Annual Report of the L&D Community Network for the Year Ended 31 March 2002. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chairman's Report by Bony Shamalo --------------------------------- I am pleased to report that after our first full year of activity it is becoming clear that for this revolutionary project, which is one of the first Freenetworks", we have made good progress towards our primary aim of establishing a high speed wireless (WiFi) network throughout the Luton and Dunstable Area. At this stage we are measuring success in terms of growth in membership, interest and support, rather than equipment installed. We have demonstrated the technical advantages of using "wireless" to give us performance and cost effectiveness unmatched elsewhere. The speed of the network allows facilities beyond current Internet and at "virtually free" running cost. Our association with the voluntary group "Consume", the acknowledged leaders of this technology country-wide, is very important to us. It is a source of technical innovation, advice, legal information, interaction with government departments, standards and regulations, social and community activities, member database and location mapping, general support, discount rate equipment and DIY equipment for us. In return we have offered demonstrations and video to help promote the cause. We will, in due course be able to offer free access to our network to all Consume members. Our Secretary has attended two of the meetings in London. The problems we have faced, include working without any funding. Currently we do not impose subscriptions and have no other source of external funding. We hope to rectify this next year. Funding will mean that we can plan the network and place club-owned wireless access points where they will be most effective. Because of the lack of funds, we have no regular meeting place, which makes it difficult to get to know the other members, other than by e-mail. If we can resolve the funding, we could also set up regular meetings. Two Committee meetings have been held at our private houses. Looking on the positive side, the membership and support has grown to the critical level where we are considering the go-ahead to implementing the network. So next year should be quite exciting. Secretary's Report by Paul Clarke --------------------------------- This report covers membership, demonstrations, the volunteer scheme and video of local events and the Digital Media Competition 2001. During the year our membership in the L&D area has grown from nothing to over thirty. This growth looks like continuing with regular replies from the website, personal contact and newspaper advertising. Membership should increase dramatically once we start implementing the network and observers can see it in action. During the year we have acquired a set of demonstration network equipment and have given demonstrations of the network at: --- 33 Arts Centre in Luton --- Lea Manor Youth Club --- Voluntary Action Luton --- Marsh Farm Centre We are happy to give demonstrations on request. Under the volunteer scheme (in connection with Luton Lives) during the year we have had 8 volunteers helping us at various times. In return for help with filming (on video) and digital processing of the video, we gave training in the use of the equipment and software. Currently expenses are paid out of our pockets. We hope to expand this scheme in future with the help of external funding. About 50 videos of local events have been produced and put on the network in digital form. An assortment of older videos have been put on the internet in RealVideo Format at the Eastern Region Broadband Consortium website: http://www.psilogica.co.uk/eb2/Luton/webcasts.asp and are suitable for playing with modems, ISDN and broadband connections. Among the local events that we covered were the Luton Carnival and the Black History Month events including the successful, and over-subscribed, week-long Animation Workshop run by Kidz 'n' Computers. The Digital Media Competition 2001 has had a good response with over 40 entries. Judging these has been time consuming and a panel of young people from the 33 Arts Centre have made a big contribution to this. We hope to announce the winners shortly and distribute the prizes. Treasurers Report by David Mangoro ---------------------------------- This report covers the financial state of the club, the appointment of auditors, the bank account and the statement of accounts. Despite not having a bank account, the club has been busy spending money on administrative matters and these have been paid out of members pockets, i.e. voluntary contributions. Without these the club would not have been able to keep going. Our current balance is zero pounds. It should be noted that at present the club owns no network equipment. At present all equipment is owned by the members so this does not appear as an item in the accounts. This will change next year when the network goes operational. We need to appoint an independent auditor and if anyone knows of a person willing to do this, please let me know. We are now in the process of opening a bank account. The unaudited statement of accounts is attached. Public Relations Officer's Report by Pearl Nuworgah -------------------------------------------------- This report covers publicity activities, the website, contacts, and funding. We have produced and distributed hundreds of leaflets, brochures and posters. We have had advertisements for our meetings placed in the "club" pages of the local newspapers throughout most of the year. We sent out invitations to join to about 60 local schools but had a disappointing response with interest shown by only three of them. The website and e-mail are effective ways of distributing information to members and other interested people. We have sent out reports, minutes of meetings and monthly newsletters this way - at very low cost. The website has attracted many new members. We have made contact with many different departments in Luton Borough Council, including Arts, IT, Lottery Funding, Sport, Lifelong Learning, etc... Importantly, we have established many contacts with a large number of local voluntary organisations. These could well form the basis for the network. Most of these organisations have computers, some have lots of computers and a single wireless access point could serve all their computers. This would be a cost efficient communication solution for those organisations. We are working on putting together bids for funding from lottery and other sources. ----------------------------------- L&D Community Network Unaudited Accounts Income and Expenditure Accounts for the year ending 31/03/02 Expenditure £ Income £ Clubroom Hire 15.00 Donation 103.04 Office Expenses inc. post 54.74 Volunteers Expenses 2.00 Travel to Meetings 31.30 -------- ------- TOTAL 103.04 TOTAL 103.04 Cash in hand at 31/03/01 = £0.00 Cash in hand at 31/03/02 = £0.00 There is currently no bank account. Officers Report In our opinion the accounts set out above give a true and fair view of the L&D Network Club's financial situation at 31/03/02. Signed ........................................... Secretary Date: ............................................ Signed .......................................... Treasurerr Date: ............................................ ----------------------------------- Contact Information: E-mail: wlan@freeuk.com For L&D Community Network Website: http://www.wlan.freeuk.com IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO RECEIVE THESE MAILINGS PLEASE REPLY WITH THE WORD "UNSUBSCRIBE" IN THE SUBJECT LINE.