What a month it’s been: from re-launching our after-school sessions, to starting new drop-in schemes; and rounding the month off with a visit to a fantastic launch event. Here’s what we got up to…
Digital help
Over the course of September, we’ve had 102 visits to us – all throughout the county, and all at free drop-in sessions.
The pilot scheme in Bexhill (providing support alongside the Primary Care Network, Rother District Council, and Citizens Advice 1066) has been extended, and we’ve also been trialling new sessions with Community Wise and Eastbourne Foodbank.
We’ll be at St. Richard’s on the fourth Monday of each month (10-12), and All Souls Church on the fourth Tuesday of each month (10-12), working alongside the marvellous Foodbank staff and volunteers to provide digital advice and energy saving information.
We’re very grateful to the Duke of Devonshire Charitable Trust, who have awarded us £4,000 towards helping people at digital drop-in sessions in Eastbourne this month.
Device donations
We’re also delighted to announce that the Chalk Cliff Trust have awarded us £3,500 for our device donation scheme.
Thanks to the generosity of people and local businesses donating their equipment, we’ve managed to prepare and hand out 23 devices to people who would otherwise have no means of getting connected.
If you’re reading this, and know you have an old device (or two) gathering dust – please consider dropping it off with us. We’ll help you retrieve any old data, and make sure it’s fully erased and tested before handing it out.
Devices really are a lifeline for helping people improve their life circumstances – everyday tasks are becoming increasingly impossible without having one.
Out & about
This month we’ve been to both the excellent St. Wilfrid’s Hospice ‘Community Links’ event to share our work and talk about the impact of digital exclusion, and Lewes & Villages Seniors’ ‘Staying Strong’ event. Thank you to Kathryn and Polly respectively for arranging these events.
We rounded off the month by visiting the wonderful team at Hastings HEART, at the launch of their expanded ‘Community Info Hub’ in Hastings Town Hall. Hats off to Kim, Alastair, Maria, and the team, for their dedication to helping others and their hard work making a fantastic community space for people to access help with a friendly face – including digital help!
Minis & Teens return!
It’s been a pleasure to resume our free after-school sessions – welcoming some new faces, and some familiar ones! Just a few weeks in, and we’ve already seen some fantastic projects involving Raspberry Pi boards, and 3D printing.
We’ll be running until half term week (commencing Mon 23rd October) – so there’s still plenty of sessions to try before then! Pre-booking is essential via our events page.
Digifest
Our CEO Will, alongside TechResort ‘alumni’ Ethan and Theo, were joined by John Haynes at Chalk Eastbourne’s Digifest. Will spoke about the creative opportunities we offer, and about routes in to the tech career. It was great to hear how TechResort helped Ethan and Theo go on to find exciting careers in software development and AI.
