After all the campaigning, Broadband has arrived for subscribers on the Bawdeswell telephone exchange without any ballyhoo or trumpets sounding. 
Broadband provides a much faster connection to the Internet for computers and more importantly allows the telephone to be used at the same time.
Many computer owners have been renting a second telephone line to overcome this problem and now is perhaps the time to cease it and go for Broadband.
To get Broadband visit the website of several Internet Service Providers and choose the best option for you.  You need not  change your e-mail address.

Here is a summary of some of the deals on offer.

www.BT.com    from £17.99 a month  10x the speed of your present connection, but limited to 2 hours surfing per day.
£24.99  10x the speed of your present connection, but limited to 15 hours surfing per day.
£29.99 a month  20x the speed of your present connection. No limits.

www.tiscali.co.uk     £25 set-up fee
                                   £15.99 a month      3x the speed of your present connection.
      £24.99     10x the speed of your present connection.

www.onetel.co.uk     from £22.99         10x the speed of your present connection.
Pay £29.99 and included are free UK landline phone calls (to mobiles 2p/min).

www.wanadoo.co.uk      from £17.99      20x the speed of your present connection, 
     (Formerly Freeserve)                                                   but max 8 hours per day.

www.supanet.co.uk      from £19.97        10x the speed of your present connection.
£22.96   20x the speed of your present connection.  No other charges or restrictions.

The OneTel deal  that includes un-metered phone calls is  worth considering if your monthly phone calls exceed  £7.
Whatever your supplier you still need to pay BT  the line rental. Their call prices have come down a bit because of competition.  They have some interesting deals combining Line Rental and Calls, but  Broadband they market separately.  However, one package offers a low-cost extra phone line using the Broadband circuit. It is hard to work out what is best for you.  In general the special deals are only of benefit to heavy users, and the average household should stick to the simplest arrangement.

You can get more information on the Internet from the above websites or  visit www.bawdeswell.net  and put your question to  Just Ask or to Google.
 

Held in The Old Workhouse Bar on the first Thursday of the month at 7.30pm.

Our choices for November were   Touching the Void   by Joe Simpson and  Alias Grace  by Margaret Attwood.

By coincidence, the film of  Touching the Void  was on  TV on the evening of our book club, so we finished in good time to go and watch it !

This is the harrowing yet heart-warming account of the author who, as a young man, fell into a crevasse whilst climbing in Peru, was presumed dead by his companion, yet, despite a badly broken leg, made it down the mountain single handed against all the odds.
The book is well written, though I had difficulty with the early chapters, containing, as they did, many mountaineering terms: however, the book soon became gripping and left me wondering at the bravery and strength of character of the author and at the "madness" of mountaineering in general.
 
Alias Grace  is a novel based on the true story of Grace Marks who was convicted, at a very young age, of complicity in a double murder and spent many years in prison.

My sympathies were aroused by the account of Grace's early years but, once imprisoned, she  became an enigma for me in the way in which she apparently  accepts and adapts to her fate whilst, around her, doctors examine her, others pronounce her mad, yet others, believing in her innocence, campaign for her release and the governors wife makes use of her needlework skills.
I found the book an excellent read which held my attention to the end, at which point the reader is still left wondering at the truth of past events.

Our choices for the December meeting are :-

    The Stone Diaries  Carol Shields.
    Liza's England   Pat Barker.

       and for January :-

    The Lady in White   Wilkie Collins "
         --plus our own choice of poem.

                                                                    
                              Kath Miners