Heath Town Community Support & Information Centre

In the middle of a pretty formidable council estate in Wolverhampton lies Heath Town Community Support & Information Centre. It took me about 15 minutes and a couple of phone calls to find the centre on the first floor of what seemed to me to be just another block of flats. As I came up the stairs I saw that in fact there was a whole concrete open level with a few shops and a courtyard.

I came through the door of the centre and the first thing that struck me was how busy the small office was. Phone calls were being made, stories recounted, documents rifled through and computers crowded around as several local residents were in the process of being helped out by four or so volunteers and staff members. I was soon greeted by Debbie Humphreys (who entered the competition) and Terry who is a volunteer and looks after their IT systems. After a brief chat with Debbie who was sure to give me a good grilling about the health and safety of wireless equipment, how the WiFi service works and so on I was handed over to Terry. Terry offered me a cup of tea, which I gratefully accepted and we started chatting about the centre as I set about testing the new Be broadband line that had recently gone live. After a few minutes everyone else had left the office for lunch and we started the installation.

The Heath Town Community Support & Information Centre provides services and advice to local residents on matters ranging from legal advice, job search, housing and even keeping in touch with family overseas.

The Be line worked fine and the installation went very smoothly. I thanked Terry for his time and a lovely cup of tea and headed back to the car. There was at least one more winner in Wolverhampton I wanted to get done by the end of the day.

Narthex Sparkhill

Based at St John’s Church in Sparkhill, Birmingham, Narthex Sparkhill is a registered charity that works to promote inter cultural harmony. A large area of its focus is helping newly arrived refugees and asylum seekers.

Nigel Brookhouse whom I met told us “We work with refugees & asylum seekers who have no access to funding, we provide free resources to pregnant refugee asylum mums, we do advice, letters, help with forms, we run a refugee drop in centre and we provide free homework club to low income primary school children, we help people with debt support and with benefits and provide safe space for people of low income and ethnic minority communities, we are within the 4% most deprived communities and our facilities are provided for us by the local church who also use the facilities to support the local community.”

I stayed at the church with Nigel for some time, we chatted about Narthex, Freerunner, other charities and the state of the world in general. I got a lot out of it. Nigel is another one of those people who is working away diligently in the background, making a difference to peoples lives day by day.

We wandered around the huge church and tested how far the signal propagated out of the Narthex office. As expected, it didn’t make it as far as the front hall where events are sometimes held. Still, if the free service in the main office is successful hopefully some budget for an extension might be scraped together.

Nigel pointed out an enormous mural of Christ in the main church hall which is remarkable in that the feet of Christ are disproportionate to the rest of the body. Perhaps the artist thought that walking on water must require feet the size of small boats? Nigel said that unfortunately it is very likely that the mural will be removed or covered over if plans to renovate and change the layout of the church go ahead.

The installation completed, I left there a feeling lighter than when I went in, happy that we had chosen Narthex.

You can find out more about Narthex Sparkhill by visiting their website:

http://www.stjohnsparkhill.org.uk/WTPEZU95.htm

Thanks for reading.

Stuart Dixon

Stuart sharing a little about the road trip.

Penywaun Enterprise Partnership

I was smiling to myself as I crossed the Severn bridge, it was a few years since I had been into Wales and memories of my one and only Friday night out in Cardiff were coming back to me. I can clearly remember my friend saying “Just remember to keep your gob shut if we run into any troublemakers- we’ll be alright as long as they don’t realise your English.’

Wales is such a beautiful country and I felt lucky to be alive as I drove through the valleys on my way to Aberdare. So many great views were lost to me as I whizzed past I decided to stop off briefly on my way back again to soak up some of the countryside.

This time, the free WiFi was going in to the Cana centre, headquarters of the Penywaun Enterprise Partnership. Gary Foreman of PEP tells us “From a needs perspective, Penywaun ranks as the second most disadvantaged ward in Wales”. The Penywaun and Trenant estates have had high unemployment, low averages incomes and many of the familiar social problems of council estates like this all over the country.

The PEP have made a real difference to the area, their achievements include:

The Refurbishment of the Cana Centre
Tackling Joy Riding
Creating 400+ gardens where the estate was once open plan
The Cana Afterschool Club
Partnership in the Ladder & Build-It Projects 
Serving as Lead Body for Communities First

The free WiFi is going to provide internet access to the IT suite they already have in place as well as enable the local community and after school club to get online. I am really pleased we have chosen this site, it is clearly going to be a lot of use to the community.

I packed up my gear and got out just in time. A frenzy of local school kids was rapidly amassing in the main room, many more running past me as I made for the door. 

Preanes Green Residents’ Association

Take a few turns off of the main roads and roundabouts of Weston-Super-Mare and you can quickly find yourself in low socio-economic areas and council estates where life can be hard and opportunities limited. It was in such an area that I found Preanes Green Residents’ Association.

Launched in 2002 in an effort to tackle high levels of crime and antisocial behaviour the centre has effectively partnered with local police, housing associations and residents, slowly but surely making a difference.

I was met by Linda Shaw who is the coordinator for the organisation and the winner of the Freerunner competition. Linda is one of those wonderful people who stands out from the crowd and has left a lasting impression on me. She seems to me to be a person who really cares about her community and effectively uses a sharp mind and a strong work ethic to bring about real results. We need more people like her in the world!

During my visit I got a pretty good feel for the work that PGRA is doing in their community. Several people came and went as I was installing the WiFi. They were asking for help and advice on a variety of real life issues. One woman came in to report a rumour of some needles having been left in a community green space. She was warmly welcomed, notes were taken and she was assured the information would reach the appropriate people. A few minutes later the local special constable popped in for a visit and was able to give some advice to a teenage girl who had been concerned with the behaviour of another resident.

It was easy for me to see how a free WiFi service can genuinely help in this case. In an area where the cost of broadband is a real issue it will enable many more residents to get online. This complements PGRA’s aim which is ‘..to make Preanes Green a good place to live by providing access to a range of facilities and services that increase the skills, health and wellbeing of individuals and that enhance the environmental and economic conditions of the area.’

You can find out more about PGRA at their website:

http://www.preanesgreen.org.uk/

Next stop – Aberdere.

Southampton Medina Mosque

I had been around the Southampton one way system three times before I eventually managed to get my act together and turn off at the correct road. This achieved, it didn’t take me long to find my way to the mosque which I had seen glimpses of here and there over the rooftops.

I pulled into the car park and was greeted by Rashid Brora who welcomed me in and showed me where to leave my shoes. Rashid entered the competition on behalf of the mosque with which he has been involved for several years.

The mosque, which opened in 2000, has been run as a place of worship and a community centre since 2002 by Southampton Medina Mosque Trust Ltd. It caters for a large community of around 2000 people and consequently it is often seen bustling with activity. Everyday more than 100 children visit the mosque after school.

A quick tour of the building included the main prayer room, a second large prayer room downstairs and a library area set aside for study which is where the mosque's computers will be located. Interestingly, the heating for the entire building is supplied by Southampton’s geothermal district energy scheme which pumps water heated by the Earths core around the city through a system of specially insulated piping. 

Once the WiFi was installed and tested I got back in the car and started the drive to the Weston-Super-Mare where I was lucky enough to be staying night.

West Moors Middle School

With Bath half an hour or so behind me I crossed the county border into Dorset on my way to Ferndown and West Moors Middle School. My route planner took me the direct route down winding country lanes via Warminster and Shaftsbury. I was pleasantly surprised at just how beautiful the countryside was around there.

I arrived at the busy school at about 12:30 happy to have made it but a little flustered. Paul Page, who works part time and takes care of the IT for the school, had agreed to stay a late so I could install the service and it had taken me longer than I hoped to get there. Paul (an avid Kayak Surfer), took my late arrival in his stride and greeted me as a friend. He even made me a coffee as he showed me around the school and explained a bit about the place.

West Moors Middle School is a relatively small school built in 1977 and serves children aged 9-13. It is a small but busy school with some interesting initiatives underway at the moment. One big challenge is a budget deficit of nearly £200,000. Freerunner selected them as a competition winner because free WiFi will help them provide opportunities for both the children and the wider community as part of the extended schools program.

The installation itself went well. Paul had already patched me a connection from our Be broadband line through to the library where the Access Point was going. The equipment all plugged in and came up first time. I demonstrated the service and the URL blocking on the network. After thanking Paul again for his help I was on my way.

You can find out more about the school by visiting their web page:

http://www.westmoorsmid.dorset.sch.uk/

Bath City Farm

I arrived at Bath City Farm at about 7:30am, and was immediately struck by the bright, hand painted signs, mosaics and murals. Even the posts along the driveway down to the main building are each hand painted with a different design.

I was greeted by Ked and then Helen who were both very friendly and helpful getting me started with the installation. We didn’t have too long to chat though as a gaggle of Wellington wearing volunteers soon turned up and the daily chores began. It didn’t take me long to get the equipment in and the service up and running. A refreshing change for me when I think back to some of the other implementations I’ve done in previous jobs.

You might be wondering what use a free WiFi is going to be in a farm? We were sold on the idea by James Byron from Bath City Farm, this is what he has to say about it:

“Bath City Farm is a green space in the centre of a deprived community, where education, addiction and unemployment are big issues. Our role is to work with our community to help raise their aspirations and make people proud of where they live. We do have volunteers, visiting school groups and regular dog walkers who use our site and facilities but our building, which enjoys stunning views across Bath, is currently under used by the community. By introducing a WiFi hotspot we would be able to provide internet access to teachers and other community group leaders when they are running sessions in the building. People we are working with to develop skills to get back into employment would be able to do online job searches and our community could come and make the most of their environment while connected to the internet”

You can find out more about the farm at their website: http://www.bathcityfarm.org.uk/

I emerged from my home in North London at 5:30am armed with a laptop bag, half a mug of tea and a huge face-splitting grin. It was dark, freezing cold and raining heavily but I was in good spirits all the same. I was about to embark on a bit of a road trip and I was really looking forward to it. My grand installation tour would see me deploying a free WiFi service to nearly 50 deserving causes across the UK from Aberdeen to Aberdare and Inverness to Sheerness (though not all in the same day). You can see a map of them all here:

I had been preparing for and scheduling the start of this road trip for a few weeks and I knew that there were lot of people out there eagerly awaiting my visit and the free WiFi I was bringing.

Holding the bag up high with my left arm in an attempt to fend off the worst of the weather I made a dash for the hire car, leaping over puddles and slopping tea about the place. Once inside I turned the heating on and ran through one last mental checklist; satnav, laptop, mobile phones, wireless access points, ADSL routers, cables, camera, camcorder, Freerunner cards and troubleshooting guides, car adapters, clothes, toiletries, wallet… it was all there. I was ready to go.

I cranked up the music (it was Hold the Line by Toto), grinned even harder and pulled out, destined for Bath City Farm.