The needed work on the Village Playground continues following the ROSPA inspection six weeks ago.

The swings are now back in place, although they are not yet back in commission as the mats still need to be replaced.

May the HRA committee say a massive “thank you” to the time and energy put in both by villagers so far. Whether it be digging, sourcing materials, general help or supplying tea. All was and continues to be essential.

A special thanks to the Mums & Dads of children who use the playground. Many came along last Saturday and made the repositioning of the swings very easy.

Also many thanks to those who not only donated time but materials as well.

Remember if you have children, or even have visitors staying with children, that the Village Playground is there for all to use.

If you are interested in getting better broadband speeds in the village it is important to register your interest by going to:

http://www.connectingcambridgeshire.co.uk/

There is no guarantee that Horningsea will get superfast broadband but expressing an interest is important.

If you struggle with filling in the link then please email horningseaweb@btinternet.com so that we can try and arrange to provide some support.

Part of the problem is that Horningsea is a long way from its telephone exchange in Waterbeach, some 5 miles from Horningsea. This means that the telephone signal and therefore the internet signal degrades quite a bit over that distance. The copper wires simply aren’t able to carry the same strength signal for miles. Many people in the UK struggle to get a decent amount of bandwidth for their connection. Learn more about this topic.

There are some things that you can do to improve your situation. I will explain what I did to improve my own broadband speeds.

Change ISPs

The first thing I did was to switch from ‘Up to 8Mbps’ on BT to a different provider. I switched to ‘Up to 20Mbps’ with O2. Because the Waterbeach exchange offers LLU (Local Loop Unbundled) O2 are able to offer their own service. This has two advantages.

1. You have the freedom to choose which ISP you use. O2 have their own hardware in the exchange. I chose O2 for my connection.
2. You are not bound by BT’s DLM (Digital Line Management). DLM sometimes sacrifices performance for reliability. This could mean that even though your connection might support higher speeds, BT choose to give you a more stable connection so they ‘cap’ your bandwidth. Of course the balance is delicate. You do not want to be disconnected all the time but you also want some decent performance.

Line reset

If you are with BT on an ADSL2+ connection, you will probably have DLM on your connection. If your SNR (signal to noise ratio) on the connection is very high, it could be that DLM has detected this and made the bandwidth speeds go down in favour of reliability. This could be caused by something as simple as regularly turning your router off, or restarting it frequently. Always leave your router switched on. For example: Switching off the router overnight will trick DLM into thinking that you have a bad connection and it will adjust bandwidth accordingly. If this has been the case, it might be worth asking BT for a line reset but only after you have checked if you need to make any further changes that I’m about to outline. Basically the bit you control between the BT master socket and your home router needs to be the best that you can make it before you request a line reset.

Filtered faceplate

The second most effective thing I have done (after changing ISPs) was to buy a filtered faceplate for my BT master socket. In order to use this faceplate the master socket has to be an NTE5. If you don’t have that BT can install it. You then buy the filter faceplate for your socket, as explained very well here.

That change alone gave me a 20% increase on my bandwidth. Your results may vary but for a £10 improvement that is not bad.

A new router

I then bought a router with a better modem. One that had the ability to set the SNR margin. I chose the Billion BiPac 7800N that was also suggested on this website. I believe that the Draytek Vigor 2830 is also a good choice. I think it also uses the Broadcom modem chip with PhyR.

That gave me another 15% increase.

Cable routing

Another thing I did that was entirely free was to manage the cables to the router as best as possible. Separating the phone wire from and power wires thus reducing interference. That had surprisingly goods results. (Another 200Kbps I think).

If you have ever rewired your own master socket (I will turn a blind eye here, BT definitely don’t approve of that) then you might like to check that the connection is soldered and not just twisted together. This should be good for another few Kbps.

No promises but worth a try

Please be aware that your results may vary. These steps worked well for me and I got my bandwidth significantly improved.

Future improvement

I am eagerly awaiting the improvements that the county is putting forward. The ‘Connecting Cambridgeshire’ programme allows for us to register interest in better connectivity. Head over to http://www.horningsea.net/archives/719 to read more about it. Everybody needs to register!

Sources of information

http://www.increasebroadbandspeed.co.uk (Advice on improving your connection)
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/broadband_availability (Check broadband availibility in your area)
http://www.speedtest.net (Test your broadband speed)
http://www.ispreview.co.uk
http://www.thinkbroadband.com

HH 2012-05

To submit information about village events, or to receive a copy of the newsletter monthly by email  please email    horningseanews @  googlemail.com

The rain actually stopped after a while and we splashed merrily through puddles etc until we finally arrived at the Milton Country Park café where hot drinks and cakes were the preferred choices.

Baits Bite Lock bridge proved much less of an obstacle than I had feared, due largely to the high-speed cycle removals initiative featuring (among others) Chris and Peter who seemed to have whisked my trike, spares, tools, first-aid kit, etc., across the bridge while I was busy helping someone else, and deposited it neatly on the other side facing the right way!

The marshals worked brilliantly, overseeing and directing the riders safely without any fuss and I am really grateful to all of them for their support and efforts that helped to make the ride safe and fun despite the weather.

As to the riders themselves – what more can I say than a huge thank you to all of you, for actually turning up in the pouring rain and making the whole event such a success.

The final icing on the cake, was a huge pot of French Onion soup that was awaiting us on our return to the Plough and Fleece courtesy of Tom Canning, the chef. It was a kind and much appreciated gesture and was warmly welcomed by all of us.

To those of you who couldn`t make it for various reasons, you missed a real blinder of a day! There will be other rides and I hope you will be able to join us then.

See you all then I hope!

Bert Santilly.

Unfortunately the playground is not in a great state of repair. Graham did some excellent restorative work last year, but a recent ROSPA report has pointed out some areas which need urgent attention.

On Saturday the 28th of April we’re asking for strong arms to come and help with some urgent work on the swings.

We’ll be there from 10:30am. So please come along and help your village.

Family fun on the village green with BBQ in the evening.

2 June 2012 from 13:00 to 23:30

Come and join the HRA for a Jubilee Street Party on the village green.

Bring a dish (sweet or savoury) to share.. You can drop off your dish from 11.30 (but no later than 12.30 please) at the village hall kitchen for a street party lunch with all your neighbours. The feast starts at 1 pm

Barbecue and disco in the evening. Kick-off at 7 pm. Bring your own food to barbecue. Salads will be provided.

Come and see the fireworks and the lighting of the beacon at dusk.

A truly spectacular day for all

(Photos from the VE+50 day)

He is able to offer advice on basic fire safety, how to perform household fire safety checks and can arrange for CFRS to visit if necessary. If anyone has any domestic fire safety concerns or knows of someone who might benefit from this service please contact him:

Gary Dew    3 Abbots Way, Horningsea. Tel. 01223 440414

garydew@btinternet.com

Horningsea Herald 38 April 2012

To submit information about village events, or to receive a copy of the newsletter monthly by email  please email    horningseanews @  googlemail.com

Cluzion Classical with Eyehall Musick at the Plough & Fleece

Friday 20th April, 8pm, at the Plough and Fleece, £5

Eyehall Musick sing music with a European flavour, including  C16th Italian madrigals, songs by French, English, German and Hungarian composers and C20th settings of Elizabethan sonnets by Scandinavian composers.

Programme details at http://www.eyehallmusick.com

Phone 07764 922385 or 01223 861161 to book or see www.cluzionmusic.org.uk