WOO wishes to be as environmentally friendly as possible, by reducing the use and need of paper leaflets and printed directories. And promoting recycling ideas and practices.

WOO wishes to give back to the community, by providing the helpful information that they may need all in one place, by creating awareness of local events, and by involving the local community with its specialist sections of interest.

WOO wishes to be non-political, unbiased and non-discriminatory.

WOO also wants to promote worthy businesses, groups, individuals and events, and to support where possible the many worthy charities and non-profit making groups, that give so much to our local communities, by providing free advertising space to help promote their awareness.

And although we are viewed and accessed worldwide, as we are based in Wales we wish to promote Wales as a whole, showing off our beautiful scenery, it's many interesting places, extraordinary talent, heritage, history and it's unique culture.

At the time there was no alternative, at home we had a large pile of extremely heavy paper directories that were always out of date, and the Pink card that only had a few entries and gave a few basic numbers, or we had the ability to use directory enquiries, which was limited to a maximum of three phone numbers at any one time, and cost you money on your phone bill. The cards on your local shop notice board were of no use when you were sitting at home or elsewhere.

As the internet arrived, we now have search engines such as Google, it's a great search engine but it can swamp the user with many pages of information that are not relevant , including being prioritised by many paid for advertisements.  The required information still has to be searched for from large lists and is not always automatically defined to your town or area.

BUT NOW WE HAVE WOO !

Many have asked me why I made WOO a website, and not followed the trend of others in making it a Facebook page, or a phone based Application.

The answer to this is simple. On Social Media such as facebook style pages, the information and data scrolls down as each new entry is made, gradually it is scrolled so far down it is impossible to find again or it is even deleted.

I wanted to provide the information in a static form, where users can rely on it always being in exactly the same place, and always at hand when it is needed, without having to search endlessly for where it has now gone.

WOO ensures that only the minimum information is recorded and stored safely, this will include the necessary Customer Data for those advertising which includes :-

Business name, business address, contact name, business phone number, business email address, 

No tracking of visitors or insertion of cookies is used by WOO

I started WOO as a personal project and with just one town in mind, Welshpool the town where I live. The original site over its years of development had many rewrites and style changes. Many new ideas were added and tried out and gradually it took its current form.

I was soon approached by other viewers asking if their town could also be included, soon Newtown was added and then later followed by others. The interest grew and I had to decide on where I would take it to in the future.

With the ever increasing development of its 'Special Sections', which covered and provided information on a wide number of subjects, Woo began attracting a wider base of viewers.

Over the last five years I noticed that I was being viewed and receiving messages from many viewers that were not based in Wales, many from the United States, Australia, and all across Europe. Some from Universities and groups that were requesting to use the site and its wide and varied content as part of their curriculum and as recommended viewing. This brought me to the conclusion that the site needed to be broadened, changed from being a 'Local' site to one that included everyone.

I still wanted to retain the 'Local' element, so the information pertaining to Wales was restructured into a Special Section of its own, while opening up the site to a much wider audience. Doing it this way will enable me to continue to build Woo as a trusted source for information and to develop new sections of interest as the need arises, for a much wider viewing base.

Woo has been since its inception, and is still currently financed out of my own pocket, and it does not produce any income. Spiraling living costs are making this very difficult for me as I am not working due to long-term illness, and to pay the associated costs means I have to scrimp, save and go without.  To ensure that  WOO continues I want to find a sponsor/sponsors that will at least cover the annual costs of domain registration and site hosting, and some of the day to day charges that I incur for electricity / computer purchase & maintenance / phone calls etc.