Update on Grants & Progress

Following The Welsh Governments Grant Offer letters being received by everyone completing a Grant Application, we are waiting for just a handful of forms to be returned to The Welsh Government. If you are not sure whether you have returned yours / lost your form, please contact david.schofield@myfi.wales and he will obtain a copy of your offer letter for you to sign and return.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Connections under the initial offer package will end on 30^th April 2018. Anyone wishing to connect after that date will be subject to a connection fee and £30 per month immediately following installation.

Openreach

We are still waiting for Openreach to come and install the fibre from NG Data to the Container . Following a visit last Monday, they were totally unprepared and as such did not have the required materials with which to complete our job, so we await their return.!

Investment

We have had an initial contact from the team at HMRC and a request for additional information following our SEIS application. This has been duly submitted to HMRC and we are now waiting for the result.

Sub Group Reports

Wayleaves
Signed Wayleaves are almost complete with just one outstanding. Well done Gareth, Elayne and Rob.
Route
The Route has not changed, Thomas Bros are continuing with the trenching, thankfully with some much improved weather conditions. The assistance of volunteers, who over the past couple of weeks have laid ducting ready to go into the ground when the trenches are dug has saved a great deal of time and has enabled Thomas Bros to further progress with trenching.

Road Crossings and Services

During the course of digging and trenching a couple of water pipes have been disrupted, but immediately repaired. Minor issues at times and unavoidable but soon rectified.

Volunteers

Conversion of Container

This has come on in leaps and bounds since the last newsletter. Jim and Glyn have fully insulated, fitted with ply, and applied fire retardant coating, Anthony Rowlands from Chris Bolton Electrics has fitted a distribution board, meter, sockets, lighting and emergency lighting. Mark Sainsbury on behalf of his company has generously given us two pieces of racking which fit perfectly. Jim Dunk and Dave Schofield fitted anti static flooring and Brinley Richards has welded a “bolt on lock box “ on the door giving us added security. A massive THANK YOU to you all, a super job, done to a very high standard and now our container is ready for the next stage. Perhaps now we should be referring to it as The Hub ?

 Druidstone Road Spur Update

Nigel Hallett, Phil Barry, Glyn Williams, Gordon Hesp and Jim Dunk all got stuck in and dug out the chamber for Druidstone Road on Wednesday. Thank you guys, great job done and just in time for the fibre blowing that followed on Thursday.

Router installations

Jim is currently contacting his volunteers to put together a small team of Router Installers. Training /guidance will be given on an actual installation which is being organised.

Good DIY skills are necessary, you will not be required to configure the Routers Software which is being purchased and will be configured prior to installation by a different team

Duct installations

Jim is looking for volunteers who can lay ducting either at weekends or during the week. We have a drum roller, which makes the job easier. This is to try to speed up the process enabling Thomas Bros to continue trenching and cover more ground in a shorter time.

Earlier this month Kristef and Istvan Puritan were kindly volunteered by Paul Magor from Haygrove to lay some ducting out ready for Thomas Bros to drop into the trenches thus saving some time. Thank you Paul, Kristef and Istvan, this enabled the trenching process to continue at a quicker pace.

Slab Laying

Around 30 slabs will be laid outside the Container over the next week by Jim and Brin. We are grateful to Jason Stevens and Brinley Richards who have kindly given Myfi some spare slabs.

Fibre Blowing

Thursday, Mark Graveston organised Mark Johnson and Tony Eaves from Condux, along with Phil who has a long history with BT before retiring, to demonstrate several fibre blowing machines and to train our volunteers. By the end of the day, fibres had been blown from the Container right through to the Druidstone Road chamber, a second one down to the village and A third fibre across the road and along past the properties opposite the Village Hall. A few hiccups, as expected but successful runs and properties getting nearer to be connected. A great day, enjoyable, fascinating and successful, Thank you Mark, Mike, Tony and Phil.

Fibre Fusion and Splicing

On Tuesday 4^th April, Mark Graveston kindly arranged for a small group of volunteers to learn how to fuse and splice and fibres. Delicate work and very precise, but a great evening enjoyed by all and a team of fusion and splicers ready for action. Mark  now has great confidence in our team of splicers.

Information Day 21^st April 2018
As the organiser along with Brinley Richards , we can proudly boast that the “Information Day” was a great success. We would like to heap praise on Lilian and the supporting WI ladies for their unending tea / coffee and delicious cakes. Huge thanks to everyone who dropped in to take a look, fill in a Grant Application, try their hand at water divining, watch fibres being fused and spliced, video and slide presentations, (Thank You Mark Graveston for bringing the kit for me to demonstrate and practise ) and get updated with the project which has achieved a lot in the past few months. We were very impressed by the turnout and it was great to meet so many more of you in the community. Thank you to you all. A big Thank You also to Simon Wade from Emtelle for his display material and free mugs and pens.

Photographs

If anyone has taken or takes photographs in the coming months, of activities involving volunteers, please email them through to carina.dunk@myfi.wales and I will publish a selection of them in the newsletters. I can’t be in all places all of the time and I am sure that others would like to see the progress around various parts of the village.

The Hub IT

Now the container is fully fitted, we are in a position to start organising all the components that will go into the racking system. With the expert guidance of Duncan Law and Mark Sainsbury, we have a shopping list of components which will be ordered this week. Items such as fibre trays, patch leads, cable management, etc. Everything now hinges on Openreach making the fibre connection to the Container.

AOB

Following connections, there may be residents who want to network their home, connecting many devices such as tv, cctv, phone systems, alarm systems, along with pc's laptops, tabs, ipads, and mobile phones. Michaelston-Y-Fedw CIC does not provide advice or recommend anyone but suggests you do some research and find a specialist who can do this for you.

Ollie has completed the second drone filming of the trenching. This can be seen by clicking on this link. https://player.vimeo.com/video/265960180

Thank you Ollie, another fascinating video of work completed.

Next Meeting
The next meeting will be on Thursday 3^rd May 2018 in the Village Hall at 7.30pm. Everyone is welcome to attend