One sunny day in March 2022, I looked down High Road from the top (pictured right) and saw a wonderful sight – nowhere along the newly 
tarmacked road could I see any overhead powerlines and their poles, television or street lighting cables or other distractions from the cabins, trees and shrubs. That view was a delight and justified all the hard work put in by Tom and a team of ground workers.
Now, in 2024, you could say the same about any of our roads – as the three-year project to upgrade all of the services is complete.
Conscious that the overhead power system would not last forever, we decided to put all the cables underground. This not only improves safety on the park but also enhances its natural aesthetic appeal. Months of planning and designing led to the start of a huge project which began in early 2022.
The ground at Churchwood is composed of what locals call shillet. Part solid rock, part soil laced with slivers of rock, it can be challenging to even the most powerful diggers. Add to that the need to avoid damaging water and soil pipes and you have a very tricky job.
Once the trenches are dug, there is the question what do you put in them? Apart from the obvious – the electrical cables – the next is water pipes, and what about TV distribution cables? The rule is “When digging a trench, put everything in it that you think you might need later”. So that led to optical fibre and specialist electrical cables used for broadband and wi-fi being put in; and finally additional ducts with pull through rope inside in case we wanted to add something else later, perhaps the next technological invention.
Now that the third phase of this project has been completed, the result is we have a way to connect a cable in every cabin to the incoming fast fibre cable that comes into our office so every cabin will, eventually be able to have its own router. And the electrical system is gale proof. The water system has been totally renewed and will be connected to cabins and switched on during our closed period next year, completing the upgrade of our underground services.
John Stansell.
