Hoyland Community Centre gets hooked up to free WiFi courtesy of Virgin Media

The company recently announced its expansion of its ultrafast broadband network in Hoyland, providing more than 10,000 homes and businesses access to the UK’s fastest widely available broadband speeds of 516Mbps. Virgin Media’s top speeds are 15 times faster* than the local average. 

As part of its community engagement projects in locations across the UK, Virgin Media connected Hoyland Common Community Centre free of charge to support the valuable services it provides to local Hoyland residents.

The centre is visited by more than 150 residents per week and has been an integral part of the community for the last 15 years since its rescue from closure by the Forge Community Partnership.  Residents go to the Hoyland Common Community Centre for a broad range of reasons, from employment advice, community interest projects and much more.

By providing the centre with ultrafast broadband, the local community will be able to benefit from greater connectivity which is so important in the modern age. For example, elderly residents live stream classical arts when visiting the facility.

Hugh Woolford, Regional Director for North East and Yorkshire at Virgin Media, said: “At Virgin Media we are committed to giving back to communities. That is why we have provided Hoyland Common Community Centre with our ultrafast broadband, completely free. This will give the community a space to come together and get all the benefits of increased connectivity. We’re really proud to have gone the extra mile for Hoyland.”

Neil Spencer, CEO of Forge Community Partnership, said: “We are delighted to have secured this great opportunity for the community, the potential for intergenerational groups and the wider members of the community to benefit and embrace better access and future development opportunities is becoming a reality”.

The Forge Community Partnership is based in the centre of Hoyland and has been active since 1998, with the long-standing goal advancement of education, relief of poverty and improved wellbeing of the local community. The partnership supports environmental, educational, social and leisure projects and activities in Hoyland.

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Notes to Editors

*The average (median) broadband speed in Barnsley is 33.4Mbps. Source: Ofcom, Connected Nations Report 2018, published 18 December 2018.

** Download speeds calculated using www.download-time.com

About Virgin Media

Virgin Media offers four multi award-winning services across the UK and Ireland: broadband, TV, mobile phone and landline.

Our dedicated, ultrafast network delivers the fastest widely-available broadband speeds to homes and businesses and we’re expanding this through our Project Lightning programme, which could extend our network to up to 17 million premises.

Our interactive Virgin TV service brings live TV, thousands of hours of on-demand programming and the best apps and games to customers through a set-top box, as well as on-the-go through tablets and smartphones.

Virgin Mobile launched the world’s first virtual mobile network and offers fantastic value and innovative services with 4G connectivity. We are also one of the largest fixed-line home phone providers in the UK and Ireland.

Through Virgin Media Business we support entrepreneurs, businesses and the public sector, delivering the fastest widely available broadband speeds and tailor-made services.

Virgin Media is part of Liberty Global, the world’s largest international TV and broadband company. Liberty Global connects 21 million customers through operations in 10 countries across Europe subscribing to 45 million TV, broadband internet and telephony services. It also serves 6 million mobile subscribers and offers WiFi service through 12 million access points across its footprint.