Welcome to my first blog entry - future editions, I promise, will include some interesting pictures and won't be structured like the essay this one has become!
But I have to start somewhere and this is to thank my sponsors for their kind support and generous donations to the Dhawa Wireless Internet Project.
A blog has become the usual format for projects like this, but most charity blog entries seem to start along the lines of "sorry its been so long since I've written..". So I've decided to only send an update when something momentous has happened.
So what's momentous this time? Well, with your support, we have raised enough money to cover the provisional budget for the project, which is a great achievement. In total, £3933 has been raised. £3212 will go towards network equipment, via Learning Planet, whilst the remaining £720 will go to Engineers Without Borders.
The sum is made up of many constituent parts; individual contributions, enthusiastic consumption of chocolate and crisps at my Tuckshop, and an extremely successful fundraising event held just last weekend in Somerset.
I owe many thanks - too many to mention individually, but a special shout-out goes to all those that helped make the fundraising event last weekend a success. There was an abundance of cakes and jams for sale, all of which were kindly gifted. And an excellent exhibition of pottery from my Mum's pottery group. So thank you to all those involved.
I recently said my goodbye's at work to start my sabbatical, which means I can now focus on developing and testing the network. Hopefully before I leave later this month, I will have achieved another significant milestone - which is to broadcast update #2 from a fully operational wireless mesh testbed in the UK.
Till then, its bye for now.
Matt