Marton Village, Warwickshire

Infinity campaigners meet BT and Openreach

Written by Michael Koch

Last Friday the local campaign team for Marton Exchange met with BT and Openreach representatives who gave us an update on the rollout of superfast broadband (SFBB) to the Marton Exchange.

Just like last time, I've also taken a video interview, this time with with Paul Bimson and Joe Walsh (both BT), who tell us a little about the story of the planning and installation process so far. Later in the 8-minute video we also talk about next steps and where to find out about pricing. Hopefully both video and the post below will answer most of your questions.

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Impressive efforts by BT and Openreach

During the 90 minute meeting the campaign team (Cordelia Webb, Carolyn Bell, Andy Coles and Michael Koch) learned about the lengths BT will go to in order to bring fibre broadband to our area. "Over 129km of fibre cable and thousands of man days of work" will be invested to upgrade the existing infrastructure, explained Joe Walsh, Programme Manager, SFBB, BT Group. Mick Bains (Openreach) gave us a little insight into new and unforseen challenges his team had to deal with so far, like blocked tubes and pipes which are used as a conduit for the new fibre cabling. Other difficulties for the Openreach team were those communities on the fringes of the rollout area, such as Weston and Leamington Hastings. However in all cases, the BT and Openreach engineers were able to come up with technical solutions which satisfied the campaigners. According to BT's calculations, about "99.8% of all exchange connections will see an improvement in broadband speed" when subscribing to the new SFBB products.

Read more: Infinity campaigners meet BT and Openreach

Marton's Royal Wedding Street Party

Written by Darren Paul Brown

Where were you when…?

(a link to all uploaded Royal Wedding Day photos can be found here)

A selection of the ‘Usual Suspects’ gathered at the Hall, on the eve before the Royal Wedding, to help prepare for the first Marton Village street party in many of our lifetimes. There was one universal intention – let’s make Martonshire’s celebration, of Prince William’s marriage to Kate “a fabulously joyous day for everyone to remember”!

It was clearly apparent a lot of effort had been put into the organisation by the committee set-up previously, however, contingencies naturally evolved to take care of the various tasks that needed completing before we could be satisfied everything had been done to ensure the following day would go without any hiccoughs; the road was closed, bunting went-up, as did the marquee, tables and chairs – even the recycling bins, were set in place.

After a couple of good hours’ work there seemed to be a gathering (of men) around the bar and one responsible fellow suggested we raise a glass of appreciation to Kate and Wills. Agreement was made to meet the next morning at about 9am and in more ways than one - the scene was set!

Thankfully the weather appeared to be kind first thing - it was a little overcast, however, reasonably warm with a light wind.

Read more: Marton's Royal Wedding Street Party

Marton Exchange Gets Faster Broadband

Written by Michael Koch

BT plc today announced in an official statement that the group of winners in the Race To Infinity has been extended from the top 5 to the top 10 exchanges. The race ended on December 31st 2010 and the Marton Exchange finished in 7th position with just over 78% of the votes. This means that by early 2012 the Marton Exchange and surrounding villages served by this facility will be enabled to receive super-fast broadband.

During this morning's photoshoot (pictures can be viewed following this link), which was organised by the BT, I used the opportunity to record a little interview with local Martonian and BT representative Dr Joe Walsh to find out more about the next steps.

Read more: Marton Exchange Gets Faster Broadband

We are: Warwickshire's Best Village 2010!

At a grand ceremony in Wolston on Wednesday night (22 September 2010), presided over by the Lord-Lieutenant of Warwickshire, the 2010 Warwickshire Best Village Awards were made. Marton had entered in four of the six categories in the competition along with seventy seven other entries from thirty five villages. In the hour beforehand all the villages provided a display summarising their entries for the visitors and dignitaries to examine.

Marton's stand was supported by Joan Sherratt, Sharon Edwards, A ndrew Cooke and David Fry. The competition looked forbidding but the Marton display was a fair reflection of a particularly active year in the village with the introduction of this website, a revised Newsletter, a revived Museum, a new Local History Group, a flourishing Pig Club, a published Parish Plan and a soon to be published Village Design Statement and a completed Environmental Survey. If Marton was ever to stand any chance this would be the year. Nevertheless many villages had single entries that were of a very high standard Marton's best chance would come in the overall entry - or so it was thought .

Read more: We are: Warwickshire's Best Village 2010!

Marton Village on Twitter & Facebook

Written by Michael Koch

If you use the social networking sites Twitter or Facebook then you can now follow Marton Village. Why? Because it's an easy way to spot if any new articles have been posted to this site.

Simply log on to Twitter and follow @martonvillage

On Facebook, simply search for "Marton Village"