Roll Out of Superfast Broadband in North Yorkshire

One of the acknowledged issues for rural areas is the lack of high speed broadband with many areas experiencing download speeds of less than 2mbs. With speeds as low as this it’s very slow to download large image files and documents such as spreadsheets and databases. It’s also painfully slow to stream BBC IPlayer programmes, which keep stopping to buffer and playing interactive games and video conferencing is impossible.

For people running a rural business or farming, high quality internet access isn’t just a luxury it’s essential, especially with many DEFRA and other forms requiring to be completed on line. Young people are also disadvantaged when their contemporaries are researching school or college projects online with ease while they struggle with a slow connection. It’s no wonder many people become frustrated at the speed of their internet service, when communities in nearby towns and cities have a superfast internet service.

The good news is that North Yorkshire County Council, along with its partners who form the Superfast North Yorkshire team, are leading from the front in the delivery of high quality broadband services to rural communities.

Superfast North Yorkshire has a vision for all premises in the county to have access to a high quality broadband service by 2017 and are already on target for 90% of premises to have access to download speeds of 25Mps and above by the end of 2014.

The final 10% will be delivered using a variety of technologies including: further upgrades of the BT network, the provision of fixed wireless broadband and satellite.

To check if fibre broadband is coming to your area see the map at:

www.superfastnorthyorkshire.com/wherewhen


If you are in County Durham see the map at: http://www.durham.gov.uk/pages/digitaldurhamdelivery.aspx

It is important to remember, that if you live in an area where superfast broadband has been enabled, you still have to contact an internet service provider, of your choice, to upgrade. It does not automatically happen! You can find a list of potential suppliers at the link below:

www.ruralyorkshire.org.uk/project/superfast-north-yorkshire


In many rural areas it is not yet possible to deliver superfast broadband via the telephone system. In many areas fixed wireless broadband is available, which will provide you with a high quality broadband service.

Five companies provide fixed wireless broadband to areas within the Ripon Episcopal area these are listed here - the map shows the area covered by each company :
Clannet (Vale of Mowbray)

www.clannet.co.uk

Click here for Map

01757 668179
I Love Broadband (Great Ouseburn, Dunsforths, RAF Leeming, Darley, Appletreewich, Upper Wharfedale, Horton in Ribblesdale, Bradley, Broughton)

www.ilovebroadband.co.uk

Click here for Map

0845 643 5811
Network by Wireless (Lower Wensleydale)

www.nbw.net

Click here for Map One

Click here for Map Two

0845 123 1520
Boundless (South of Settle)

www.boundlesscomms.com

Click here for Map


01257 752555
Comtek (Teesdale District)

http://communityisp.co.uk/

Click here for Map

01388 567120

The areas covered are gradually evolving so the maps may not be fully up to date so do enquire if a company there network is close-by.

If you are in North Yorkshire and a high quality broadband service is not yet available in your area, it’s important that you register your interest at the link on the page: www.ruralyorkshire.org.uk/project/superfast-north-yorkshire so that you can be emailed as soon as improved options become available.

If you have any questions re the delivery of high quality broadband to your area, email the superfast team at info@superfastnorthyorkshire.com or for Durham digital.durham@durham.gov.uk

Or contact with Andy Ryland a Rural Officer with the Diocese who also works for Rural Action Yorkshire on the delivery of Superfast Broadband to the rural areas of North Yorkshire. andy.ryland@westyorkshiredales.anglican.org

Grinton Forest Church

One of the joys of being the rural officer for the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds is that I get to attend a variety of expressions of Christian worship in rural areas. One of my recent visits was to the first meeting of a Forest Church in Grinton in Swaledale in the Yorkshire Dales. 

The Forest Church is an ecumenical initiative meeting in Grinton Church yard and is facilitated by Sarah Allison, a member of St Andrew’s church and Kevin Pellatt a member of the local Methodist Church. Kevin and Sarah are both Forest Schools leaders.  Forest Schools are an inspirational educational process that offers all learners opportunities to achieve and develop confidence and self-esteem through hands on learning experiences in a woodland or natural environment with trees. Forest Schools have their roots in Scandinavia where many children will attend pre-schools throughout the year spending most of the week in the outdoors enjoying making fires, whittling wood and other outdoor activities.

Kevin saw the potential of the forest schools experience to connect with a wide audience of young and older people, who love crafts and the outdoor lifestyle to worship together in the great outdoors.

The Grinton Forest church therefore draws on the tradition of Forest Schools within the context of a Christian tradition of worship.

Other forest churches are more on the edge drawing on traditions where sacred places and practices are outside and seek to connect with people who sense the spiritually in the natural environment and drawing them in to a relationship with the risen Christ. see www.mysticchrist.co.uk   

The afternoon started with a safety briefing on the dangers of the local river and the moat around the church before we engaged in an exercise introducing ourselves. Standing in a circle according to the compass point of the direction from which we had come. We shared something about ourselves and the journey to this point in time prompted by an item such as a leaf, feather, stone or piece of stick we had found on the ground.

After this much fun was had collecting wood and making fires to heat water in Kelly Kettles and in making and enjoying a hot drink.

One of the children then read the story of Saul’s Damascus road conversions, where he was struck blind (Acts Chapter 9). We then worked in teams to lay out a blind trail using a rope and led one another along the trail just as Saul’s friends led him to Damascus, where he was healed though the ministry of Ananias one of the Christians living in Damascus, who Saul had been seeking to persecute.

The afternoon finished with some short reflections and a prayer before we cleared up and headed home, inspired by worship in the outdoors, which felt so right as it had connected both with something deep within and beyond ourselves.

So a big thank you to Kevin, Sarah and the team for making this all possible and to everyone who attended and who engaged with such enthusiasm. Also a big thank you and praise to God for the beauty of his creation and for holding the rain back till we were on our way home.

For details of the next Grinton Forest Church check www.swaledalearkengarthdaleparish.org.uk  and www.nydalesmeth.org.uk/welcome.htm where dates will be advertised when sorted!

You may also like my posts  How Listening to bird song has helped my prayer life and also Woodland as a Metaphor for Church Decline Growth and Life