Our twice-weekly drop-in sessions for people to get help with digital skills have been running for several years now and we see more people than ever before.

Some folk need help with a particular piece of digital “housework” – perhaps filling out a form, retrieving a password, setting up the NHS app on a phone.

Other people come to use our Wi-Fi and a laptop to apply for a job or enroll on a course or research some local history – all the time knowing they can ask for a bit of assistance if they need it.

Increasingly, though, our drop-ins have become a place for people to come and get “stuff” done, in some company, maybe with a cuppa.

Lots of our community are receiving help of one sort or another – with food, with housing or with health problems. Many of these things attract some stigma and the service users can feel a bit “labelled” as if the help they need entirely defines them and their lives.

Digital exclusion doesn’t attract that sort of feeling at the moment because everyone knows someone whose digital access isn’t quite as slick as it might be, for a variety of reasons.

At one of our drop-ins you could see almost anyone getting a bit of assistance, or using the space to get stuff done.  This puts us in a very lucky position:  many people choose to come and see us.

We’re well-connected in the local support service community and we’ve been able to support people to ask for other assistance they need when they weren’t quite sure where to turn.

This is starting to build a small community of its own by giving people who may have little quiet space where they live free use of a desk and laptop in a work-like environment.  Friendships have been formed between people who come and see us regularly and that’s fostering peer-support as people’s skills and confidence grows.

We’ve also helped people start to participate in “civil society” – by registering to vote for the first time, or by taking part in a council consultation.  Sometimes this is for members of our community who didn’t think their voice was important.

Our brilliant team of, mostly young, workers are entirely responsible for making our drop-in sessions welcoming, engaging and inclusive and they’re doing a fantastic job for so many people in our town and further afield!