Digger Day: Children in North Yorkshire receive an educational adventure in connectivity

Rural broadband provider Quickline Communications teamed up with civil engineering business PBS Construction to show pupils at Escrick Primary School how the internet reaches their homes.

More than 600 homes in and around the community of Escrick can now connect to Quickline’s full fibre broadband as part of Project Gigabit - the government-funded programme enabling hard-to-reach communities to access lightning-fast gigabit-capable broadband.

It targets homes and businesses not included in broadband suppliers’ commercial rollout plans, reaching parts of the UK that might otherwise miss out on upgrades to next-generation speeds.

The school Digger Day is a joint project by East-Yorkshire based Quickline and their build partner PBS Construction designed to help improve understanding and awareness of the delivery of full fibre broadband in their communities.

The event comprised a short presentation to a full school assembly to explain the work Quickline and PBS are undertaking in the village followed by the opportunity for all pupils to see a digger up close in the playground and learn more about how it operates.

Tamara Butterworth, social values executive at Quickline said: “We have been working with PBS in Escrick over recent months to build our network in the village and so people have seen us, our vehicles and our equipment around.

“It’s really important to us that we foster relationships with the communities we serve and spending time at school, talking to the children about what are doing is a great way of bringing it to life and educating them at the same time.”

Tom Leake, Operations Manager at PBS Construction, said: “Our diggers are often a source of real delight and excitement for children when they see them in their own community. Offering them the chance to get up close and ask questions helps us to properly engage with them as well as affording us the opportunity to explain more about what we do and importantly, remind them of the measures we take on site to keep them all safe.”

More Digger Days are being planned for the new school year with hundreds more children set to be involved in the programme from September.