New Year's Eve

Are you a waver? I think I must be. As I potter through the village, particularly if I am driving, I wave at people coming the other way and sometimes they wave back. I have no idea who they are, and I am pretty certain they have no idea who I am either, but we dare not not wave for fear of upsetting the other party if it turns out we do know them.

It is particularly awkward if you have a car, as we do I confess, with an entirely unnecessary personalised number plate because it immediately identifies who we are to anyone coming the other way. But by the time I have realised that I am being waved at the waver has whizzed past and I am probably being roundly condemned for lacking the courtesy of waving in return.

What has this to do with the website you may well ask. You may well ask.

Thinking about the website, I have to say we have not yet been overwhelmed by responses to the forums Rob has set up. ‘Garland’ has made the point that white text on black is quite hard to read, and I must say I rather agree with him. Rob did make it clear right at the start that he had a propensity for grey, and I think that has been pretty well borne out!

New Year's Day Hunt

I don’t wish to upset Rob, but a few more comments from you to the same effect on the forum might encourage him to branch out into, I don’t know, a very delicate shade of pink perhaps, at least to start with. Perhaps he could experiment with this...

(Edit (Rob): At least I've used lots of different shades of grey! I understand the problem though and will experiment with a few other schemes. I will make some mock up pages and let the users decide by running a poll on the forum)

And if you need tree surgery, have a look at the local services section of the forum...

Pictures… I was given a stern talking to by Ian at the weekend in the Devonshire about the lack of any central storage for pictures taken in the parishes. He is quite right. There are always lots of people taking photographs at events; but who ever gets to see them I wonder? Would it be possible for those with a computer to download them to the website so that we can see them as well – warts and all – and so that they can be stored for posterity there? It is not very difficult, but if you have any problems drop a line to Rob at rob@beacon-villages.co.uk and he will explain all – he is only slightly frightening.

The website events calendar is also potentially very useful. You, that is, anyone and everyone reading this, have direct access to the calendar and you can add details to it whenever you like - it can be updated at any time without reference to anyone else. The only thing you cannot do I believe is amend or delete entries, but e-mail Rob (rob@beacon-villages.co.uk) with changes or deletions and he will see to it for you.

If you miss ‘The Beacon’ deadline, this is the calendar to be in. Take a look – it is only a few clicks away.

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.

Keep waving!

Robin Tilley - 10th January 2007