News & Events

News archive: A Grand Day Out

April 30th, 2013
Author: Chris Conder
Tags: dcms Eric Ollerenshaw fujikura geo geo-net lancashire county council maria miller mp susie charles visit
Posted In: Archive News

Yesterday was another special day for B4RN. In the same way that buses sometimes seem to arrive so did politicians to B4RN.

Our extremely supportive MP, Eric Ollernshaw has had an invitation open to the Department for Culture Media & Sport (DCMS) for some time now. His persistence and belief that the B4RN project is one that the Secretary of State should see as an example of how world class broadband can be delivered to rural areas paid off as Maria Miller MP came with Eric to a newly connected B4RN customer in Quernmore to see for herself what B4RN is all about.

Maria Miller and her B4RN Necklace, the wooden beads on the fibre spell out “Maria” and “B4RN” with a little heart between the two words. It is a sample of the fibre we blow into people’s homes, and is joined with a fusion splice and heat shrink seal.

Mrs Miller listened to some residents,  local business owners and farmers and heard about the difference that B4RN has made to their personal and business on-line activity. B4RN CEO, Barry Forde gave an overview of the project to an inquisitive Mrs Miller who was shown the maps, systems and technology involved. Following that, she then proceeded to fusion splice her own B4RN fibre necklace which she took away with her.

B4RN’s customers are already seeing the benefit of having one of the world’s fastest connections as can be seen from the guest blogs that have been submitted. In addition B4RN has received several enquiries from businesses looking for office accommodation served by the B4RN network which is very encouraging.

The visit was then toasted rather unusually with champagne and not tea, which one of the residents had recently won from B4RN’s dark fibre provider Geo in their current #FindGeo competition. Regular visitors to this site should not be concerned though, as normal service was resumed with the appearance of cake.

Left to right: Lancashire County Cllr Susie Charles, Eric Ollerenshaw MP, Maria Miller MP Barry Forde, & B4RN Team members Monica and Chas, and Ruth Dawson and Andrew Metcalfe who are local farmers who have dug in their own connections.

In addition to Mrs Miller and Mr Ollerenshaw visiting, local Lancashire County Councillor Susie Charles was also in attendance showing her support for the project. Afterwards they all gathered together for this lovely group photo. Again, regular visitors to this site should not be concerned by the bright light surrounding these people, the B4RN community have recently learnt that in some areas this is known as “sunshine” which is a novelty in these parts but is, as it turns out, rather pleasant.

As is customary on these occasions, a typically B4RN-esque video has been produced showing the higlights of the visit.

The B4RN community would like to thank all involved, particularly Mr Ollerenshaw, his hard working PA’s Sarah Fletcher in Westminster and Maria Fazzani in Lancashire, who, thanks to their persistence and continued support for B4RN made this visit possible.