Electrifying News!

Another milestone for Broadlands was achieved on

Tuesday 17^th February at 14:00.

As many of you will know, for the last few years we have been planning to have our own power supply connected from the national network. For the last 50 years plus, Broadlands’ electricity has come from Suzanne and Dudley’s domestic consumer unit, and each month we were charged for what we used.

Not having our own power supply was a significant risk to continuity of business for Broadlands, so plans were put in place to determine what would be required to make this happen. Once we knew what was needed a budget was prepared and work started on how we were going to fund this project.

Unexpectedly last September we were fortunate to receive a funding grant from EHDC Rural Projects for the creation of a new Hub facility at Broadlands (more about this next month). The grant included the cost of connecting Broadlands to the SSE power network and also upgrading some of our onsite electrical systems.

Installing our new power supply involved various parties to agree who was responsible for each part of the installation. Broadlands team were responsible for installing a new connection and meter cabinet within Suzanne’s grounds.

SSE were required to plan and agree where our new electricity supply would be fed from, install a new telegraph pole and then run a cable underground to the green cabinet.

Rob Sanger, our local electrician, who looks after all our needs on site, specified all the necessary equipment needed. This included the massive 180 metre cable, which would bring the electricity supply from the new green cabinet underground to the electrical cupboard situated in the new Hub room.

With the cable safely buried in the ground and, having ruined Suzanne & Dudley’s lawn and old tennis court, the project was almost complete.

On Tuesday 17^th February at 14:00 hours, Broadlands was disconnected from Suzanne and Dudley’s consumer unit and reconnected to our own dedicated electrical supply - with much relief from myself. Although this process passed without ceremony it was a significant event in Broadlands history.

Now we have our own power supply we can look to the future and start the process of installing solar panels on site, generate our own power and sell any surplus to the national power grid, further improving the sustainability of the charity.

There are many people to thank who made this project possible, so my personal thank you to all of them.

Mark from SSEN, who along with his team went beyond what would be expected from a customer point of view. We could not have achieved the final result without him.

Huge thank you to Steve and Trish from Travis Perkins, Alton who continue with their ongoing support of Broadlands, and helped greatly with the trenching work required.

Rob Sanger our local electrician who planned, helped guide, and advised us on what was required at each stage.

EHDC Team for supporting Broadlands with the funding grant.

Suzanne and Dudley, who allowed us to site a green cabinet plus a new telegraph pole on their land and destroy their garden - although it will recover.

Finally, a very personal thank you to all the Maintenance Volunteer Team who again gave up their time to make this project happen.

~ Tony