Community ‘really proud’ of Northamptonshire man’s MBE – who has dedicated two decades to improving rural broadband

A Northamptonshire man says the community is “really proud” that he has been honoured with an MBE, after dedicating two decades to improving broadband in his rural area.

81-year-old Eric Malcomson MBE, from Towcester, is the founder and chair of Tove Valley Broadband and received his Honour for services to the community in Tove Valley.

It was when Eric realised that rural internet was woefully far behind that of urban communities that he set about to give his area access far superior to what was available.

The 81-year-old set up a not-for-profit company in 2003, which delivers broadband to the communities of Abthorpe and Slapton and now has more than 700 members.

The work to deliver superfast broadband to the upper Tove Valley – from Foscote and Bradden to Wappenham and Weston – was completed at the end of March 2015.

Since then, the voluntary organisation has been connecting houses to fibre-optic broadband and in late 2021, there were around 250 members with these connections – funded by a government scheme.

Eric won TalkTalk’s 2013 ‘Digital Heroes’ award for the East Midlands region, and the project was mentioned in the House of Commons as an example of a community taking matters into its own hands.

His ongoing commitment during the past 20 years has meant Eric has reinvented the way Tove Valley Broadband gives the local area internet access three times over.

This was first achieved through a direct satellite connection, then village-to-village and house-to-house Wi-Fi, before finally offering a fibre optic network.

When asked how it feels to have received an Honour, Eric told the Chronicle & Echo: “It’s brilliant, absolutely brilliant. The thing over the last few days is that it’s obvious that the communities are really proud that someone in their ranks has got an MBE.”

It was in early November when the 81-year-old first found out about his Honour and he had to keep it under wraps until last Friday (December 29).

He had even spent time with family the day before he was able to tell anyone, which he says was a difficult task.

Eric’s journey first began when the business he worked at relied on being online, which made him more aware of the difficulties the rural communities in South Northamptonshire faced.

“I was in a business that favoured being in a rural area,” he said. “It was a national business that worked for the Ministry of Defence and authorities up and down the country.

“A lot of us worked from home and community was absolutely important. There was a necessity for good communication.”

Now, 21 years on, Tove Valley Broadband should complete all its projects this year and connect seven villages in the area with fibre broadband.

Eric has worked out that thanks to his not-for-profit organisation, members save an amassed total of around £250,000 a year compared to what they would all pay for the commercial options available.

“None of the big suppliers have bothered to come into our villages as they’re too rural,” said Eric.

Having had his work praised in Parliament, Eric described the feeling of “isolation” of living in a rural community and the fact it was nice to get into those circles to find out what others were doing.

“You get into these things because of your own necessity and everyone wants to join in and make it happen,” said the 81-year-old. “You don’t go out and say you want to achieve things in your lifetime, they happen organically.”

With a community of hundreds of members, Eric added: “Everybody has said broadband brought the community together and it made surviving the pandemic a lot easier.

“Some of the local businesses said it was an absolute Godsend that they could keep in touch. I know of several small companies that survived simply because of good broadband, and that gives a nice warm feeling.”

Looking to 2024, Eric shared that he will not do as much of the physical side that comes with Tove Valley Broadband. However, he will still be actively involved in the technical tasks in an administrative role.

“When you’ve got a community organisation, it motivates itself,” said Eric. “In the early days, no one believed we could do it. We did and now it’s got momentum.”