AN "ABLE bunch" of rural parishioners is digging in to bring hyperfast broadband to their homes.

The people of Stainton, near Sedgwick village, are tackling sluggish internet speeds by taking matters into their own hands, with help from the experts at Broadband for the Rural North.

Known as B4RN, the non-profit society has already helped many villages and hamlets across Cumbria and Lancashire to link up to a community-owned, fibre optic broadband network, offering a speed of 1GB - many times faster than that achieved by old-style BT copper lines.

Geoff Wilson, who is part of the steering group for the B4RN Stainton project, told the Gazette that the first few metres of digging across the Lancaster Canal near Stainton were now completed.

Digging coordinator Mike Wright met with members of the team and local firm Lowther & Dawson to carry out work on the canal crossing - described as a "momentous occasion".

A sunny Saturday morning saw the plastic cable duct that will carry the main cable into the parish laid across the canal, in just a couple of hours.

This section is described as "a vital part of the entry route of the network to the parish". It paves the way for Stainton's network to link to the existing network at Viver, near Hincaster, and then run through to the main cabinet at Crosscrake church, feeding routes to all parts of the parish.

Fibre optic cable with a bandwidth capacity of 1,000Mbps will eventually be "blown" into the plastic duct.

Meanwhile, everyone is welcome to the Punch Bowl pub, Barrows Green, on Tuesday, June 26, for a community event to find out more about the project and get involved. The meeting starts at 8pm.

For more, see www.b4st.org.uk