Dave Denford at Clem's Day

Welcome to the new version of the Beacon Villages website. As you can probably see there have been quite a few changes over the last month. The old site is still available here, or by clicking on the "Beacon Villages Information" link in the top menu.

The new features are an attempt to make the site more community focused, and hopefully to make it a more useful resource for the people of the Beacon Villages. Over the coming months we hope to add in all the useful tourist and local information from the old site as well.

This month, it's probably best for me to explain the new features of the site one by one:

The News section of the site will be regularly updated with all kinds of information about recent events in the village. You'll find most of the sites editorial here, and pretty much all new content on the site will show up here first. While we will try and do most updates at the start of the month, stories can appear here at any time, so it's always worth checking.

The Forum section of the site is your chance to have your say. You can post anything in here, such as advertisements, announcements, suggestions, general chat etc. You just have to register first (click on the register link) then you will receive an email telling you how to activate your account. This board could be a great community resource if people use it.

Sticklepath Fireshow

Another feature of the forum that could be useful are the opinion polls. I've set one up here, just so you can see how they might work in gauging local opinion (you have to be logged in to vote). The main thing about the forum though, is that its no good to anyone if noone uses it - so post something today!

It would be great to hear your opinions on how the forum has been divided up, any new sections you would like or if you would like a section for your group/club/society. Simply post a message in the "Website Suggestions" board. If you have any trouble in accessing, registering or using the board - please don't hesitate to email me at rob@beacon-villages.co.uk.

The Events Calendar section of the site shows a basic calendar of all the events in the coming month(s). The major change over the old calendar is that users can add their own events online. To add an event, just click on "Add Event" button and fill in the form. It is best to be careful though, as while you can add events, to prevent abuse, users cannot edit or delete events. If you make a mistake and would like an event changed or deleted, please email me at rob@beacon-villages.co.uk.

Events will be stored on this calendar indefinitely, so you will be able to check on the date of a past event or add events months or even years in the future.

The Photo Archive section of the site is pretty self explanatory. All the photo slideshows posted on the site will be posted here on a month by month basis. The photos will first appear as articles on the News page, and will then be posted onto this page as they get older. This should help to build up an easily accessible photo archive over the coming months and years. The photo archive is still there on the old site, but at present we have no plans to move them over to the new system.

As you may be able to see, most of the new features on the site are dependent on input from you. The more people who use the site, the more useful it will become. If you'd like to have your say, provide some photos or would even like your own section of the website, then please let us know.

The website is still under development and you're likely to see even more improvements and changes over the coming months. If you have anything you'd like to see put up here then please let us know.

Rob Herridge - 1st December 2006