Latest news with #Daventry
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Staff at ex-BBC site are 'custodians of legacy'
Staff at a former BBC radio transmission station that opened 100 years ago say they are "custodians of the legacy". The station on Borough Hill in Daventry, Northamptonshire, opened on 27 July 1925. It beamed the BBC World Service across the globe for 60 years before closing in 1992. The site is now occupied by telecommunications firm Arqiva and maintains transmitters across the country. The landmark site once had 40 masts and towers, but now one solitary 100m (328ft) mast remains, transmitting digital radio. The transmitter halls at Borough Hill look very different now, too. They were once home to huge racks of equipment, with glowing water-cooled valves, flashing lights and indicator needles in glass cases. Now they are now full of metal shelves and look very like any of the dozens of warehouses that have sprung up in Daventry since the BBC arrived. But the Arqiva staff here have not forgotten the role played by this hilltop encampment in the BBC days. Stuart Turpin, warehouse and logistics lead at the site, said he was "a custodian of the legacy - you're looking after the place, you're doing your best to maintain it as well, and keep the legacy going". The warehouses hold spares for transmitters across the UK - anything from a small lithium battery to a giant antenna. A small team of engineers repairs broken transmitter components and tests them thoroughly before sending them back out. Phil Critchley, a senior engineer, said: "This is vital - this is what keeps the broadcast network on air. "Anything that's out in the field, at a transmitter site, is replicated here at Daventry so we can make sure it's working, ready to be used again." Mr Critchley said he lived in Daventry as a child and would "look up at Borough Hill thinking 'what a wonderful place it would be to work'. "So here I am." Another key part of the site's role now is what is called disaster recovery (DR). If a transmitter collapses, catches fire or just refuses to work, there are mobile cabins that can be sent out with all the equipment needed to get TV or radio services back on air, including temporary masts. Alan Storer, an engineer, was involved in restoring services when the Bilsdale mast in North Yorkshire caught fire, disrupting TV and radio for a million people. "We got most of the services up and running within the first week," he said. "We had DR containers placed in places so that work [on a permanent replacement] could carry on but services would still be broadcast." He added that the history of Borough Hill was one of the things that inspired him to get a job there. "It's a dream come true for me," he said. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. More related stories Town marks centenary of making radio history B BC centenary marked at first national radio transmitter Transmitter fire disrupts TV and radio signals Related internet links Arqiva Daventry Museum 100 Years On exhibition
BBC News
4 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Staff at former Daventry BBC site are 'custodians of legacy'
Staff at a former BBC radio transmission station that opened 100 years ago say they are "custodians of the legacy".The station on Borough Hill in Daventry, Northamptonshire, opened on 27 July beamed the BBC World Service across the globe for 60 years before closing in site is now occupied by telecommunications firm Arqiva and maintains transmitters across the country. The landmark site once had 40 masts and towers, but now one solitary 100m (328ft) mast remains, transmitting digital transmitter halls at Borough Hill look very different now, were once home to huge racks of equipment, with glowing water-cooled valves, flashing lights and indicator needles in glass they are now full of metal shelves and look very like any of the dozens of warehouses that have sprung up in Daventry since the BBC the Arqiva staff here have not forgotten the role played by this hilltop encampment in the BBC days. Stuart Turpin, warehouse and logistics lead at the site, said he was "a custodian of the legacy - you're looking after the place, you're doing your best to maintain it as well, and keep the legacy going".The warehouses hold spares for transmitters across the UK - anything from a small lithium battery to a giant antenna. A small team of engineers repairs broken transmitter components and tests them thoroughly before sending them back Critchley, a senior engineer, said: "This is vital - this is what keeps the broadcast network on air."Anything that's out in the field, at a transmitter site, is replicated here at Daventry so we can make sure it's working, ready to be used again."Mr Critchley said he lived in Daventry as a child and would "look up at Borough Hill thinking 'what a wonderful place it would be to work'."So here I am." Another key part of the site's role now is what is called disaster recovery (DR).If a transmitter collapses, catches fire or just refuses to work, there are mobile cabins that can be sent out with all the equipment needed to get TV or radio services back on air, including temporary masts. Alan Storer, an engineer, was involved in restoring services when the Bilsdale mast in North Yorkshire caught fire, disrupting TV and radio for a million people."We got most of the services up and running within the first week," he said."We had DR containers placed in places so that work [on a permanent replacement] could carry on but services would still be broadcast."He added that the history of Borough Hill was one of the things that inspired him to get a job there."It's a dream come true for me," he said. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
6 days ago
- BBC News
Northamptonshire man banned from farms after dogs kill sheep
A man who admitted repeatedly letting his dogs chase and injure sheep, causing several deaths, has been banned from walking dogs anywhere near livestock for seven years.A farmer called Northamptonshire Police in March to say two dogs had chased and injured two of their heavily pregnant sheep in a field near Preston Capes, south of Daventry, one of which went on to give birth to three stillborn lambs and later died Lopez-Vidal, 62, of Laburnum Close, Woodford Halse, admitted five counts of being the owner of a dog worrying was ordered to pay almost £3,000 in fines and compensation and banned from taking dogs anywhere near agricultural land. Police said its rural crime team identified that Lopez-Vidal's dogs were linked to other incidents where sheep had been attacked, including one in December last year and another in involved ewes or lambs left distressed, injured or a result, he was charged with five counts of being the owner of a dog worrying of the affected farmers told officers: "This incident has really upset me, seeing what my ewes have gone through is heart-breaking."We respect our animals and look after them to the best of our abilities and I have lost confidence in people who go through our field as I am constantly worrying if they will have their dogs on leads, whether they will stick to the footpath or whether I will be verbally abused if I were to ask them to keep their dog on a lead and respect our footpaths."PC Chloe Gillies said: "The repeated failure of Jose Lopez-Vidal to be a responsible dog owner has caused farmers... a huge amount of upset."Although Lopez-Vidal did identify himself to two affected farmers and apologised to them, he took no steps to change his behaviour or keep his dogs on leads to prevent further attacks."By letting his dogs run wild, his actions led to the unnecessary injury and deaths of ewes and lambs, causing heartbreak to the farmers and leaving them also suffering financially."The order imposed on Lopez-Vidal was made under section 1A of the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act Gillies said it was possibly the first time "such an order like this has been issued in our county".It requires Lopez-Vidal to prevent the entry of any dog which he has charge of from going onto land which he knows, or reasonably ought to know, is agricultural land, on which livestock is present, or is likely to be present, for seven years. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
23-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
Sir Terry Waite recalls how BBC news was 'tapped on cell wall'
Former Beirut hostage Sir Terry Waite has been recalling how news from the BBC World Service was tapped out in code on a wall for him by a fellow Terry, 86, says the World Service broadcasts from the transmitter station in Daventry, Northamptonshire, gave him hope while he was chained to a wall in darkness day and Terry, who now lives near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, was released in 1991 after 1,763 days in captivity in week sees the centenary of the opening of the station at Daventry. As the Archbishop of Canterbury's special envoy, Sir Terry went to Lebanon in 1987 to try to secure the release of hostages, but ended up in captivity himself. He told BBC Radio Northampton's Annabel Amos that the conditions he was kept in were very basic."I was kept in a dark room, sometimes below ground, sometimes above ground, in a bombed-out building," he said."I slept on the floor, I was in the dark most of the time, I was blindfolded and chained by the hands and feet to a wall for 23 hours and 50 minutes a day.""Looking back, I wonder how I survived it." With no access to books, newspapers, television or radio, Sir Terry was completely isolated from the outside then he discovered there were other hostages in the next cell, and he decided to try to communicate with them without the guards finding said: "I began to tap on the wall: one for A, two for B."It's then you regret your name is Terry Waite because it's a long way down the alphabet!"It took about two years of laboriously tapping out his name before someone responded. The hostages nextdoor turned out to be the British journalist John McCarthy and the Irish writer Brian Keenan, who had heard Sir Terry's tapping but had been unable to respond until one of them was chained next to the wall."They had a small radio," said Sir Terry, "and they were able to get the World Service. "They used to communicate with me by tapping on the wall and telling me the latest news."Just before the end of his captivity, Sir Terry became ill and was given a small first time he turned it on, he heard a broadcast of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius: "That was the first music I'd heard for years, and I remember how much it brought me some comfort and some harmony into my life." After his release, Sir Terry visited Daventry to thank the BBC team for transmitting the radio programmes that became his said the Daventry station was "fulfilling a valuable function around the world - long may it continue".The centenary of the opening of the Daventry transmitting station takes place on Sunday. The World Service is now broadcast from Woofferton in Shropshire. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
21-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
Daventry school makes improvements after funding warning
A secondary school has said it has made improvements after it was sent a government letter warning it could lose its funding - following a critical Ofsted report. The Department of Education (DofE), wrote to The Parker E-ACT Academy, Daventry, Northamptonshire, in June, stating that it had not acted quickly enough to address its "weaknesses".It said that levels of pupil absence were too high and there were several issues with staff who did not address gaps in school said the DofE had told the academy it was "satisfied" it "was able to "deliver higher standards at the school rapidly and sustainably". The action comes after an Ofsted report in May rated the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes and leadership and management as DofE letter, written by Carol Gray, regional director, said: "The school, including the trust, has not taken effective action, or acted quickly enough to address the school's weaknesses."It "requires significant improvement", the letter added. It said school work had declined and it should "ensure swift action is taken to address the priority issues that have been identified".This includes ensuring that staff have the right knowledge, expertise and ongoing support to bring about the required absence was too high and children, including those with special educational needs (SEND) were "regularly absent from school, which means they miss out on learning". The letter said pupils were not learning as well as they should and the school had to "ensure that staff check pupils' understanding so that misconceptions and gaps in learning can be addressed"."In too many subjects, staff do not make appropriate adaptations for pupils with SEND to access the curriculum," it Gray said: "I need to be satisfied that the trust has capacity to deliver rapid and sustainable improvement at the academy. "If I am not satisfied, I will consider whether to terminate the funding agreement in order to transfer the academy to an alternative academy trust." 'Journey of transformation' An E-ACT Academy spokesperson said the DofE had told the school it had "confidence in the trust to deliver higher standards at the school rapidly and sustainably". It said a new head teacher, Maughan Johnson, was put in place in April, as well as a new deputy head teacher and education the team, "we have acted quickly and decisively to address the issues raised in the January report", they said. "We are confident that this administrative process will end shortly as we continue to make the necessary improvements to our school."The Parker is already a very different place to the one inspected over half a year ago and we are fully committed to finishing this journey of transformation."They added that since the letter had been sent a month ago, it had "made significant strides, and the Department for Education has now confirmed that they have no plans for termination." Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
