Quick introduction to start, my name is Rob McLean, and I am the Digital Inclusion Programme Officer covering the UK for Abilitynet in partnership with BT.
Having retired after a 39yr career with Tesco, I started volunteering with Abilitynet and Bloodbikes however after attending the British & Irish Symposium on Digital Inclusion on behalf of Abilitynet, I soon realised there was so much more to do to help older people to be included through learning digital skills.
I was then invited to apply for a project to deliver 4000 free training sessions in the UK to people over the age of 65 to become digitally included through a series of workshops and after being offered the role, I have since recruited 4 digital trainers to make sure we get at least this number of older people to become digitally included in our society and neighbourhoods.
We will be operating in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham and London and we are reaching out to ask for your help in contacting individuals, clubs, charities and so on to find the people that need support, how to use their phones, laptops, access digital appointments, pay for parking, video calling their family. The things most of us take for granted day to day but older people, our parents, and grandparents, feel that they need our help with.
You may wish to request a training session for yourself and a friend or a group. We can do this in the comfort of your home, at a local café, community hub or other local venue. I have included a link to our website to give more information and you can use this to request training sessions.
This will be a free service, funded by Abilitynet in partnership with BT. If you have any queries please free to drop me an email and I look forward to your response to help our local communities.
https://abilitynet.org.uk/free-tech-support-and-info/digital-skills-training-people-over-65
digitalskills@abilitynet.org.uk
Written by: Rob McLean, Digital Inclusion Programme Officer, Abilitynet