Are You Connected

Are You Connected

Are you one of the Rural un-connected?

My children call me a dinosaur! My telephone is used for talking to people and not taking their picture, and I like to read a book that has real paper pages. But I do remember that in 1985 I employed a first generation car phone (the size of a brick!), vital then for the growth of my business, and since 1983 used acomputer for work and now for leisure. Who wouldn’t value Skype for keeping in touch with family and friends overseas? And I was amazed and impressed this springby the clever use of social media to enable flood-displaced families from the Levels to keep in touch with their community and vice versa.

When we moved to Somerset from silicon fen (Cambridge), we found that Internet access was severely limited in Lopen: broadband was so slow (0.5Mb) that we could barely download documents nor use i-players. Fortunately, I am married to an engineer who realised that 2 miles away there was a BTexchange with 10Mb broadband speeds. It took him 3 months and a great deal of persistence, but eventually an engineer was persuaded (at no cost) to enable the exchange to increase the speed to our end of the village.

We now have about 5 Mb, enough for most purposes, and we’re told that if you ask for it, and live within a few miles of an exchange, even faster speeds are available. (If you want to know the potential in your postcode and what is actually available look at

The South West of England has the highest proportion of home workers in the UK, and in South Somerset at least 15% of workers operate from home and are likely to need good internet access to make a living. It’s vital for our children doing their homework these days and, for those without transport or the elderly, internet shopping can be a lifeline.

Government departments increasingly dictate that applications for benefits and also for example, car and TV licences,should be done online. What about the significant number of people who don’t have either the equipment or the confidence or aptitude to learn computer skills? This is becoming a key issue for the older farming community where rural payments, movement licences and animal passports all now require internet access.

If you read the gospel stories about Jesus, again and again he interrupts his teaching programme to spend time with people who are on the edge of the crowd, on the edge of society. So much so that the religious leaders complain he associates with the ‘wrong’ kind of people. What he was demonstrating was God’s concern for those who are marginalised in today’s world – the poor, the vulnerable, and now the un-connected. I’m sure he would be praying for those working for more equal access to services of all kinds – including communications.

Why don’t we too? And maybe you have a neighbour who would be grateful for some of your expertise or access to the internet….

Computers for Rural people is a scheme run by the Arthur Rank Centre (a church charity), to help country people on a budget; they provide low cost, refurbished laptops ordesktop computers. Prices start at £140, including all software, delivery and warranty. Call John Bennett on 02476853066

or email:

Annie Gurner, Rural Adviser, Diocese of Bath & Wells 07765 216818