News & Events

The team of dedicated people managing B4RN are listed here with a little background of who they are and where they have come from

[tabs slidertype=”left tabs”] [tabcontainer] [tabtext]Barry Forde[/tabtext] [tabtext]Christine Conder [/tabtext] [tabtext]John Hamlett [/tabtext] [tabtext]Monica Lee [/tabtext] [tabtext]Martyn Dews[/tabtext] [tabtext]Mary Jackson [/tabtext] [tabtext]Bruce Alexander [/tabtext] [tabtext]Tom Hartley[/tabtext] [tabtext]Carl Hunter [/tabtext] [tabtext]Ian Threlfall[/tabtext] [tabtext]Iain Robertson [/tabtext] [tabtext]Eric Lange [/tabtext] [/tabcontainer] [tabcontent] [tab]B4RN Chief Executive is a networking expert with many years experience of designing, building and operating high performance networks. He was responsible for the CLEO network which provides connectivity to over 1000 schools and public sector sites across Lancashire and Cumbria. He was the founding Technical Director of LUNS Ltd a telecommunications company which was one of the earliest independent companies to undertake local loop unbundling and which deployed equipment into 157 BT exchanges across the North West to offer private ADSL2+ and symmetrical broadband services. During his career at Lancaster University he was head of networking, head of technical services and Deputy Director of Information Systems Services. In these roles he was responsible for the University’s networking and IT systems as well as overseeing the regional academic network C&NLMAN. He was a member of the JISC Joint Committee on Networking which oversees the JANET academic network which provides links to thousands of college and University sites. He was a member of the NWDA Broadband Advisory Group and sits on a number of committees involved with networking at a national level. Apart from providing the technical input for B4RN he also acts as a consultant to a number of local authorities establishing local high speed broadband plans. He holds a Professorial Fellowship in computer networking within the Department of Computing, Lancaster University. b.forde@b4rn.org.uk[/tab] [tab]has lived in the Lune Valley for many years and is married to a farmer in Wray. She has been involved with the community in many roles over the years; for instance school governor and chair of Wray Endowed school during the eighties and early nineties and more recently supporter of a number of rural broadband projects. In 2002 she began campaigning for rural broadband and over the next few years helped establish a wireless network around Wray and a satellite network for rural farms. A founder member of Wray Com Com in 2003 and Wennet CIC in 2005. She is a pioneer of self installation fibre and a regular speaker at broadband events on the topic of rural broadband and DIY fibre build. c.conder@b4rn.org.uk[/tab] [tab]John grew up near Kirkby Lonsdale, studied media arts at Newcastle and returned to startup a digital media/video production home business (www.lunar.co.uk) in 1996. He moved from Casterton to Gressingham in 1998 where he lives with his wife and son. He’s always been involved with the village social committee and sees B4RN’s greatest benefit being to the community. He first got involved with B4RN at the company launch in 2011, lead Gressingham’s digging in 2013, and has since helped get other communities started with their planning and rollout j.hamlett@b4rn.org.uk ..[/tab] [tab]brings additional management expertise to the team. She came to academe from the business world where she was Managing Director of a development consultancy and worked with a wide portfolio of organisations. She has worked extensively in Central Europe, CIS and the USA coordinating and collaborating in management development, research and teaching initiatives. She is Visiting Professor to Newcastle Business School and has been awarded Life-Membership of Lancaster University. She is a Chartered Psychologist, and is a Fellow of CIPD. She is Founding Editor in Chief of ‘Human Resource Development International (1998 to 2002) and Editor of the Routledge monograph series ‘Studies in HRD’, and is Executive Secretary to the University Forum for HRD. She has published over 100 articles and books in this area. She is also actively involved in the local community. Amongst other activities, she is Chair of Governors of Cawthorne’s Endowed School, Abbeystead, and a Trustee of the Cawthorne Educational Foundation, and of the Over Wyresdale Parish Hall. She is also a Director of L&K Group plc. which comprises a group of companies that serve the agricultural communities in the North West. She believes that this project will be of particular benefit to such communities. m.lee@b4rn.org.uk[/tab] [tab]has been involved in IT ever since receiving a Sinclair ZX Spectrum for Christmas as a child. This sparked an interest that has never gone away. Having studied computer technology and programming at college he has worked in various areas of IT throughout his career such as hardware support on large mainframes, peripheral support, networking and software support. For the past 15 years he has worked for global IT services provider CSC and has been involved in managing systems for accounts with several thousand users. Due to his deep interest in IT he is aware what can be achieved when the community has the access to the best IT services and is why he has become involved in B4RN. He lives in the Lune Valley, (fortunately for him, the better connected part in terms of broadband) and an ex “townie” now fully converted to country living and so is keen to help the community get the best connectivity possible. m.dews@b4rn.org.uk[/tab] [tab]Company Secretary of B4RN Ltd which capitalises on her MsC in Management. She is originally from an education background having taught in secondary schools North Wales for some years. Having moved to LEA work, where she held Senior General and Principal Adviser roles, her interest and expertise in schools’ use of ICT led to parallel ICT advisory posts in two Local Eduction Authorities. This involved, initially, the rollout of National Grid for Learning funding and subsequent schools’ connectivity budgets. She participated in local, regional and national fora for schools’ ICT and developed bids for national, European and International funding streams. Networking experience included the management of the installation of the education elements of Sefton’s borough wide fibre optic network and subsequently a period of time managing the Manchester Education ICT network. Following her education career she ran her own business for three years. Since moving to the Lune Valley in 2010 she has become Chair of Governors at her local school, is a Parish Councillor, and is Honorary Secretary of the Lancaster branch of the Lancaster Association of Local Councils. She joined B4RN in early 2012 as Company Secretary. m.jackson@b4rn.org.uk[/tab][tab]has lived in Quernmore since 1986 and ran the village Post Office until its closure in 2008. He still works part-time in Bowerham Post Office and is Clerk to both Quernmore and Caton-with-Littledale Parish Councils. He has a degree in Engineering Science and previously worked for Leyland Vehicles. He is closely involved with a number of village groups and sees the success of this project as vital to the rural infrastructure. b.alexander@b4rn.org.uk[/tab] [tab]has lived and worked in the Lune Valley for all his life. For the last 23 years has run a small engineering company in partnership with his wife. He became involved with B4RN through his work as the installer for the Wray and Wennet wireless networks. Thomas brings his extensive knowledge of the local area to the project. Because of his work on farms he is aware of installation issues, topography and engineering issues. Thomas is a mechanical engineer. t.hartley@b4rn.org.uk[/tab] [tab]has worked for the NHS for the past 30 years. He is a Registered Nurse and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development; he is currently employed by the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust as a Learning & Development Specialist. His special interest is in clinical leadership & management development. Carl has worked on several regional and national working groups related to NHS staff development. Outside of his day job, Carl worked as a school Governor of 8 years and is also a Local Parish Councillor (Wennington). He has a keen interest (and some basic skills – all self-taught!) in information & communication technology and is regularly called upon by his immediate and extended family, as well friends, to help resolve their PC and computer network related issues. Carl is passionate about helping deliver super-fast broadband to rural communities who, from a business and political perspective, are all too often forgotten or ignored. c.hunter@b4rn.org.uk[/tab] [tab]has been employed as a Network Architect by a large US based company for the last 11 years. Prior to that he worked for a UK bank, helping support what was then one of the largest Internet banking systems in Europe. His specialist area of expertise is Network Security and he holds a CISSP Information Security accreditation. He started his career as a Civil Engineer working on projects around the UK and then went onto complete a M.S. degree in the US. Whilst there he funded his education by working as Network Administrator in the Engineering School which then resulted in retiring the “hard hat” in pursuit of fame and fortune in IT. He grew up in the Lune Valley and returned 7 years ago. Since then he has been involved with rural broadband, in particular with helping Wennet CIC a local community wireless broadband service. i.threlfall@b4rn.org.uk [/tab] [tab]studied horticulture at Pershore. Landscape contracting for Cheshire County Council, Wirral and Runcorn. Built and ran small business workshops at Farndon Cheshire. Woodwork, design and build commissions, church carpentry, work for National Trust, English Heritage and Conran. Last 15 years in Lancashire, private work and one to one woodwork tuition helping 80+ locals with furniture making. Project managed building of present home. Practical problem solving, fully committed to bringing vital broadband to us rural folk. Spare time listening to post 1805 music, Supported by rigorous wife Judy and feisty Millie the terrier. i.robertson@b4rn.org.uk[/tab] [tab]Is a resident of Arkholme and became the village champion for B4RN. A geology graduate from Birmingham University and recently retired Detective Inspector having served 30 years with Lancashire Constabulary. Previous experience in a range of community projects including as chair of the development group that financed and built Arkholme’s award winning hall. Divides his time between voluntary work and sailing the west coast of Scotland.
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