The Bilston On Line suite has it's origins in the form of a Millennium Project initiated for the Year 2000 Millennium Celebrations. For this a small number of Computers were purchased and the original version of this website was created. Later The Government launched The UK Online project. Locally, the project was a partnership between Wolverhampton City Council and Wolverhampton Federation of Community Organisations. The partnership was awarded a total of £400,000 to set up projects in Community Centres across the City.

The money was obtained from a bid to the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) and CMF funding. This Funding finally ran out on March 31^st2006, following considerable discussions and viability studies, The Management Committee of Bilston Community Association unanimously voted to maintain an I.T. facility in Bilston Community Centre this is run entirely at our own expense. The UK Online Brand Name was retained for our I.T. facility until late 2007 when it was decided to drop the UK Online branding as we receive no support from this source, thus The Bilston On Line Suite came into being.

Following careful consideration of all the options open to us we have decided to bring the On Line Suite in to the mainstream of our activities. Like all the other rooms in our centre use of the On Line Suite is available by pre booking only. Hire charges are currently £6 per hour (+ 15% Insurance Charge), Non-Members £10 per hour (+15% Insurance).

The New Bilston Online Centre (Part of Bilston Community Association) was officially opened on Saturday July 23rd 2011 by Lord Bilston - President of Bilston Community Association

Perils and Pitfalls of Upgrading a Computer Network

Having given the matter some thought I have put together a list of 'Standard Software' to install prepared the list appears below, note that most of it is Freeware.




Free video flip and rotate	So people can see their phone videos the right way up!
Firefox	A Fast modern Browser
PDF 24	A PDF reader/editor
Google Chrome
Google Earth Pro




Microsoft Office 2016 (Standard)	Excel. Outlook,Publisher PowerPoint and Word (Sadly Not Free!)
Microsoft Expression	Assorted design software including Expression Web a fully comprehensive website editor (All my websites are built with it)
Microsoft Edge
Open Shell	Gets rid of W10's awful Tiles and makes 10 look like 7
VLC Media Player	Windows 10 lacks a decent video player VLC is top notch and free

Technical Information

8 Computers - Running Microsoft Windows 10 Professional
Broadband Internet via Virgin Media Cable ("Up to 600Mb" service)
A3 Colour Copier/Printer
Photo Printing by special arrangement
If you have any special software you need to use please state this when booking, provided it is legal, and you can supply it we can arrange to install it for you.
If you have any suggestions for Useful FREE Software let us know
Fast Wi-Fi available - password r4d4g4st
Ever wondered what's inside your Computer? Watch this Video and find out. This video is on YouTube and can be viewed in Full High Definition if you have a fast broadband connection, c
Hire Charge £7.00 for affiliated members - £11.00 for none members (All charges per hour)
Caution if you have any download limits this is a large file so it could take you over your limit.

Bookings can be made via The Booking Officer as normal. Email enquiries to bcainfo@bilston.org