your Time"
click on the above link to find out how to defragment your hard disk overnight and lots of other tips and tricks.

free video chats with gmail

log into your gmail account and see if you are enabled for video, install the little gadget and then you can chat and see who you are talking to. great freebie from google and not a big install like skype or msn. If you haven't got a gmail address just go to www.mail.google.com and get one

one for a wet day...

click here to play daffy game

New University projects

Two new projects starting in 2008.
The main one is P2P tv. This is a four year project, and more info will be available shortly as plans progress. If you would like to be involved please complete the simple online survey click here
If you wish to learn more about the project, read the recent BBC News Article - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7259339.stm or visit the project website www.p2p-next.org

Another shorter project is the one focusing on security issues. The first group meeting will take place next week, please register your interest online at the doodle page, just click here if you wish to attend, all welcome.

Free photo/video editor

• A set of creative commons web slideshow templates and the corresponding online/off-line slideshow generator
• An endeavor to mix creative commons photos, sounds and music on the web
• It supports background mp3 playing, lyric, annotation text, transition effects and some artistic photo effects.

Click here to visit the website and find out more

BTW

The photo albums and slideshow pages generated with SlidePlay could be uploaded to any web sites that can serve static html pages (no server-side scripts are required).

Free landline calls

If you set up a facebook profile (use a made up name if you don't want to use your real one) then you can add a free truphone number and people can ring you for nothing! If you are already on facebook then just click this link and add a call button. http://www.truphone.com/
Truphone also supports various nokia phones, and calls are also free on those.

What is Truphone?

Truphone routes your mobile calls via the internet. That means free mobile calls to other Truphone users & very cheap calls to anyone else.

Three reasons to get Truphone

1. Amazing launch offer - extended! Now you can get FREE mobile calls to 40 countries (and US cellphones) until Feb 29th 2008.
2. Great for travelling - Truphone works across the globe and wherever you have access to Wi-Fi.
3. No monthly charges - And free to download.

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas to everyone on the Wray and Wennington community networks, and thanks to everyone who has helped us in 2007. May 2008 bring health and happiness to our valley and even fibre, one can live in hope?
keep rockin
http://tinyurl.com/2hanan click to view Christmas card and then make your own

googletalk button

click here to download googletalk to your pc

Download Google Talk and get:

	Instant messaging		PC-to-PC voice calls
	Gmail notifications		File transfers

Family search

I have just been looking at your web site trying to find out information about Roeburn House Wray which I understand was at one time a silk mill.
I have been doing family history and have found lots of relations working in the mill at Wray on the 1851 and 1861 census. Relations were also listed at hatters---do you have any information about this line of work?
Would there be any one who could help me with my family research? Two of the relations are buried in Holy Trinity churchyard-- Henry Gillgrass who died in 1852 and buried with his wife, daughter and son-in-law as well as John Gillgrass who died in 1877 with his wife, daughter and son.
I had other relations in Wray--these being Henry Parker who was a farmer on the 1841 census and a proprieter of properties on the 1851 census. His wife was Betty and their son Robert married Jane Gillgrass--daughter of Henry. Henry Parker's daughter Sarah married a Thomas Coupland who was a bobbin factory owner and also farmed.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this letter.
Regards Pamela Edgar

Camtasia video editing software FREE

Click here to go to instant download, save the file to your pc.
this software is version 3, which is adequate to make videos from your screen, don't be conned into buying v5 unless you need the added features. Once you have downloaded the software go to this link to register it for free.
Camtasia Studio gives you the power to easily record your screen, PowerPoint presentations, voice and webcam video to create compelling video tutorials, presentations and rich sales demonstrations for web and CD-Rom delivery.

JamCams on motorways

click here to view map and webjamcams for Lancashire motorways, plan your journey and avoid queues

Lins in the Lombard

Click here to listen to the interview
Lindsey Annison, one of the team from CBN who helped us get a broadband network going in the area is in the Lombard rally raising money for the air ambulance. This interview with her was on radio Lancashire.

AVG free virus protection

Link to the new page to download virus protection free, click here

Easy free dial up link

If the network is down it makes sense to have a dial up number for emergencies, this link will take you to one that is really easy to set up, and you will only be charged a local call rate for the time you spend online. Click here

Enquiry from Oz, please add comments if you can help

My name is bob leggo .Iam 65 yrs and enjoy viewing areas of Tatham fells etc on the net. I was born robin francis tatham 1942 . I was adopted by the leggo's in 1945 as my grandmother ,father and aunts did not want another mouth to feed .The tatham name is known throughout the world especially america. Could you explain the meaning of "st, james the less" please. My grandfathers name was james ;he was an electrical engineer, his fathers name was joseph ;a tailor of lancashire. All my past rellies originate from lancashire. I have three children and nine grandchildren.and reside at coraki, northern new south wales, australia, and 10 klms NW of us is the town of Tatham ,named after james and nellie tatham who originally owned 640 acre property there. OK many thanks for your attention. if inclined you can reply by emailing kwakka82 @ lizzy.com.au .this email is from down under.

Fun way to animate your photos

Click here to view one I did, if you want to have a go just register, upload your photo and jedi.
It is a free service from blabberize and is real good fun.

Network at risk

Dear user,
>
> During the network at risk period on the 9th October 2007, the
> Lancaster University Network Services and CLEO Networks may
experience
> some loss of connectivity to the Internet whilst a hardware
> replacement takes place. Outages should last for less than five
> minutes and are planned to occur between 0700 hrs and 0800 hrs.
>
> Regards
>
> A. Parker
Free dialup number click here

Free logo/button generators

click here for logo generator

click here for button generator

Wray Web Cam - Flood Watch

Click here to see the webcam viewing the River Roeburn in Wray
It updates every 60 seconds, scroll down the page if the weather is at the top.

Digital noticeboard

The digital noticeboard in Wray Post Office is now forming part of a PhD students work. Please complete the online survey and give him your feedback for his research.

This is a link to the board where you can upload/download photos and leave comments

This is a link to the survey

Many thanks to everyone for their support and encouragement.

Resize images with a couple of clicks

If you download and install this power toy from microsoft you can easily resize images from your folders. It gives you a new option on a right click to 'resize'. This makes blogging, emailing and making webpages of your photos much easier. Click here to go to the microsoft site, and on the right side scroll down until you see the photo resizer link. Download it to your desktop and install it.

Network outage 28th July

Hi all, 2pm
Network down due to circumstances beyond our control. Fault has been reported. Will put a notice here when we find out what it was.
Please use emergency dial up number (details further down blog)

8pm, networks fixed, many thanks to Lancaster University Network services
normal service resumed
chris

Update from LUNS: Monday 30th

 The outage was due to United Utilities taking down one of the upstream
masts for power work without notice.  As far as we are aware it was
emergency work.

Online Centre Upgrade

The online centre in the institute is open for public use Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 am to 10 pm.
This week the PCs are being serviced and updated by Simon, so it will be shut on Monday 23rd but will re-open on Wednesday 25th July.
Sorry for the inconvenience, the new XP operating system had slowed down the old machines so this upgrade will speed them up again.
WrayComCom
update:
Machines 1 and 2 back in institute and working great, 3 and 4 due back Friday.

Brenda Retires...

Party at the dragon for Brenda, retiring as chairman of the governors after 15 years, click here to see photos

Ebay photos for free...

Want to learn how to add photos to your ebay listing?
This link shows you how

George and Dragon Fishing Club Barbie

24th June 2007, the annual fishing club barbie was held at the Dragon, usual good food and company, and stupendous raffle.
Great day, thanks to all who organised it and to Neil and Sue for the use of the garden (and the pub when the showers came).

Make your photo into a free jigsaw to email to friends

Wray jigsaw
Can you tell where this photo was taken in scarecrow week?

free web pages from google

Another reminder about the free webpages from google, just click here to visit a sample page - if you like you can do your own page, for free, in 10 minutes
click here

they think its all over...

Well it is now!
Great scarecrow festival, all packed up again for next year, see photos on the village website, www.wrayvillage.co.uk

The scarecrows had a great time, hope everybody else did too. Judging by the happy smiling faces that visited Wray over the week of the festival lots of people enjoyed it


.The photo on the right shows the locomash team and the display on the show field

BIG UPGRADE at Wray Institute!

Hi all, message from Simon who looks after the PCs at the online centre, please could you add your comments to this post for him? thanks, chris.

The computers have been upgraded as follows:

Windows XP

Office XP (Access, Excel, FrontPage, PowerPoint, Word)

Publisher 2000

Photoshop Elements 4.0

Adobe Reader 8

AVG Anti-Virus

Firefox web browser

Picassa

Google Talk

Skype

Encarta

Autoroute 2001

If possible I would like feedback from people who use it, what they think, any other software they would like installed, other hardware, like printer, scanner etc??

Hope to hear from you soon

Simon

you want it free?

click here
very comprehensive list of all the stuff you need on your pc, anti virus, spyware, browsers etc
thanks to John for the link

Free dial up number

For times when you need web access if the broadband network is down or for when you are away from home.
Sign up for this free pay as you go service and configure your computer ready for any emergency.
Click here

Sunday 4th Feb. Network outage

Hi all,
both the Wray and Wennet networks are down, due to a fail in the feed from the mast. I am posting this for your information so if you use your emergency dial up connection you can find out what is happening. We may not get a connection back until tomorrow when the technicians return to work. Please be patient.
UPDATE
normal service resumed at 12 noon, many thanks to University Network Services

Just Ask

Please sign petition at the Country Landowners Association, they have a campaign going to encourage people to Just Ask where their food is coming from...
click here (it only takes 10 secs)
thanks

A must read site

This is an essential site to put in your favourites folder, No Bull Tips from a Guru.
Click here to visit Woody's site
All the latest news on viruses, microsoft patches and tips.

Computer Club news

The club continues to meet on a Friday, 2-3pm in the institute online centre.

Simon's drop in sessions start next Wednesday 24th January, 7-8 pm come along and discuss your ICT needs and have some fun. These will be held every Wednesday evening until further notice.

Also there are plans for Monday afternoon lessons, they will be posted here when we have more information, please contact us or comment if there are any specific classes you are interested in.
thanks

Internet usage and safety

Thanks to everyone who has limited their daytime usage to under 50meg per hour, the network is now very stable and connections available for all. We have up to a hundred different users a day according to University statistics.

Requests from parents for guidance about safe surfing have been received, so this is a good link for any who would like more information:

http://www.wiredsafety.org/resources/pdf/socialnetworktips.pdf

and one for those who like Bebo:

http://www.bebo.com/SafetyTips.jsp

and one for youtube:

http://www.wiredsafety.org/resources/pdf/I%20Tube.pdf

if these aren't enough and you are still concerned please contact us and we will try to help. Leave comments on this blog if you find any other good sites with information, thanks.

second hand furniture

Home and office furniture, recycled and refurbished
01524428055
click here to go to their website

Campaign for real gravy

Gordon Ramsey visited the Fenwick Arms in Claughton recently, and just down the road here in Wray in the Lune Valley we are pleased to support the Campaign for Real gravy

Good luck to the Fenwick Arms, thanks to Gordon Ramsey it serves the best gravy in England

Have your say...

Have your say about our institute,click here to go to a forum where you can post your views, (please respect the feelings of others), or post your views here on the blog if you prefer.

JFDI community broadband - Wennington

A book written about community broadband, featuring Wray and the Wennington project, click here...

November 14th Network Upgrade

Hi all, a message from the University below,
the last two upgrades had no effect on the network but it is as well to be forwarned!
chris

Dear Sir/Madam,

I would like to advise you of scheduled Network upgrade that will be

taking place on the 14 November 2006.

During this time, there is a small risk of a brief interruption to your
connectivity to the Internet.

The brief outage should not last more than 5 minutes and will take place

some time between 07:00 and 09:00.

Many thanks for your understanding.

Regards

Andy Ellis
Lancaster University Network Services Ltd

Free AVG update

Click here for free AVG update, just follow the instructions on the page.

wray on youtube

Click here to watch the wray video on youTube

The Hoff vid

Link to watch the Hoff, cheesy vid on google video.

Fun page made with google page creator

Check out the fun page, click here

Planned network outages 10th & 17th October

Dear all,

I would like to advise you of a brief service outage which will affect our equipment located in the Lancaster University Network Services Headend Rack. The outage is taking place on 10.10.06 @ 07.00 to 09.00 and is due to a change in the internal routing of the network. This work may, therefore, disable your site/s internet connectivity for the specified period. The second outage over same time period is on 17th October.

Kind Regards

Andy Ellis
Lancaster University Network Services Ltd
Network Operations Desk

Computer Club

Starting the Winter session on Tuesday, October 3rd at 7pm-9pm Wray Institute. Everybody welcome,come and join in and teach and learn new stuff.
Classes will run if enough people are interested in the same subject, we need around 10 people to get a tutor in. Lots of advice going free, just come and see if its your cup of tea...

digital noticeboard at Wray

anyone who is interested can have a category of their own and upload photos to it for everyone to see. You can access it online from this link http://217.114.48.120:8000/ just register with your email address and a password and away you go.

Free fax via your PC

Tuesday, September 19, 2006
http://www.fax2mail.co.uk/
free fax to email!
works for 30 days
How it works
Faxes can be Sent, Received, Saved, Filed, Forwarded and Tracked in seconds directly from your existing E-mail Client or Web-Mail Account. A transparent process, which occurs outside of your PDA, Laptop, Desktop Computer, Servers and Network with Traffic being forwarded through Fax2Mails high-speed, high-volume global network, essentially a managed service.

When Receiving a fax, Fax2Mail automatically converts the fax to an Adobe PDF (Free Download of Adobe Reader available here) or TIFF file attachment and forwards it to the assigned user's e-mail address, with ‘notification’ in the subject line.

When Sending a fax, Fax2Mail supports virtually all common document types including spreadsheets and graphic images. These are then automatically converted to outbound faxes and forwarded to the number provided.

googletalk updated

Even more features now added, file share and voicemail. I have tested the voicemail and it works great, you just call offline friends and leave a message, the call is then sent to them on an email and they can play it when they get home. File sharing seems to be very slow, but this will probably improve with time and better connections. Definitely worth trying.

Great free software downloads

click here for virus protection, spyware removers and all sorts of useful programs

Emergency 'dial up' link

Click here
this is a cool site, you can use it when you are away from home and can't find a hotspot or when the broadband is down.Full instructions are provided on this link to set it up on your computer. You just input the number, enter the user name and password, and pay a local rate to access the internet via a local phone charge. Take care not to use it in hotels though! They sometimes charge extra for a phone line. You can also subscribe to their service for free, and use dial up when you like and have free webspace. This is a very handy link for the odd times when the network is down due to electricity cuts or backhaul outages. It means you can have an emergency connection for important emails or access.

Mrs Nicholls retires from Wray School

Many tears were shed on the night of Wray School’s Annual Prize Giving, and Mrs. Nicholls’s Retirement ‘Do’, as it sunk in for many that Mrs Nicholls really was leaving Wray School.

The evening was held in the garden of the George & Dragon Pub, and began with a collection of musical talent, with flute and recorder players performing their well rehearsed pieces to an audience of more than one hundred past and present pupils, teacher and parents.

Natasha Halsey began with ‘Speed Bonny Boat’, followed by Tamsin Seed with ‘Oh Soldier Soldier’, both played on flute.

The audience were then treated to a rendition of the following songs by Wray School Recorder Group (Mary P., Megan D., Megan T., Anna W., Tara G and Amy H) who played three songs: ‘Land of the Silver Birch’, ‘Woofenbackers Boogie’, and ‘Cascudura Beguine’.

The music really boosted the evening, and got everyone in the mood for the anticipation of Prize Giving.

Prizes were awarded to Years One, Two, Three, Four and Five, followed by the Special Awards; the Handwriting Trophy was awarded to Edward Price and Tara Gurjal; the Sportsmanship Trophy was awarded to Ben Wallbank and Lois Reece; and the Football Trophy was awarded to Simon Dwight.

These Awards were not for one particular achievement, but instead being for what each pupil had achieved throughout their whole school lives.

After these Awards were presented, the Year Six Awards were finally given out, starting in alphabetical order from ‘W’!

Mrs Nicholls said some lovely comments on how all the pupils had changed over the years. The pupils looked shocked by Mrs. Nicholls’s stories, as Mrs Nicholls reminisced and remembered each pupil from so long ago.

Mrs. McFadden then led the pupils into song – and actions! – for ‘La Cocharacha’ and ‘Island in the Sun’., there was a Caribbean thread woven through these songs, and whilst it was obvious Mrs. McFadden and the pupils of Wray School had worked very hard to ensure the songs and actions were perfect, this was a perfect ending for the evening’s first interval where parents, teachers and pupils were able to grab refreshments and have a chat.

Part two of the evening’s Retirement ‘Do’ kicked off with a moving speech given by Brenda Mickle – Chair of Governors. It was obvious how much Mrs. Nicholls would be missed, and how much she is a highly valued and special friend, not just as one of the many unique Head Teachers Wray Endowed has ever experienced. Brenda also had some very nice words to say about the School’s current P.T.A. and pupils.

This speech was followed by a flute duet, performed by Natasha Halsey and Tamsin Seed, playing ‘Bertie’s Blues’ for the final time, stayed on stage and were joined by their fellow Year Six students who recited their speeches about Mrs. Nicholls aloud. Some heartfelt things mentioned, Mrs. Nicholls still did not shed a tear!

When all were seated once again, child representatives of the P.T.A. (Robs Whiteley and Natasha Halsey) presented Mrs. Nicholls with an array of gifts, including books and a watch (waterproof!), to name but a few. Teachers, friends, parents and pupils (past and present), all raised their glasses in a toast to Mrs. Nicholls in honour of all her hard work.

It was then that the children got on stage, and seized their chance to shine for the last time. Firstly, they sang S. Club’s ‘Reach for the Stars’, with soloists Megan Taylor, Lois Preece, Lizzie Robinson, Tamsin Seed, Natasha Halsey, Mary Perrins and Steph Allison. The children then moved on to sing ‘Wherever You Go’, by which time Mrs. Nicholls had seated herself before the stage. Soloists this time were Lois Preece, Natasha Halsey, Tamsin Seed and Lizzie Robinson. Written and composed by one of the School’s Music Teachers, with Sue McFadden, Singing Tutor of Wray School, leading pupils in song once more. When the song was over, the group had succeeded in making Mrs. Nicholls shed several tears., parents and pupils also found themselves crying!

The Supper was ready., everyone made sure to grab a plate of the delicious snacks on offer, provided by the parents and guests of Wray School’s pupils, and laid out beautifully by Mr. & Mrs. Taplin and staff of George & Dragon Pub.

The music then began to play, and the drinks continued to flow, as everyone enjoyed having a dance on the stage to Musical Entertainer Dave Carling. Mrs. Nicholls et al looked to be really getting into the swing of things and enjoying themselves together, as the closeness of the School and community as a whole was apparent.

It appeared all were having a good time, and when the fireworks were set off shortly after ten o’clock (by which time I had had to leave!), everyone had enjoyed a fantastic night.

We will all miss Mrs. Nicholls, and she will be long remembered for the great influence she has had on Wray School, her colleagues, pupils (past and present), and the community as a whole.

Missed – but never forgotten.

We wish you, Mrs. Nicholls, luck in all your future quests, and your year long round the world trip.

Reported by: Tamsin Alix Seed, aged 11.

Comments welcomed:
"Everything was delightful; it was quite emotional. I will miss Mrs. Nicholls very much." (Lizzie Robinson)

"A heartwarming and moving evening; I felt very welcome." (Bjorg - Jolene's mum)

Please feel free to leave your comments!

free web pages from google

Create your own web pages, quickly and easily.

Google Page Creator is a free online tool that makes it easy for anyone to create and publish useful, attractive web pages in just minutes.

* No technical knowledge required.
Build high-quality web pages without having to learn HTML or use complex software.

* What you see is what you'll get.
Edit your pages right in your browser, seeing exactly how your finished product will look every step along the way.

* Don't worry about hosting.
Your web pages will live on your own site at http://yourgmailusername.googlepages.com
click here for test run

slight problem with network...

Sorry if your connection was intermittent over the weekend 10/11th June, one of the boxes at school decided to sleep and traffic had to be re-diverted to other boxes. We are hoping to have it fixed today, but if anyone continues to experience problems please let us know by posting a comment here on the blog,
cheers, keep rockin.
chris

Jan Pan's Hen Day - Go Ape Grizedale forest! also Race for Life

A hen do with a difference!
click here to see the photos and look in comments for the Race for Life photos

Apple mac man

This chap has been working with several villagers over the past few years and comes highly recommended, (you can leave a comment here on the blog about him or ask him a question)

Apple Mac computers
Installation, configuration, trouble-shooting
Reasonable rates

Phil Keen
Tel: 01524 37381
Mob: 0787 6747187
Fax: 0870 0562268
e-mail: phil@ivrig.demon.co.uk

Wray Scarecrow Festival

Photos and videos now online

family search

From: josephsue(at)aol.com

message
Hi there. I am doing some research on my family background and i believe my grandfather
and great grand father were brought up in your viliiage.
Their names were john and frederick johnson and i believed they lived at 4 mill cottages.
IF it is possible, could someone contact me if there is any more information that might be useful.
Thanks for your time. Joe

scarecrows have their own blogspot!

Just click on the link to see the scarecrows from 2006.
Click Here

Computer Club news - camera project

The university chaps came out tonight with the packs for the camera project. They distributed polaroid, disposable and usb video cameras to people who are taking part. Full instructions for the usb cameras are on this link
I will post a resume in a comment to this post.
chris

Free Office software

This is a free download of open source software that looks and feels just like the microsoft version. We have downloaded, installed and tested it and it is great. If you can't afford the 'official' version and don't want to use pirate copies then give this a try. It is completely free with no strings attached. The open source community share their knowledge to everyone.

http://www.openoffice.org/

family search

> I am writing to you from Ontario Canada. I am doing research on the Wray
> Family tree. This is My mothers family. I would really appreciate any
> help you can give me. Is there a Wray family in the area? Can you put me
> in contact with someone who might have information on the family. I have
> a record of Andrew Wray born on 1821 in Holdgate England. Thank you so
> much for your help. Jennifer, Canada
Please post any info in 'comments'.

New photography project

Project Description
The University are currently looking at ways of using "situated displays" to support the community of Wray as well as to provide a communication channel for the village. When they talk about situated displays they mean electronic displays of various sizes (from a small mobile phone screen through to large plasma/TV screen). The display will probably be located in the Village Hall - though it may also be accessible through your own PC. If you can think of a better location for a display please tell us. The display could be interactive, with a touch screen or equipped with wireless technologies so that you could upload pictures, videos, sound, etc. to the display from your mobile phone, PDAs, laptop computer or via the web. We are interested in finding out from you how communal activities and information are currently recorded and displayed in Wray as well as learning how you think this might be improved.
If you would like to take part in the project please email us on this LINK = project(at)wraycomcom.org.uk
Your Participation in the project will consist of:

1. Keep a scrapbook. Put any materials you wish in to the scrapbook: photos, drawings, maps, ticket stubs, random thoughts etc. We'll also provide you with polaroid cameras and electronic materials so that you can provide digital photos, video, mobile phone images or even sound recordings. These can either be returned to us on the camera, or uploaded to the blog. Visit the blog for more info on how to upload your stuff.
2. Be creative. What would you do with the situated displays? How might you like it to look? What other technologies do you think could be used to support village activities and add to general sense of community in Wray? Remember, no idea is crazy!! Give us your whacky, unreasonable, or funny ideas (as well as some sensible ones too J).
Some possible ideas…

· Give some examples of activities that are initiated, organised or coordinated through the message boards in Wray.

· Take a photo of any message that would not be appropriate for display on a public message board.

· Take a photo of your favourite part of Wray tell us about why it is your favourite.

· Take a photo that you think captures the sense of Wray as a community.
Thanks for reading this!
Keith.

Computer Club news

The last club meeting on 16th March was great fun, we worked out how to download legal music files and burn them to a cd to play in the car. Carl kindly wrote out a full instruction list and everyone got the document by email. We also updated laptops to XP service pack 2 and updated virus protection. The next meeting is on April 6th. (Ist and 3rd Thursdays every month)
All welcome.

advance warning, short outage March 16th

Dear all,

I would like to advise you of a brief service outage which will affect
our equipment located in the Telewest Preston Head End Rack 5 (Lancaster
University Network Services Ltd). The outage is taking place on 16.03.06
@ 07.30 to 08.00 and is due to a change in the internal routing of the
network. This work will therefore disable your site/s internet
connectivity for the specified period. Inter-site connectivity within
the network will not be effected.

I trust this outage is acceptable.

Kind Regards

Andy Ellis
Lancaster University Network Services Ltd Network Operations Desk

Defender stops pop ups and spyware

Thanks to Bob from Wray in America for this link:
click here to read more about Defender

Free Personal Firewall

click here to find out about Kerio
"Looking for the FREE Kerio Firewall? You have found the right page. Just like the original, the Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall will keep on working after the first 30 days, only in a more limited mode, but free! Download now, keep the bad guys out".

Notspot survey

Please fill in the Notspot survey if you are in a region with little or no access to a broadband connection, it will only take a minute and can be found here http://www.notspot.info and visit the cbn forum if you need help to get a connection in areas that BT cannot reach. http://broadband-uk.coop

Waymarkers new blogspot

The new blogspot showing the finished waymarkers for the village footpath is now online. Click Here
The children who had done the designs were there to see the finished work and Hot Toddy and cake was served to everyone after the certificates were presented to the craftsmen and women who made the markers. A display of the tiles the children had made at school was also on show photos of them are on the waymarkers blogspot too.

COMPUTERS FOR RURAL PEOPLE

The latest revision of prices and specifications for computers.
The Computers for Rural people Scheme continues to expand and the beginning of the year brings new lower prices. With the exception of the budget model all systems come with Windows xp preinstalled. The price of the Pentium 3 laptop is now £320 and the top of the range Pentium 4 desktop is £265. The price includes VAT, delivery and full warranty.
Contact:
David long
The Arthur Rank Centre
Stoneleigh Park
Warwickshire CV8 2LZ
Direct Line: 02476853067
E mail: davidl@rase.org.uk

google chat

New facility being rolled out for googletalk, it enables you to save your chats in your gmail site. Very handy for technical chats where you want a record. You can disable the feature for chats you don't want to save.
email chat@wraycomcom.org.uk if you want an invite to join googlemail and get the benefits of web based mail, video storage, googletalk and free voice calls.
chris

Planned network outage 17th Feb

Dear all,

I would like to advise you of a power outage which will affect our
equipment located in the Telewest Preston Head End Rack 5 (Lancaster
University Network Services Ltd).
The outage is taking place on 17.02.06 @ 00.01 to 02.00 and is due to the current UPS unit being replaced. This work will therefore disable your site/s internet connectivity for the specified period.
Inter-site connectivity within the network will not be effected.

I trust this outage is acceptable.

Kind Regards

Andy Ellis
Lancaster University Network Services Ltd
Network Operations Desk

virus alert, not a hoax

Flash Report:
SANS Internet Storm Center has found that more than 500,000 personal computers have been infected by the 'Grew' worm (it goes by a number of different names, e.g. 'Nyxem'). On February 3rd, it will delete all documents (Word, Excel and a number of others). Make sure your mom and your kids (and everyone else who may call you when they lose data) to update their AV signatures and run a full scan. "Update now or all your files may get lost." A special Storm Center website on the problem:
http://isc.sans.org/blackworm

Umbilical cord slurry spreading

Click here
Check the instructions further down the blog to post your own videos - work, play or educational, google video will host them for you for free, and even make you money from them if you like.

Wray fair

this year's fair is on Monday May 1st, this photo shows one of last year's celebs talking to a fan, and is an indication of the happy atmosphere. Hope to see you there.
 
 

Stone Waymarkers celebration day

The Stone Waymarkers project will come to an end on February 4th with a celebration at the Craft Barn Tea rooms in Wray at 3pm, and mulled wine and cake is the order of the day.. Photos of the waymarkers can be seen on the blogspot and the children will be there to receive their certificates for their work and designs. Photos of waymarkers

Press F1 for help?

Service from PC world, countrywide help at a price, click here to visit their website, or come to the computer club and help each other? Click here for price list from Pc World Press F1 for help site.
(computer club meets every fortnight, subs £2)

Free downloads

Click here to go to a site with free downloads, including Firefox, Thunderbird, Cute Pdf writer, open office, iPod Agent and lots more.

How to build a home network to share files

Click here
Easy to follow instructions to share files between your desktop pc and others (laptops?) Thanks to Phil for this set of instructions!

free anti virus protection

This is a link to AVG free, just click it, scroll to the bottom of the page that opens and choose the link to avg free, follow instructions and your computer will be protected from virus attacks as long as you keep it updated.
Click here

Emergency 'dial up' link

Click here
this is a cool site use it when you are away from home and can't find a hotspot or when the broadband is down.Full instructions are provided on this link to set it up on your computer. You just input the number, enter the user name and password, and pay a local rate to access the internet via a local phone charge. Take care not to use it in hotels though! They sometimes charge extra for a phone line. You can also subscribe to their service for free, and use dial up when you like and have free webspace. This is a very handy link for the odd times when the network is down due to electricity cuts or backhaul outages. It means you can have an emergency connection for important emails or access.

stone workshop at Wray

Next stone workshop to be held on January 7th at the Craft Barn tea rooms.
stone workshop at Wray click here to go to the blogspot with photos.

Computer Club

Computer club starting due to popular request. First session on Thursday 5th January 2006 7pm.
Come along to Wray Institute and lets all start making the most of the broadband connection and our equipment. All popular software programmes discussed and trouble shooting can be done.
VoIP, podcasts,web conferencing, - If lessons are needed we will organise them. Help available within the community can solve many problems, working together we can all help each other to make the most of our knowledge.
Demos of voip phones and webcams available. The institute is wifi so bring your laptops if you like.

Everybody welcome, post any questions you have in the comments section of this post.

chris

unplanned short outage Dec 21st

Network went off late morning Monday Dec 21st
Network up again at 1.00pm.
Planned work at the mast preceeding Melling should have resulted in a micro outage of around 30 secs. However the job unexpectedly involved rewiring the connection which took longer.
Apologies were given by LUNS for any inconvenience,
Queried any further planned maintenance over the break. Was told none was anticipated;.
Regards to all,
Deb

Wray wins Calor ICT village of the Year 2005 Award for Northern England

Bob,Chris and Marion at the Awards ceremony. The certificate is now on display in the village Post Office.
Wray Parish Council entered the competition and although we didn't win the award for the whole country we are very proud the LAPTC asked us to represent Lancashire Town and Parish Councils in the ICT awards, and are pleased to have won the Northern England section. Below is a photo of another winner who shared our table at the event, they won the 'Building Community Life' category. It is a village called Grasby in Central England.

New installs to make Wray network stronger

Installed by professional aerial fitters, our antenna are smaller than a television aerial and extra ones deployed round the village this week should enable more people to get a connection to the network.

The Christingle Service on Sunday 4th December at 11 am.

This is a note about The Christingle Service on Sunday 4th December at 11 am.
Owing to problems with Wray Church heating,which will now not be resolved by then
The Christingle Service will now take place at

ST. JAMES the LESS CHURCH, LOWER TATHAM, instead.
Please will you pass on this message to everyone possible. Thank you.
Sylvia Hamblin.

Free video hosting at Google

Click here to see a free video service offered by google, upload your own movies or marketing promotions, hosted free, link to your website for free publicity.

Les Hoggs en France updated with photos

Les Hoggs en France

Google Base Camp

Help the world find your content.
Google Base is a place where you can add all types of information that we'll host and make searchable online.

You can describe any item you post with attributes, which will help people find it when they search Google Base. In fact, based on the relevance of your items, they may also be included in the main Google search index and other Google products like Froogle and Google Local, post videos, photos or anything you like.
Click here

The Newbie Club

The Newbie Club is a great website where you can find out lots of tips and tricks to get the most from your computer and internet connection.
click HERE to visit
thanks to Lins for the link...

Children in Need

The sponsored pony tail chop held at the George and Dragon on Saturday 19th November was well supported and raised £1681.00 for children in need. The ponytail itself will be used to make wigs for children who have lost their hair due to illness. Neil also had his head shaved to make Catherine feel less bald...
A domino knockout was won by Vicky who beat stiff competition and a raffle raised more money for the pot. A delicious supper was served and every one had a Good Time for a Good Cause...
Link to photos

The Lazy man's way to system security

Click here to visit the site
There is an easy way, and there are further steps you can take to protect your system when you are ready! The lazy way is a good starting point for everyone.

Art Attack

Great displacement activity. Saw some great monsters Mary and Stephen had made and thought it is one way to get the kids off the computers at weekends so we can get our mail. Easy instructions to make all sorts of brill stuff on wet days.

This is the link Mary sent me:

This is the link for the website I got it from!!!!!
Click HERE

GOOMEKX site of games for kids large and small

GOOMEKX

Wray film

Taped the film about Wray that the NWDA made of our village,they showed it at Rheged today. The film was brilliant,
Link to film here if you have broadband, takes a while to load if you don't!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dQD-CjoXPA
Chris

Fun Workshops

We have had a few requests lately for fun workshops to demonstrate weblogs, podcasts, voip and other funky applications. If you are interested please leave a comment here, or email fun(at)wraycomcom.org.uk and we will see what we can arrange. State preferences, day, time etc and leave your contact details. Cheers
Chris

Les Hoggs en France

Neill's new blog, log in and post your messages to them. They are only on a slow dial up connection but they will be able to read them when they get online.
Les Hoggs en France

Google map for website

google map of wray area, still in beta testing stage, please have a look and tell me if it works in your browser, just leave a comment and state which browser you are using. I know it works fine in firefox...Once it is tested we can have it on the wray site and put pins in it for sites of local interest.
Chris

Good Logic game

Square-Off is a puzzle game based on the japanese “nonogram” puzzles (sometimes called Griddlers, or paint by numbers).Free trial download free to use for 30 days.

Your object in the game is to uncover all the black squares in the grid. To help you solve the puzzle, the number of black squares in each row and column are displayed. The game can be difficult at first, but the techniques are easy to learn. There are three skill levels - each level the board gets bigger, and the game much more hard to solve. very addictive. But it is raining today...
chris
more on the wiki

first ever podcast...

This is a test of a podcast edit, just to see if it works. It is a baby, a dog, the bionic ear, a couple of wav files and some background music.
Click here to listen... it is pretty bad.

personalise the google home page

Just Launched!

Location, Location, Location
Gmail now has a spot on Google. Personalize the Google homepage and add a section for Gmail so you can easily see new messages and go to your Inbox whenever you do a Google search. Even get news headlines, weather forecasts and more.
http://www.google.com/ig

VoIP

Visit the village website to read all about Voice over Internet Protocol, a nice little name for FREE phone calls to other computers! You can even use it to call landlines at very cheap rates. http://www.wrayvillage.co.uk/voip.htm

Topiary-Angels News

All the latest news from a local business which supplies topiary trees. Professional advice and news in a fresh newsletter blog. Top tips for care of your topiary, and well worth a visit!

Topiary-Angels News

phishing

The latest scam is to try to get people to donate money to victims of hurricane Katrina. The messages pretend to come from Amazon. Do not click on any links in these messages, they are bogus just like the bank ones earlier in the year. If you want to donate go to the real sites through your browser and log in with your account details. More info on http://www.office-watch.com/email/archives.asp

google earth

Visitors to the village use the commumity computer in the wifi hotspot to try out Google Earth. This free programme lets you zoom in from outer space right to your postcode. Very addictive.
*****

pod

Pods wagon bringing heifers to the farm, big or what?

Phil's corner

Phil's corner is a blog which helps people get ADSL connections working when all else has failed. Lots of useful info on it if you are struggling to get it to work. If you have tried everything and still failed, there is always wireless!
Phil's corner

Pony Express retires, Broadband takes the strain

JEDI

Wray community communications has helped provide a wireless broadband connection to several businesses in the area who could not get ADSL. This project has been funded by the NWDA, and has been very successful. Rural businesses in remote areas are seriously disadvantaged because they are so far from enabled exchanges that the broadband can't reach them. We now have the solution to their problem and thanks to kick start funding have built a network for them that is sustainable. If you are a rural business and have tried to get a connection and failed, please post here and maybe Wray can help you too!
Visit the website for more info, www.wraycomcom.org.uk
Chris

the Village Website

The wray village website now has webcams for the duration of the fair.
www.wrayvillage.co.uk

Village Website photo albums

click here
The wray village website now has all the scarecrow photos online.

Bolivia This is a link to Lindseys blog about her trip to Bolivia.
Very good read.

Welcome to the WrayComCom Blog

Hi, post anything you like here on the blog and add to other's comments.

History of Wray Com Com

This is taken from the website www.wraycomcom.org.uk - some photos and links will not work, but it gives an idea of what has happened so far...

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." ~ Søren Kierkegaard
This is the end of the page, updates are posted here at the top as they happen. Scroll down to read about how it has all happened

March 2005
The university have started a forum for all people joining the network, this can be reached from this link: network forum You can use this forum to register to join the network, find stuff out, complain, learn, and inform others. You can use it for general chat or anything you like.

Feb 20th
Lots of responses from the flyers, and everyone who replied is now on the list waiting to be connected. A couple of clusters of people at Holme farm and in the main street are still in areas with no signal, so work is underway to raise the aerials. We have found that the signal is being deflected off the chimney pots in wet weather. The university team have decided that if we put the antenna just above the roofs the signal will then reach most parts of the village. We are currently waiting for a scaffolding firm in order to do this work safely. Classes on DTP are now running at the school on Monday nights, and Web page classes are due to start in April, use the contact form at the top of the page if you haven't already registered.

February 5th 2005
Flyers have been distributed throughout the village to invite people to join the network and help us to make it into a real mesh. The university team are coming out next week to analyse the signal and in order to make it stronger. Working together we hope to be fully functioning before the scarecrows start to appear. The University are planning to use the mesh for research, so the more people using it the better the research will be.

January 2005
The whole month has been taken up with trying to configure the mesh boxes to talk to each other. We have all learnt a lot in this time and feel it has been a steep learning curve. We won four awards at the CanDo colloquium held in Grantham, which makes us proud of what we have achieved so far. The online centre was off for a period whilst we tried to get an access point working. We are pleased to say it was back on in time for the internet and email classes.

December 29th We will have a stronger signal in the village and will start installing new users in January. We have funding from Lancaster City Council for the first 25 or so customers, and funding from UnLtd to choose and test kit and build a library of equipment for triallists. We have funding for Aerials and fixing from Rural Matrix. Let us hope that we learn a lot in the next few months and get our network solid. We have got WiFi in the Online Centre so if your laptop is wireless then nip round and give it a try. Lessons for beginners start in the New Inn in January, call in for details. Desk Top Publishing Classes are scheduled at the school and at Broadwood for Jan/Feb/March.

All through December we have been sourcing kit and trying things out, and it is all looking good. Three new mesh boxes have arrived from the University, and three antenna provided by Rural Matrix are installed as an interim measure until the kit arrives from America. We haven't been able to update this webpage on a regular basis because things have changed on a daily basis and it has been a real busy time. We hope to do better in 2005!

November 19th 2004 Even better news, the mapping exercise done over the past few weeks has highlighted exactly the right kit we need to purchase to get the signal into our homes, and it is all ordered and paid for so we should soon all have access to real broadband. We are grateful to the University NRSP unit, Rural Matrix, The Lancaster City Council and Wray School, who are all working together on this enterprise with us. We are also grateful to Myerscough College who lend us Laptops and Cameras to run taster courses to get people going on computers and see how useful they can be for work and play.
Sad news, the follow up BBC interviews were to begin at the end of the month (November 2004) but we have had to cancel them until the New Year because the network is not fully functional. The equipment we need is on it's way from America and the mesh boxes are waiting but are all ready here. We were all looking forward to taking part in the interviews again but it will be something to brighten 2005 and will be a useful exercise for both us and the researchers from the Beeb.

November 10th 2004 Great News ! Many thanks to Lancaster City Council. The E-Government Committee have awarded Wray Com Com a grant to assist with the cost of installing the first users on to the system. We have yet to clarify if this can be used for aerial fitting or just the hardware. Watch this space. The funds should cover in the region of the first twenty five installs. If you are interested and have not yet signed up please email deb.The plan is to review the list of those who registered an interest initially and work out the numbers. Anyone else wishing to join the list please contact us. Following our meeting last week we anticipate the monthly fee for the service will be about fifteen pounds a month which is exceptional value for a 2mb connection. We plan to give priority to those from the list who will have the strongest signal whilst we gain some experience of the installation process. Anyone planning to buy a new computer wishing to join the scheme should make sure it has a wireless networking capability. This really is brilliant news as it gives us the chance to offer a low cost introduction to wireless broadband. Thank you Lancaster City Council !

November 1st
Tests are going well and by Friday we should know what sort of kit we are going to buy to put end users online. Email us if we haven't got your name on our list, we aim to start installs this month. Just click the 'contact us' link at the top of this page.
October 28th
Tests started this afternoon at 4pm and will continue every day for a week to build up a map of the village. If you see strange people walking around with a laptop scratching their heads it is only us. We start at one side of the village and take readings all the way round to build up the information we need. It is all good fun and we are learning as we go, as Dave (our guru from rural matrix) explains what the problems are in each location. If you see us this week and want to become a trialist do stop us and make your feelings known. As soon as we get some kit organised we can start installing end users.

October 25th
Tests are starting this week to enable us to deploy more mesh boxes. The mesh box technology will strengthen the signal through the village and we should get it into our homes before Christmas. The first trialists are reporting very good results, even with a poor signal, so once the new kit is installed the results should be even better and we can start to put others online. We have a meshbox called Miss Piggy to find a new home for, and she has to go where she will serve the most people. Kermit, Ernie and Bert are already transmitting, but it looks like it will take a feminine touch to make the signal work well. We have great hopes that she will be able to get the signal into Tim's house, as currently he has to download his emails by sitting with the laptop in the dog kennel outside

Update October 6th
The Avanti trial currently running in Tatham, Botton and Millhouses has been upgraded from 2.4 kit to 5.8 this week. This is because of the limited range of the lower frequency not being able to get through the leaves on the trees in the area. It was a similar solution to the one the university used in the village trial. The 5.8 kit works on a higher frequency and so now both systems are working well, with download speeds of at least a meg and uploads of up to half a meg on the Avanti trial, and 2meg on the village one, which is very good and all the trialists are very happy. Now we are concentrating on the village network which is about to be enhanced with more mesh boxes to increase the range of the signal. Currently the online centre and a couple of other houses are the only ones utilising the service, but we hope more can be connected soon.

http://www.intothemesh.com/ - this is a site which tells you all about mesh networking, and they have put a link on to us, we are getting famous at last!

September 30th - an email from the NRSP today confirms that the extra mesh boxes are expected to arrive any day now, so the network in the village will get a boosted signal and more people will be able to access it. The online centre is having great fun with the new broadband service, at 2mgb it is four times faster than the normal ADSL connection that a lot of people subscribe to and everyone is wanting to join us. At the moment anyone living in the village who can access our network can have free broadband until we get the system tested and working well. Use the contact us form (on the left) for details of usernames and passwords you will need.

VOIP, click here to read about it, it is free phone calls using broadband!

September 20th
The Online Centre is back with Broadband!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dave and Harry (The Minister) spent all afternoon rigging up some kit to put the computers onto the wireless network. The signal at the end of the village is very weak, 28% received, so they needed a little access point upstairs to feed the signal to the computers downstairs. Janine clocked up amazing speeds when she tested it last night. It is 7 times faster than the old ISDN line they had before. This is real good news and it means people can go into the Inn and try it all out to see if they want it in their homes. Theoretically the same sort of kit will work for anyone who can't actually 'see the yagi'. Further tests will continue and results will be posted here. The online centre is shortly to have it's own webpage, watch this space.

September 13th 2004
The NRSP unit has ordered some more mesh boxes to boost the signal around the village. They are quite happy for the dogs in the kennel to have their broadband but appreciate the fact that most of the villagers have their computers inside the houses...

September 10th
Bad news today, our online centre has had to close. The funding from the LCC has finished but we have been lucky enough to have it for nearly three years. The centre held the record for the most used ISDN line in the North West. We are trying to get the broadband signal into the building as quickly as possible and then it can be used again by the community. The Lancaster City Council have agreed that Howard and Janine can keep the computers at the New Inn, so by the end of the week they should be working again but without internet access. Classes can therefore continue in most subjects. Our online centre will return, but this time it will be our VERY own. Power to the People.

Sitting still and wishing Makes no person great.
The Good Lord sends the fishes.
But you must dig the bait. Anonymous

September 9th
News just in is that Tim's dogs have broadband. The signal in his house needs an antenna to bring it in, so he took the laptop out into the dog kennel and managed to download a 15meg file in five minutes off a very weak signal from the middle yagi. This is taking broadband to the extremes when we start providing it for dogs too!

September 7th
A wardrive round the village picked up a signal from nearly everywhere. There are some black holes and the NRSP will deploy more meshboxes to cover them. If anyone can pick up the signal contact us for passwords to login. This will be a free service during the test period so make the most of it, have a go and let us know!

September 4th 2004
Tests today with a modern wireless laptop have picked up a weak signal on Wennington road, but that weak signal downloaded an 18meg file in 2.5 minutes. The same file took hours on a modem. Amazing. If you have wireless kit let us know if you can get a signal and you can do the same! Janine is sat in the beer garden at the inn surfing away...

September 1st
Nick and the team re-configured the meshboxes at the school and now we are live. The signal is not strong enough to pick up at the corners, so we need to get another aerial fitted onto the Online centre. Further tests are running to see where the signal can reach. If you have wireless enabled kit at home could you see if you can pick up the signal, and if you can email us for details of how to access the network trial - use the contact form at the side of this page.

Thursday 26th August: The first end users will be connected on Tuesday 31st August 2004. The NRSP unit are coming out with the gear and probably the online centre will be the first to go live. As events unfold news will be posted here. Watch this space

The network went live today, 17th August 2004!

Yesterday (Monday 16th August) the Cleo unit installed new kit on the NTL mast at Melling and a new set of kit at school. Today, Tuesday 17th August the NRSP technicians configured the signal to the mesh boxes. A strong wireless connection was picked up outside the school. Over the next few weeks we will be contacting those who have already registered to be trialists, and once the system is tested and working we will open it up to everybody. We will be posting our charges on this site so you can compare them to others and know what a bargain you are getting! We will also post a form for you to use to register for this service. Watch this space. Wray is coming into the broadband age at last. Email us if you want to know more or would like to join our committee, new members always welcome! comcom@wrayvillage.co.uk

The new kit has been installed in the hub at school this week, and the new equipment goes on the NTL mast at Melling on Monday 16th August. Nearly there... "The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet." - William Gibson	Quote of the day 12/8/04 "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is: Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern." ~ William Blake
30th July 2004 The Problem: The University have reported that the signal strength is not good enough to support the network. This is due to the frequency they are using being corrupted with lots of people using it in the area before it gets to Wray "The way I see it, if you want the rainbow you gotta be willing to put up with the rain." ~ Dolly Parton	The Solution: The NRSP unit are to install new kit using a different frequency. This has delayed the date we were hoping to go 'live' but will cause fewer problems in the long term and we agree it is the best course of action to take. Sorry for the delay!

15th July	A meeting of the steering committee was held to see how we could get the signal out to the rural community and over the hill to the bobbin mill area round the spout. "If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?" ~ Albert Einstein	We might have to apply for funding and enlist the help of more members, anyone interested? "Tell me and I'll forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I'll understand."
13th July 2004	Broadband signal from Melling Mast reaches the school, it comes via Quarry house to Melling to us. The technicians from the university have installed it in the equipment at school, we are nearly there.	The University reports problems with interference from other sources holding the job up. They are trying to get it all fixed then the trial can start.

"For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see, saw the vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be." - Alfred Lord Tennyson 1st July 2004- a signal is received all round the village. We have just been right round and picked it up on a PDA so we know the network works! Anyone in Wray Village can join the wireless network and get a good reception. Now the trial can start. The backhaul (signal) from the University will be enabled around the 13th July, so if you want to be a trialist then contact us now and let us know. Your first three months connection will be free while we get the bugs out of the system and you will have to help us a bit and it will be necessary for you to be computer literate. You will be asked to pay a deposit for your equipment but this is re-fundable if you choose not to stay with the wireless network so you have nothing to lose. After the three month period if all is working properly you can choose to subscribe to the service and at that point anyone can join in and they should have a brilliant connection by then. Contact us now if you want to register, or want to know more, email us here: register or read all the pages on this site for more info. June 30th 2004, and finally we get the Yagi antennae installed on the school roof. (Photos below) It has taken many months of planning to get to the stage where the installation can finally happen. Currently we have had no funding, and it has all happened as a result of the hard work and enterprise of the Broadband for Wray Group, Lancaster University, Rural Matrix and Wray Endowed School. The University team have worked hard sourcing and testing all the kit, and designing a network that will be safe for people to use. The school equipment is now all on site thanks to Rhino Scaffolding providing a safe access to the roof for the electrician Graham Spavin. Graham has installed the mesh boxes in the school in the eaves of the building because they need to be very close to the antenna. The University team will then check to make sure the signal reaches all round the village. Once that is done we can start to install the end users. This page will grow as work progresses. The photographs below of the three corners of the village were taken from the spot where the yagi antennae are fixed to the school. We weren't sure we could see these places and so it was a relief to see that we could! From the ground we couldn't see the school, but we knew it was one of the highest points of the village. "As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it." Albert Einstein We are very grateful to the vision and foresight of the teachers, governors and staff at Wray Endowed School for being the host to the network. They realise how much it means to the children and their education to have a broadband connection at home as well as in the classroom. In rural areas it is even more important than in urban ones, as villages like Wray do not have the facilities of the towns such as libraries and meeting places, and some village children leave home at 7am to travel to secondary schools and only get home late. Broadband connections mean that they won't have to wait for long periods to download their homework and coursework. Modem connections have made it very difficult for them to keep up with their contemporaries in the urban areas. Now that ADSL broadband has become cheaper and more parents install it at home for their children it is important that the rural children who can't get a connection due to distance and faulty wires can have their own wireless connection in the not to distant future. We are trying to secure funding to take the signal out into the community and connect all the farmers and small businesses in the area. This network will encompass all the farm children. The children of Wray Endowed School will not be disadvantaged in the future when they go to secondary school in the towns if we can make this network happen. It is the children who will bring the older people in to the network, and show them the benefits of broadband. The network is the people, not the computers. Power to the People.

"For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see, saw the vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be." - Alfred Lord Tennyson first corner This is the corner of the village approaching from Millhouses. The signal will reach the new complex being built there by John and Pat Stavely. It will be a plant and craft centre with tea rooms, with lots of attractions for visitors to the village.

second corner The second yagi is pointed at the far corner of the village approached from Wennington.

third corner The third yagi is directed at the Online Centre at the New Inn. This facility is used by many of the villagers, and currently holds the record for the most used online centre in the whole North West area. Once it has broadband it can move on to even greater achievements. Howard and Janine have managed to secure funding to keep the computers for a further period, and lessons are available free for groups of up to six people. Contact them at the centre or use the contact form on the left of this page if you have a group wanting to learn AnyThing.

Currently we are taking bookings for Databases and Web page design classes. The Desktop publishing ones were a great success thanks to the tutor, Harry of lime green wetsuit fame....

wray homepage

"A year from now you will wish you had started today." -- Karen Lamb

If you want to build a ship, don't herd people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work,
but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Back to Wray Homepage

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." ~ Søren Kierkegaard

Cetad course for farmer's wives and small/med businesses
this is a course to utilise the benefits broadband and ITC will bring to us, by training us in the management skills to improve our rural businesses. No formal qualifications needed to join, but you will end up with an NVQ4. Oh - and it's free! It starts w/c July the 19th 2004, so book a place quickly or you will miss it.

Update 30th June, the yagi have been installed today by Graham. He commented on what a brilliant scaffold he had to work on and how safe it was. He has fixed up three yagi aerials to send the signal to three corners of the village. We need more kit to get round to the fourth corner (the bobbin mill) but we have to find more funding before we can get the signal over the trees to them.

Update 28th June, the scaffold has been put up this morning on the gable end of the school, and now the antenna can be safely fixed to the roof. Check out this link for photos of the Rhino team. Rhino

360 click here to go to the photo album with views of 360 degrees round the school hub

22nd June 2004, rhino scaffolding will be at the school on Monday 28th to assemble a tower to put the aerials up safely. We are very grateful to them for their help and advice. (If you need a scaffold they are the people to contact). The technicians from the University will then join the mesh to the aerials.

http://www.nrsp.lancs.ac.uk This is the site of the research department at the University who are doing a project on the Wray network.

Rural Matrix who help us learn about broadband... - they will do classes in the village for all who want to learn. Any number between 2 and 6 pupils catered for. Classes so far have included: Wireless networking, Databases and Desk Top Publishing. Venues have included the school and the online centre in the New Inn.

June 16th 2004, The Adsl guide says we are enabled. That means that if you want broadband through your phone line and live close enough to the exchange you can get it from today onwards. If you do subscribe to this service please post your opinions of it on the forum, if your ISP is a good one let us know.
Forum online for broadband chat just click here

June 15th, just heard that the equipment is being installed at school on 24th June, we are nearly there.

The open meeting for the village was held on 6th June 2004.
The steering committee for broadband delivered their report for the end of Phase 1. It was well received by those present.
Aftab opened the meeting with an introduction, followed by Paul's presentation of the report.
Chris gave a short description of the two trials which are presently under way, one for the village and one for the rural areas. Aftab then described the advantages/disadvantages and costs of ASDL broadband. Paul then gave the community the choices available to them with full details of what each would entail.
Refreshments were served while a short film was played about other villages which have already built their own broadband networks. A short Q&A session followed where all queries were answered and people were asked to fill in a form with their details and what they wanted and how they could help if a co-operative was to be formed.

The meeting closed with everyone going home with plenty to think about for the future but better informed than they had been before it.

Many thanks to the Institute for the loan of the facilities, Paul and Aftab for the presentation equipment, Howard for the refreshments and to the people who attended. Email if you would like a PDF copy of the full report

Lessons learned from the meeting:
1. If you want a brew with sugar and not salt then don't let Chris make the tea
2. If you want to use the institute remember to book it first
3. If you want to run a video through a laptop remember to bring some speakers

It was a good meeting nevertheless, and hopefully the next one will go like clockwork!

Update May 24th 2004

We have all been very busy since the last update, the scarecrow festival took a chunk out of the month but we are still making lots of progress. The village is about to get it's wireless connection and the trial is going to start very soon. We now have to know who wants to subscribe to the wireless service on the trial, and who would like it after the trial when we have perfected it. Some of you have already registered an interest, so you may be contacted in the next week if you suit the geography of the initial installation.

The Broadband for Wray Group would like to invite you all to an open meeting on

Sunday 6th June at 3pm in Wray Institute

After many months of research we are now able to deliver the final report on our progress. An open meeting will be held and anyone interested is welcome to attend. With the exchange in Hornby being enabled this month we want to inform everybody of the options that are available. We can then make a more informed choice of the way we want to use broadband. We value your opinions of our report and wish to hear them.

Although we don't have all the answers, we have far more than we had at the last open meeting, and if anyone manages to come up with any questions we haven't already thought of, we will endeavour to find out and let them know asap.

We also need to contact people to help us with two surveys,

1) a BBC survey on broadband use, so if you are free on 10th or 11th of June 2004 and are fully intending to get a broadband connection soon please email me bb@wrayvillage.co.uk and let me know if you are available for a short interview. We need all sorts of people for this, families with children needing the internet for homework research, isolated users who use it for email and contact with others, people interested in the security angle, sceptics, young and old alike all your comments will be valuable. Of particular interest is anyone who thinks that having a broadband connection will make a difference to the economy of the area or that it will change any social aspects of our community. (You only have to think something - it's not a case of knowing it!)

2) The University also want to do a pre broadband interview:
‘The Impact of Broadband on Rural Enterprises’ so any volunteers for that would be also most appreciated. They want to interview businesses, home workers and the self-employed. They also want to interview businesses who have decided not to use the technology at all. (This survey will be totally confidential and will ensure your anonymity) email me bb@wrayvillage.co.uk and let me know if you are available, it will take an hour and will be repeated in 12 month’s time to see if your opinions have changed in any way.bb@wrayvillage.co.uk

Update 20th April 2004

We have broadband in the valley!

A satellite dish was installed in the Botton area and connected houses in Millhouses and Tatham. 5 trialists are now online and have surveys and tests to complete. It is great, the phone line is free to use for calls while the computer is connected to the internet and it is a lot faster than with a modem. Once it has all settled down a bit we will publish some results here.

Update 23rd March
Initial surveys done for the wireless links in Wray and the satellite links for Millhouses and Botton. We are hoping to be able to test and trial the service sometime this month. If you haven't registered an interest in having the wireless connection (as opposed to a landline one) then make sure you email us on this link: email the group

Forum online for broadband chat just click here	Community Broadband Network-Real Support for People without Broadband. To register interest visit the project's website at www.broadband-uk.coop or call 0845 456 2466 and get involved
Back to Wray Homepage	http://www.cybermoor.org

Update 6th March
Three of the committee went to an open day at Cybermoor, one of the government pilot schemes for rural wireless broadband. We learned a lot of things there and came to the conclusion that rather than re-invent the wheel we would apply for funding to use them as consultants for our project. They are one of the pioneers of this type of enterprise and are aware of many pitfalls. Their vast knowledge and expertise should save us time and money in the long run. We are waiting for funding to help this happen. We have also formed our group into a co-operative, in order to access funds for the consultations, lessons, surveys and initial installation of the wireless network/the extension of it.
We have distributed 300 flyers throughout the community, if you would like one and haven't got one there are some at Wray Post Office. Alternatively you can contact us by email. Email the group Please register your interest soon if you would like to be involved. We have had a tremendous response and are working as fast as we can to deliver! It is going to take longer than we imagined, but we will do it. There are many groups like us throughout the country, and we are pooling our information and learning from each other.

Update 18th Feb
After the successful Landline Broadband Campaign I have just been informed that the exchange will be enabled on the 16th June 2004. There is a message board on www.getonandgetit.co.uk/HornbyBroadbandNow/ if you want to post your news and views on service providers or any other topic. - Steve Openshaw.
Forum online for broadband chat just click here
Depending on how close you are to the exchange the full range of connection speeds may be available from 512kbps right up to the 2Mbps.

Update 12th Feb 2004

We are in communication with several organisations who will help us in our quest for 'broadband for all' in our area. If you know of anyone who could help in any way please ask them to contact us by email. Email the group

Update 9th Feb 2004

We have reached the threshold for enabling the Hornby Exchange, but if you haven't registered you still can do and it might encourage BT to do it a bit sooner.Up to date we have 20 customers for a wireless broadband service.We are holding a course in March for anyone interested in learning about Wireless.

The Cleo Hardware has been installed for the School, we are waiting now for NTL to enable the mast at Melling.

Jan 25th 2004

A Group has been set up to investigate the possibility of bringing Broadband to Wray. We have been offered the chance to join the CLEO project which will bring broadband to Wray via microwave link. There was a Public Meeting on Saturday 24 January at 3.00 pm at the Wray Institute.

Representatives from CLEO and The Leader + Matrix Group were at the meeting to answer questions. The Leader + Group will help us put forward a bid for grant money if we are interested in this project. The more people who join in, the cheaper it will be. We are not sure of the exact cost but it could be substantially cheaper than via BT. If you are interested in joining us or want to make a firm commitment then let us know your name and postcode to include your property in the initial survey. Leaflets will be available at Wray Post Office and coming through your doors in the next few days. (FEB 9th)

Landline Broadband available to all. Another option for obtaining broadband in the area is to get BT to enable the Hornby telephone exchange so that ANYONE with a telephone line in the following villages can get broadband:- Wray, Melling, Hornby, Wennington, Docker, Arkholme, Farleton and finally Gressingham. In order to do this BT has set some threshold values for the number of people expressing an interest before they will enable an exchange.The threshold for the Hornby exchange is 250 and we already have 80 people who have expressed an interest. In order to promote the fact that the population on an exchange can work for themselves Steve Openshaw of Wennington has volunteered to manage a landline campaign. Steve supports broadband of any flavour but he will concentrate on the landline campaign so that the two possible broadband options are pursued. Steve is currently sending out promotional material to all villages. This link (http://www.getonandgetit.co.uk/HornbyBroadbandNow/) will allow anyone to register an interest in the area. Please note that registration is free, requires no commitment and does not mean you have to connect to Broadband with BT as your Service Provider..any Service Provider can be used. All registration does is get BT to enable their exchange. In addition, by passing this information on to those who may not yet have a pc or internet connection we can accelerate the process of getting broadband. Remember this scheme is driven by YOU. Once the trigger level is passed the exchange will be enabled usually within 10 weeks. Steve can be contacted on 22122 if you want to register or you can use the link above. (Steve Openshaw)

Please continue to email with any thoughts or concerns or suggestions you might have. We are not mindreaders and we value your comments.

Comment: What does broadband mean? Click here to find out - report by Simon Aughton

Back to Wray Homepage

Links

Community Broadband Network- Real Support for People without Broadband
To register interest: visit the project's website at www.broadband-uk.coop
or call 0845 456 2466 and get involved

.South Witham Broadband a similar project to ours but in the South. They help us with advice because they are working to the same goals.

Welcome to all new members

Six new members joined this blog today to access info on updates. Please post anything you learn here.