http://www.swaledale.org

Dec 04 - It seems a long time since Ben and I first started to talk - almost as long as my laptop has been holidaying in Reeth to help sniff potential node sites etc, eh Ben?!!

Ben came from a redbricks.org.uk background, amongst other things, and is therefore an 'oldie' in a non-ageist way in the broadband community world. Swaledale & Arkengarthdale are a bit the back of beyond, with the highest pub in England, the Tan Hill, at the outer limits of the region. Way back when, it felt as though BT and their flavour of broadband were never going to make it to rural areas, and it is to Reeth and Ben's credit that they got behind the idea of using the satellite dish from the Yorkshire Forward grant funding scheme at Marrick Priory to start 'dishing out' (ugh!) wireless broadband into the centre of this small market town. It took some doing to get Aramiska to produce contracts which allowed communities to resell bandwidth, and many other Communications Service Providers still expressly prohibit this but Marrick Priory have been totally supportive the whole way through in sharing their connection.

Ben has all the techie knowledge required to set up a network, although for all of us mesh technology was pretty new over the horizon, but Reeth also has some community champions who were responsible for creating a fantastic community resource -Hudson House - when Barclay's decided to do a flit.  Between them, local support, and a soft loan from Digital Dales plus some visits (and my laptop!), Reeth Rural radio.net has come into being and is a model to be proud of.

 For some communities, the time it takes to build a network can seem o'er long in Yorkshire speak, but it is vital to get the network planning and architecture, siting of the kit, involvement of the community, choice of company/legal structure right at the outset. Reeth have done this, and without the incredible amount of time and energy Ben and the others have put in to create a community resource, it could never happen. This attitude and devotion is reflected across the UK and beyond, and is frequently unrecognised by organisations involved in regeneration, administration and support of their regions. Money is always helpful but unless you can find those people in the community who DO, many projects are doomed.

Congratulations to Reeth for connecting their first users, and here's hoping we see yet another alternative, viable, community network in the Dales.