Saturday 31 January 2015

The Soldier Lads of Aston Abbotts

Simon Guy’s commemorative booklet The Soldier Lads of Aston Abbotts produced in 2014 remembered the twelve Aston Abbotts villagers who lost their lives in World War I.

Simon has kindly allowed us to make the booklet available online and you can read it via the Aston Abbotts website on the History page dealing with The Wars.


Friday 30 January 2015

Mother's Day at Abbotts View Farm

Abbotts View Farm (off Moat Lane) are holding a special Mother's Day event, with a chance to see all of their animals and have afternoon tea. Find out more details and how to book on their website.

Jo tells us that they will also be taking bookings for afternoon tea on Thursdays during term time to give people the opportunity to come and meet their lambs, kids, piglets, ducklings and alpaca cria as they are born and enjoy some yummy cake and sandwiches.

The farm currently have two open days planned - on Good Friday 3rd April and Open Farm Sunday on 7th June.




Saturday 17 January 2015

Faster internet on the way

Faster Broadband internet  should be with us within a few months. Whilst we are not going to get the fibre connection direct to our homes (which gives the fastest possible internet) we should still see a speed increase.

The network upgrade will provide a very fast fibre connection to our local 'cabinet' at Wingrave crossroads. From there the internet will come to your house via the existing copper telephone wires (as it does now).

The downside to what is proposed is that whilst we should get faster download speeds, upload speed will still be quite slow. This means that streamed video will be faster, but things like two-way video Skype will not be so much improved.

Note that the email below suggests speeds of up to 24Mbps - currently Openreach suggest we get up to 16 Mbps, although few can achieve that. Hopefully the new ADSL2 network will perform better.

The email below from the county broadband manager explains the current position. Expect faster speed to be available probably as an upgrade from March or April. It is yet not known if there will be an increase in costs, but you may have to replace your router. The availability may also depend upon who supplies your internet service.

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... it is set to be a busy year with works progressing well and activity in the Wing exchange area imminent, or already underway.

The latest delivery data at my disposal suggests that the new fibre cabinets should be in place by the end of February/early March, incorporating the installation of the unit and connecting it to a power supply and fibre optics.  Thereafter, the commissioning process will ensure that the fibre cabinets are connected to necessary systems, meaning that Internet Service Providers can then recognise the cabinets as 'live' and begin offering services to customers.

In terms of Aston Abbotts and Rowsham, it appears that both are served by cabinet 7.  This is located near the Wingrave crossroads.

In relation to speeds achieved in the two villages; this will be determined by distance from the fibre cabinet.  Using Fibre to the Cabinet technology, Openreach suggests that superfast speeds (24 Mbps or greater) should be achievable at distances of 1.2 - 1.5km away from the cabinet, as this relies on the existing copper connection to homes and businesses.  For Aston Abbotts, the prospects look good, given the distance to cabinet 7.  For Rowsham, there is a bit more uncertainty as the village is on the extremity of the distance threshold, meaning lower speeds are possible.  For the latter, I will need to query our Openreach Network Manager as he will be able to make more accurate assumptions with his data and network tools.

In terms of nearby villages; Cublington (cabinet 6) and Wingrave (cabinet 5) should be well served by the fibre broadband upgrades.

The latest information continues to be published on the Connected Counties website, which I would encourage you to monitor for progress....