Royal approval for B4RN Volunteer Val Winchester
After years of being ignored by mainstream internet providers, residents of a rural Yorkshire village built their own superfast internet network.
Like many rural communities across the UK, the small village of Clapham in Yorkshire has been overlooked by the UK’s big internet service providers.
However, Clapham still has one of the best internet connections in the UK – and the locals built it all by themselves.
The B4RN network (pronounced ‘Barn’) delivers gigabit-ready internet speeds to homes in the village for less than £40p/m. Only around 10% of properties in the UK are gigabit ready. The average internet speed in rural areas is less than 30Mbps.
B4RN is registered as a non-profit community organisation. It’s operated and maintained by a local team of landowners, engineers, and volunteers.
B4RN was established in 2011 by Barry Forde, a professor of computer networking at Lancaster University. He contributed his technical expertise and put together a team to build the infrastructure, including local farmers who dug the cable trenches for free.
Ann Sheridan headed up the effort to install the first B4RN network. The project required substantial amounts of time, training, money, and physical labour. But Sheridan says that it was well worth the effort.
“It transformed our community,” says Sheridan. “I remember my neighbours nearly coming to blows because one of their sons downloaded the whole series of ‘Game of Thrones’ on a two megabits per second (Mbps) internet connection. I’m not joking! Things like this happened all the time.”
B4RN has connected around 9,000 properties to its high-speed internet network. It’s currently working on plans to reach even more houses over the next few years.
And B4RN recently received the royal approval! B4RN volunteer Val Winchester was awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. The award recognises Winchester’s efforts in ensuring the residents of Clapham can access high-speed internet. “It’s an honour,” said Val. “But this network was a real community effort. We all worked together to make sure our village can participate fully in 21st-century life.”
