News & Events

B4RN, Broadband for the Rural North Ltd are charging ahead with the installation of full-fibre broadband to the Barrasford area thanks to an injection of funding from the Ray Wind Funds. B4RN is pleased to announce it has been awarded a grant of £66,000 from the Ray Wind Funds CIC Community Benefit Fund with the potential for further funding to be awarded.

The independent Ray Wind Funds CIC is responsible for managing the £250,000 a year Fund (indexlinked) set up by European energy company Vattenfall, the operator of the wind farm and will be in place or the lifetime of the windfarm. Ray Wind Funds CIC: https//raywindfund.co.uk.

B4RN, who are a community benefit society, have been bringing full-fibre gigabit broadband to rural communities for over a decade.

Originally a business purely run entirely by volunteers, B4RN now boasts more than 12,500 customers with projects spanning the north of England including Lancashire, Cumbria, North Yorkshire and now the North East.

The Ray Wind Farm, operated by European energy company Vattenfall, sits on the Ray Estate near Kirkwhelpington. For every year of its working life, Vattenfall has pledged to donate money to the rural communities that fall within its catchment area. Since 2018, the Fund has donated more than £250,000 per year and will be in place until at least 2043.

The grant is making an invaluable contribution to getting the project moving, B4RN projects are funded partly by the government, through Project Gigabit, with the rest funded by community investment. The Barrasford B4RN project is bringing full-fibre symmetrical Gigabit broadband to every property in the parishes of Chollerton and Birtley, bringing services like video streaming and online gaming to some rural addresses for the first time! Also on offer is B4RN Voice - a home phone service that runs over your new full-fibre connection for those who love their landline.

B4RN’s local contractors have been hard at work since starting in October and have already laid over 31km of fibre duct across an area stretching from Chollerton in the East, through Barrasford itself to Birtley Shields in the West. Over the coming months we will continue the build to include the areas around Gunnerton, Barrasford Park, Carrycoats, Great Swinburn, Colwell, Hallington.

The number of properties requesting B4RN service in the area is in excess of 250 so far, with more people looking to join every week. B4RN are connecting homes and business as they go meaning Chollerton Primary School, Barrasford Village Hall and many homes & businesses already have B4RN full-fibre broadband live with many more due to come online in the coming weeks.

There is still time for people to sign up for B4RN broadband at b4rn.org.uk/getb4rn.

If you are stuck in a deal with another provider, you can take advantage of Connect+ (full details at b4rn.org.uk/connectplus).