News article appearing in the Fleet News on 17 Oct 2003

Young Poets on the Web

YOUNGSTERS let their imaginations run wild when they entered a poetry competition.

Organised by Allan Gibson, who runs the Fleet and Church Crookham community website, pupils at Heatherside and Velmead schools were asked to write on the topic 'Carnival, Funfairs and Fetes'.

Former Hart Council chairman Ann Kern, who judged the competition, said: "I was pleased to accept the challenge of choosing the best of some very good poems.

"I was looking for poems that gave a flavour of the whole carnival event that someone confined to their home could imagine.

"Food was a very common theme, as were smells and I particularly liked the babies crying and balloons flying away into the sky. Many started' with entering the carnival, taking you through the day and 

then winding down to a close at night. Congratulations to everyone that took part - you were all winners in your own way."

Mr Gibson added: "The poems are an enthralling view into the minds of children. "Candyfloss and popcorn were the most mentioned memories.

Each winner received a Fleet Pond Society poster, a ' certificate and a family ticket to either Wellington Country Park, Birdworld, Beaulieu, The Museum of Army Flying, Blue Reef or Beale Park.

The winners: Year 3, Michelle Brooks, Katherine Bett, Daizi Davies, Juliette and Sarah-Jane Colver; Year 4, James Clifford, Emma Silvester; Year 5, Heather .Broadbent; Year 6, Annadel Horner, Alice Livingston.

All the entries can be viewed at the website www.fleethants.com.

 

 

 

Young 
poets with
their certificates

News article appearing in the Star in July 2003 regarding fleethants.com wordsearch competition

Animal magic at Velmead
Pupils of class P3K at Velmead Junior School in Fleet are wordsearch champs.
 They were doing research into the origins of the town and used the local website, www.fleethants.com, where they found a word competition produced by the Fleet Pond Society .
 The contest asked for fifteen animal names in the wordsearch jumble.
 The class actually found eighteen names hidden in the game, some of which the organisers had not noticed.
 		 Webmaster Allan Gibson felt this deserved special congratulations and Colin Gray, Chairman of Fleet Pond Society, agreed.

Class teacher Valerie Kennedy fixed a presentation date and the class was presented with their 'Wordsearch Champions' certificate at a school assembly, along with a laminated poster of Fleet Pond.
 Said Mrs Kennedy: 'The children are delighted to have done so well and it was a lovely surprise for them at assembly.' Allan Gibson said he plans to organise more competitions for children soon, so watch the web.

News feature appearing in the Fleet News and Courier in January 2002 regarding fleethants.com

Allan uses his retirement years to put Fleet's community on the net

Greig Box meets a man who has turned his leisure time into a learning curve and built an internet website that benefits the area

A retired Fleet man has proved that you can still teach an old dog new tricks following the success of his own community web pages.
 Allan Gibson, of Elms Road, taught himself how to design and set up an internet website by reading computer  magazines, and last March he launched Fleets own community web page.
 Now the Fleet site has grown in popularity and has received an impressive 20,000 hits without any advertising.
 The aim of Allan's project is to provide something for the community, by the community.
 He also wanted to steer clear of any officialdom, and was determined to keep the site light-hearted but informative.
 He said: "Many community sites are simply lists of links, names, addresses and telephone numbers.
 "I wanted to create a site that was not only informative but also user-friendly and fun.
"A community is made up of many layers of differing people, views and activities.
 "I decided to make each page totally different to reflect this, making the page design suit the information content.
 He added: " The links  and 

heading 'To the 
community from the community for the community' remain the same to retain a community identity."
 The colourful site contains a wealth of information about Fleet, Church Crookham and Crookham Village - all painstakingly inputted by Allan.

"I am amazed at the sheer volume of activity in Fleet"

 It has become the official website for the annual Fleet Carnival and has devoted a lot of space to Fleet in Bloom and many other local events.
 The site has become Allan's passion and since he retired from BT in 1995, after 35 years of service, it has become an excellent way to occupy his mind.
 He said: "I just enjoy and love doing it, it is just like a hobby and I hope it is of use to the community.
 "Computers have always fascinated me and I learnt a bit about them at BT. I had a bit of spare time on my hands and decided to get involved.
 "Since March last year a  
 

  day has not gone by where I have not worked on it
"It was difficult at first to set up, but once it got 
going it started to flow more and more."
 But the hardest part for Allan has been trying to get all the organisations, societies and clubs
together onto the website, and he said there was still some way to go.
 "He added:" I am amazed at the sheer volume of activity that exists in Fleet and Crookham, but my aim is, if it is in Fleet it should be on the website.
 "I want it to reflect the views of the community.
 "If someone has not got a website I can do it for them and provide a link through my site.
 "Or I can just do a link from my website to theirs as well."
 Allan's three children have also got involved. Claire, 15, loves animals and helps her dad with the pets section.
 David,21, who has a HND in IT, helps with technical problems and is also planning to review all of the pubs in the area-a hard job but someone has to do it!
 Matthew, 19, who is studying for a HND in music, is looking after the 
 		 arts section.
 However, Allan's wife Chris has no interest in the internet and happily leaves
the rest of the family to it.
 A determined and enthusiastic Allan also hopes to branch out to  
Hartley Whitney if there is a demand.
 He added:"I have financed this myself, but I hope to advertise in the future. I am not interested in profit and all voluntary organisations and charitable 

"I'm not interested in profit ... it's for the community"

non-profit-making activities are displayed free of charge.
 "This site is for the community and if anyone wants anything put on it then let me know-it is your site"
 You can get anything from weather forecasts to sport or history. New items are being added daily so why not check it out for yourself on www.fleethants.com.
 You can e-mail Allan on community@fleethants.com or telephone him on 01252 684811 if you want to add something to the website