People Web International

There was a surprise at the Bolton Quiz League cup final when Sweet Green Trinity won the Ron Lewis Trophy, thus denying Astley Bridge Conservative Club the coveted league and cup double.  The Trinity team – Brendan Ryan, Derek Heyes, Pete Cropper and Jeff Martin – were outsiders but they took a commanding lead in round one and Astley Bridge, the season’s division one champions, never recovered. “Beforehand I didn’t think we had much of a chance,” said Pete, “but as the quiz progressed and we kept our lead, we began to believe we could win it.”

Prophetic thoughts indeed!


-- by Peter Cropper, PWI reporter Bolton

Well as the title says,the other day was one of the strangest days ever in my life. I woke up with a feeling telling me to leave London, did I? No it was ‘just a feeling’ and where would I go? All day I was tearful and feeling fearful/edgy, no apparent reason really. Get back home to Bethnal Green and I walk down the road seeing shops being urgently closed 

I see hooded faces I never seen here before.

.Next thing I know I have bottles whistling around my head and police are charging towards a big group of hooded youth.

My street is now looking like a Christmas tree with decorations full of glass, and other ornaments, strewn about on the street making it sparkle. 

PWI Reporter, South England

SOUTH EAST, UNITED KINGDOM – A Masked vigilante calling himself “Neighbourhood Ninja” has taken it upon himself to oversee the streets of Royal Tunbridge Wells in Kent. Dressed all in black and still completely anonymous the 25 year old man is determined to help the local community and bring safety to its residents by keeping an eye on the streets and is helping out where ever he can. Neighbourhood Ninja has posted comments and stories on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube, “Don't worry Chief Inspector of Kent Police, you have nothing to fear from me, I am on your side. I'll leave my nunchuks at home.” and “I'll bring the community together through my Ninja Watch scheme” were recent posts on his Twitter page. He has also mentioned area’s in the town which are now under his protection, these include the towns shopping centre as well as a large supermarket just a few miles from the town centre.

The well known Neighbourhood Watch scheme has been around for many years now but in recent times has lost its momentum, the Neighbourhood Ninja plans to rekindle this community sprit and has mentioned he hope to be recruiting new members into his “Ninja Watch Scheme”. He has got 87 followers on Twitter and a number of Facebook friends so it seems this is the start of something new.

Kent Police have only just been made of aware of this would be hero, a spokeswoman has warned the general public saying they should not take the law into their own hands.

On Sunday 15th May 2011 the annual Dragon Boat Regatta was held at Gloucester Docks in aid of the charity CLIC Sargent, supported by Gloucester Severn Rotary, which helps children with cancer throughout the UK. CLIC Sargent Gloucestershire has held the regatta at Gloucester Docks for 14 years now to help raise funds to support the charity. Up to 30 teams were competing in this year’s event, the morning final being won by Tradeteam Warriors, with Steam Ship Painswick coming a close second.  The afternoon race was won by Barnwood Pirates, Heli Angels coming second.

Your reporter was lucky enough to win a prize draw and it was a pleasure to donate the winnings back to the charity funds, which led to a very informative chat with two of the CLIC Sargent committee organisers, Pete Shaw and Clive Amos, shown here holding the winning ticket. The MC of the event was the very able Steve Markham who kept up a running commentary to inform the crowds which boats were currently racing and who the winners were.

Gloucester Docks has several events planned throughout the year and with recent improvements to the surrounding area it is fast becoming a good shopping venue with lots of historical interest. The weekend of the 28-29th May will see the "Tall Ships" festival taking place.

DM - 18 May 2011

Superfast means 24Mbits/sec+.  Here is a 2.4Mbits/sec test result from the writer’s house only 3km from a major city.
(Speed test made at www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk )

The website shows a speed of 1Mb/s or lower in remote rural areas.

UN Millennium Development Goals for access to communications technology had its practical impact recently in a Wiltshire survey launched to ask citizens for their preferences on superfast [24Mbits/sec+] broadband.  The survey asks respondents to measure their speed, and give their views on the priorities for development. 

Should business or residences have priority or both? Should more remote rural areas be targeted to prevent social isolation?  These and more questions need to be answered so that £16m being committed by Wiltshire Council is used to best effect.  The County also hopes to obtain grants and funds from the telcommunications industry to make the investment £30m in total and bring superfast broadband to 85% of premises in Wiltshire by 2015.

According to the UK government, rural places make up 86% of England and 1/5th of the population lives and work there.  However few have access to superfast broadband.  Ofcom, the UK's telecommunication regulator, reported at the end of 2010 that "only 0.2% of UK households had a superfast broadband connection at the end of 2009, compared to 34% in Japan, 12% in Sweden and 7% in the US."

With fours years to go to meet the UN target, the EU is also helping fund a much bigger £130m pilot project in Cornwall.  Along with parts of Wales, Cornwall is designated as a deprived rural area in EU terms.  Cornwall’s objective is to bring "FTTP" (fibre to premises) technology to 85% of premises by 2014. 

Lower cost schemes bring only "FTTC" (fibre to cabinet), leaving final distribution to houses and business premises relying on existing phone lines.

More and more commercial and government services are being delivered across the internet.  Whilst it has been an advantage to be connected in the past, a Wiltshire official said, "now it becomes a disadvantage not to be connected". 

The degree of success will depend on how much funding can be attracted, and persuading people who have never used a computer or the internet to get connected.  To achieve that, the survey also asks the public to sign up to volunteer their help. 

Ref: www.wiltshire.gov.uk/digitalinclusion

 KT – 28th April 2011

SOUTH EAST, UNITED KINGDOM

 The Port of London Authority have been recently commissioned by the RAF Museum in Hendon to survey a WWII wreckage of the Kent Coastline. The Aircraft, a 1930’s design Dornier 17 flown by the Luftwaffe in the 2nd World War, went undiscovered until 2 years ago. It is sitting just 15 meters deep at Goodwin Sands, Kent. The plane is thought to have been shot down during the battle of Britain approximately 70 years ago, after taking heavy fire it made an emergency landing at sea, 2 of the 4 crewmen died but 2 survived the crash who became prisons of war.

The RAF museum at Hendon in London are very keen to raise and preserve this extremely rare Dornier 17 as it is thought to be the last of its kind. Surprisingly, the aeroplane is in excellent condition and is still intact. RAF Head of Collections Ian Thirsk was on board the Port of London Authorities high-tech vessel at the end of last month as the sonar scanning took place. He is planning to have it displayed at Hendon in a state of preservation as opposed to having it fully restored. Mr Thirsk believes this aircraft is a unique aeroplane and it's linked to an iconic event in British history, so its importance cannot be overemphasised, nationally and internationally. According to Mr Thirsk “It's one of the most significant aeronautical finds of the century.”

By: reporter south.east.england@peoplewebinternational.com