Hi,
In August 2013 Andrea Leadsom MP nominated me, Eric Malcomson, for a TalkTalk Digital Hero Award.
Now you all know that I head the Abthorpe Broadband Association and Tove Valley Communities Superfast Broadband Project, but it is the organisations that really deserve the accolades. From now on therefore it is "we" not "I".
In September, we were notified that we were one of three finalists in the East Midlands region - there are 12 regions in the British Isles.
Voting was down to public participation requiring a Facebook "like" or logging on to the TalkTalk website to cast votes. A message was sent to all our email addresses and some freinds (and family) outside the area and the result was.... we won!  £5000! A big thank-you to all who voted and our next step will be to circulate a nomination form to gather ideas on how to spend the money for the benefit of the communities.

To collect the award, someone had to go to the Houses of Parliament to a reception at which the awards were given out.  So it took me 2 seconds to decide to go myself and take my wife Barbara with me. An additional excitement was that we were automatically entered into a national competition with the other 11 heroes to win a further £5000. This prize was to be announced during the presentations. On the 29th of October, Barbara and I set off. It was the day after the storms, so no travel problems. We had a little wander around Trafalgar Square with the rest of the half-term visitors and then on down to the Houses of Parliament. We met the other heroes on College Green - the one you see all the TV presentations from - and had our pictures taken.  Then it was off through the security gates and in to the Palace of Westminster.
We walked down the Westminster Hall, across the Central Lobby and down the Thames side of the House of Lords to the Churchill room - possibly named because there are several pictures painted by Sir Winston hanging on the walls.
There was a lovely reception and we met several MPs including Andrea who came to support us. The MPs were rushing back and forth because there were "divisions" going on - there were TV screens all over the place showing what bill, amendment and so forth was being voted on and the MPs had eight minutes to get from wherever they were to the division lobbies to vote.
Amidst all this going on, a GirlGuiding friend of Barbara - Lady Helen Boswell - gate-crashed our reception and caught up with us to share our anticipation of the final award.

Sad to say we did not get the national award but earlier, while our region awards were being presented by Dido Harding and Martha Lane Fox, I did comment to my ladies that Scott Freeman who set up CyberSmile, a charity with resources to combat cyber-bullying, would be the deserved winner. My prediction was right.

After the awards, Helen took us on a little tour to places only where a Lord's wife could go. I'll be locked up in the tower if I tell you, but I must say the broom cupboard   in the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft was interesting.

After a nice Italian, Barbara and I wandered homeward happily. I wondered why she was so surprised that I hailed a taxi to take us across London.

Eric.