What we did – Fifty-Plus Digital

A young woman wearing a HausOfShee top and a much older African-Caribbean man. They are examining the contents of a SIM card pack. — Whitney, Data Bank SIM card, Walter

Social and digital inclusion in practice

Sheena Adae-Amoakoh – owner of local hair stylist HausOfShee – brought friends Akela and Whitney to help at the Digital Drop-in, 11 January 2023. Photos by Elliot Jones – based at Point Two Studio.

These community-conscious young volunteers are local entrepreneurs. Your grandchildren might know them.

Tap or click on any photo in the gallery to see a larger version, or start a slide-show (if you are not quite sure how to do that, please ask a helper).

An elderly African-Caribbean woman using a laptop, and a much younger woman wearing a HausOfShee top. Both are laughing. — Catherine and Sheena

Two people, both clearly post-retirement age. Gloria is seated with a laptop computer. Tom is standing, showing how to use a mouse, while Gloria watches. — Tom and Gloria

Two women - one aged about 20, the other aged over 50 - are working together with a laptop computer, a smartphone and a pile of paperwork. — Akela and Janice

Two people, both obviously post-retirement age - sitting at a table with a laptop computer. They look like they have found something interesting and amusing on the laptop screen. — James and Inna

A row of eight people, sitting at benches with laptop computers. Six are clearly post-retirement age. Two are much younger volunteers. — Community Digital

An African-Caribbean woman, elderly but evidently alert - is working on a laptop computer, plainly interested and absorbed by what she is doing. — Senior Citizen Patricia

An African-Caribbean man, probably aged 50 to 60 years - seated with a laptop on a bench, and a phone in his hands. A wry smile suggests contentment. — Senior Citizen Daniel

Elliot made a lot more photos. They are all very good, but we can’t publish them all here. However – if you are in one of Elliot’s photos, we will make sure you get a copy – in your email (you might need practice opening and saving photo attachments).

This session reminded us of the Pre-Pandemic Era, when we hosted more than 700 corporate volunteers via Benefacto from 2014 until COVID wrecked everything. Those volunteers were all really impressive – and made a huge, and memorable, impact.

We think employers (or HR departments) might be regaining confidence, though no enterprise has replaced Benefacto. But we are ready to help.

Update 18 January

We are sending the photos to you by email (because downloading and managing photos is a useful digital skill for you to learn).

Daniel liked his so much, he got it printed – apparently for less than £1.

We have moved our Friday afternoon courses and workshops to Monday afternoons in the main hall at Mildmay Community Centre – the same large space we use for the Wednesday afternoon drop-in – not the small café area we occupied last year.

As we expected, the move was an immediate success. The currrent course – Exploring the web with smartphones – was guaranteed to be full because we were able to arrange an alternative activity for the course waiting list. As it happened, everyone on the waiting list joined the course.

Right now, we have 14 training smartphones – 12 for learners, 1 for the projector, 1 contingency. We think we can double the size of smartphone courses as we learn the best way to utilise the main hall, perhaps as soon as February.

11 January 2023 – Multigenerational at Mildmay

Social and digital inclusion in practice

Update 18 January

9 January 2023 – our new space for groupwork