Welcome to B4YS

B4YS is a community-led project, bringing hyperfast broadband to the rural communities of Yealand, Silverdale & Storth.

B4YS aims to bring broadband to the villages of Yealand, Silverdale & Storth specifically, by working under B4RN as a sub-project. The B4RN project is working to connect villages throughout North Lancashire and South Cumbria, working with smaller parish projects like ours.

Broadband For the Rural North

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Recent B4YS news


130 B4YS Properties Connected in Silverdale

It’s with great pleasure that we can bring a B4YS update, which includes the amazing news that 152 properties in Silverdale are now enjoying 1,000 Mbps B4RN fibre! That’s of course on top of the 179 in the Yealands which are alreadyconnected up and taking the service. Here’s a detailed update for each area: Silverdale BRING YOUR OWN … [Read more…]

The Yealands: progress pics, Winter 15/16

B4YS August Update

Whilst for some it might seem that it’s all gone a bit quiet in B4YS-land these last few months, for our volunteers it’s been anything but! The B4YS project has moved into a different phase; whilst fundraising was very ‘public’ and involved the whole community, route planning & building is proving to be a much … [Read more…]

Yealand Village Hall is LIVE!

Yealand Village Hall is live – it has been connected to the B4RN network – and now has 1,000Mbps internet speeds!Mike Macklin from the Yealand B4YS team shared the great news yesterday: The Hyperfast Broadband service is now live in Yealand Village Hall.We completed the fibre blowing three weeks ago but we needed the B4RN … [Read more…]

An update from the Yealands

The Yealands team are progressing well, and have shared this update with the B4YS mailing list: ———— We have now completed the installation of the orange duct from Borwick through to Yealand Village Hall. We will be blowing the fibre cables through the duct on Tuesday April 7th starting at 10am. We will connect the … [Read more…]

B4YS progress pics: Jan/Feb 2015

The Yealands B4YS team have set the bar really high for Sivlerdale and Storth. Since Christmas they have taken duct under the M6, over the canal, under the West Coast Main Line and up to Yealand Village Hall. The village ‘hub’ has been installed too, where the networking equipment for the parish will live. That … [Read more…]

B4RN Demo Day: Pics, Audio & Video

On Sunday 18th January we held our B4RN demonstration day at the neighbouring Priest Hutton & Borwick Village Hall. Priest Hutton & Borwick are already connected to B4RN – our B4YS connection joins onto theirs – so it was a great chance to get ‘hands on’ with a 1,000Mpbs internet connection. A first for many … [Read more…]

Barry Forde on BBC Radio 4’s PM

BBC Radio 4 interviewed Barry Forde – CEO of B4RN – on the popular ‘PM’ show recently. Here’s the clip below. If you want to give your friends & neighbours a quick overview of B4RN, this is a great clip to share: 500km of fibre laid already, go B4RN!

This weekend: B4RN Demo Day, Sunday 18th

Join B4YS THIS SUNDAY (18th January) 2pm – 4pm, at Borwick & Priest Hutton Memorial Hall: Borwick Lane, Borwick, Carnforth Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/0T71i Street view: https://goo.gl/maps/u0zbJ With our neighbours enjoying 1,000Mbps broadband just down the road, we thought it was time to experience it first-hand. We’ll have a range of devices for you to see … [Read more…]

A Quick Festive B4YS Update

Merry Christmas! Here’s a quick final update of 2014. For many in our 3 parishes it’ll be the last year of slow broadband, as we begin connecting properties through 2015: B4YS breaks first soil – January 2015! The Yealands team have stormed ahead these last couple of months, and B4YS will begin digging early in … [Read more…]

Grab a cuppa, it’s the B4YS update

It’s been a couple of months since the last B4YS update – we’ve been very busy – but it’s good news all round, so grab a cuppa, here’s an extra-large B4YS update newsletter: A reminder In the last newsletter we let everyone know that our Stage One fundraising target had been met. That means that … [Read more…]

Can you help….?

Now we have reached the First Stage Investment threshold, the more detailed work is starting. We are planning routes now, so if you know of any rivers, culverts or dykes that go under roads near you (please have a look if you are walking the dog…) could you kindly let us know? Any local knowledge, … [Read more…]

Stage 1 target reached!

This email is to bring you the great news that all three B4YS villages have reached their Stage One targets! Yealands – target: £25,000 – current level: 100% raised! Silverdale – target: £38,000 – current level: 100% raised! Storth – target: £38,000 – current level: 100% raised! That’s an amazing £101,000 raised from local residents … [Read more…]

Storth has reached Stage One, Silverdale and Yealands not far behind

Since our public meetings on 2nd August in Yealands & Storth, the B4YS team have been very busy. The community support for the project has been amazing, and is increasing all the time! Here’s a quick update on Stage One fundraising: Yealands – target: £25,000 – current level: 55% raised! Silverdale – target: £38,000 – … [Read more…]

Photos: Great turnout for Yealands & Storth

A big thanks to everyone who came and showed support at our public meetings on Sat 2nd August. The turnout and support was excellent, which is very promising for the project! If you couldn’t make the meetings or wish to listen again, there are slides and an audio recording here.  

Listen again: Saturday’s Public Meeting

If you missed our public meetings in Storth & Yealands on Saturday 2nd August, don’t worry, we recorded it for you! Barry Forde (CEO of B4RN) gave a fascinating talk, and answers all the questions you’re likely to have about how a community builds its own fibre optic broadband network. You can listen online by … [Read more…]

Public meetings 2nd August – Storth & Yealand – Broadband for our parishes

Hyperfast Broadband will provide all our news, television, film, music and communications in the future. It will be an essential service in education, healthcare, farming, tourism and business and will connect families and communities. It will also increase the value of your property. The B4YS project will lay a network of fibre optic cable through … [Read more…]

But we’ve got BT coming…

B4RN Hyperfast is coming to our parishes, but so is BT’s Superfast connection. If BT’s faster broadband is nearly already here, should we bother with B4RN? There are some convincing reasons why B4RN is a better bet for the future. BT’s advantage: BT Infinity is coming soon: BT was due (in Storth) for May 2014, … [Read more…]

One of the best articles we’ve ever read about B4RN

Victoria Turk has written one of the best articles we’ve ever read about B4RN, over at Vice.com. If ever you wanted a top-to-toe rundown of how B4RN works, here it is. …Frustrated by the major internet service providers and failed attempts to get local government funding, they’re going it alone. They’re building their own fibre … [Read more…]

B4RN in The Economist, over £1m in shares sold

B4RN and the inspiring Christine Conder were featured in The Economist recently, well worth a read. It’s great to see that the B4RN project has sold shares worth more than £1m to buy ducts and cables for volunteers to install in our local parishes: FUSION splicing is a technique network engineers use to string together … [Read more…]

B4RN shares, how do they work?

The material costs of building the B4RN network for our parishes will be met by selling shares in the broadband company, to members of the local community. This funds the ducting, fibre, cabinets etc. Share purchases are the way we will make our community network happen. As a community benefit society, B4RN must operate for … [Read more…]

Aughton: Help a neighbour, learn about B4RN

Many have expressed an interest in getting up close and personal to the digging & duct laying may be interested in helping out our neighbouring parishes. Aughton, who have already bought their fibre, are presently engaged in the spade and shovel work. The Aughton working party would be interested in help from anyone with time … [Read more…]

MP urges people to back B4RN broadband scheme for Storth

South Lakes MP Tim Farron has called on local residents in Storth to look at a proposal by Broadband for the Rural North (B4RN) to move out from their base in Lancashire and bring superfast broadband to the Cumbrian village of Storth. B4RN is a “not for profit” Community Benefit Society. It has been established … [Read more…]

B4RN Hyperfast…it’s coming, and it’s close!

If you’ve seen our planned route, you’ll have noticed it starts at Borwick. We’ll be continuing the 1Gbps fibre broadband connection from though Yealand, to Silverdale & Storth. The team at Borwick started their B4RN project some time before B4YS began, but you see below that they’re well on their way. The B4RN model works … [Read more…]

Slow broadband wipes 20% off house prices

With growing numbers of people going online to perform tasks ranging from work to grocery shopping and streaming entertainment, good broadband has become critical. Homes without can lose 20 % of their value. Slow broadband speeds can wipe as much as 20 per cent off the value of properties and lack of superfast connectivity in … [Read more…]

Photos from our parish meeting, an excellent turnout

A great big thank you to all who attended the Gaskell Hall meeting yesterday; particularly to Barry Forde for his excellent, clear and informative presentation, to Simon Wade from Emtelle and to Georgina and Angela for the seriously tasty scones!

Broadband for our parishes: Meeting 22nd March

HYPERFAST BROADBAND for us, our children and their children. Come and find out how we can get it in our parish: Get Together in the Gaskell Hall, Silverdale 2.00pm—4.00pm Saturday 22nd March 2014 Refreshments provided Find out how we can join Arkholme and Wray and get the same extraordinary Hyperfast B4RN Broadband in our parishes … [Read more…]

B4RN & Emtelle Show-Tell Day #4 – 9th April 2014

The 3rd Show-Tell day was very well attended and feedback from delegates was very good. The weather was kind to the group as they were taken on a tour of the areas where the B4RN team are deploying. Pictures of the event can be seen on the Facebook page here. The date has been set … [Read more…]

Rural Cornwall residents launch superfast broadband petition

A group of rural Cornwall residents are campaigning to be introduced to fibre optic broadband. Homeowners from a rural area of Cornwall have launched a petition to try to bring superfast broadband access to their properties. The region is covered by the Superfast Cornwall rollout project, which has been bringing the next-generation service to properties … [Read more…]

Lancashire village’s broadband speeds Wray ahead of the rest of the UK

Residents in the village of Wray, in a rural part of Lancashire, have become the first customers live on the B4RN network. The village has become the latest one to get connected to the B4RN (Broadband for the Rural North) fibre network. The project said this marked a significant milestone for the project as the … [Read more…]