Future of Training at Ordsall Community Cafe

FUTURE OF TRAINING AT ORDSALL COMMUNITY CAFÉ

I feel that the training we are being afforded at present is community based and if it were to change and be linked to having to obtain qualifications we would lose some of our members.

It started as a scheme to give people of all ages the chance to access the internet and if some people wanted to use it to gain qualifications or find locally based courses, this was a vital first step they could take before following their own path to success.

We have over the past 12 months built up mutual trust with our tutor, Graham Bates, who has a great understanding of our individual needs, and is able to encourage the less technical of us to gain confidence in using the computer.

Many of the older people who attend would easily be put off and end up back in isolation if the emphasis was to change to getting qualifications or accessing the jobs market. Some members have come on in leaps and bounds with the style and delivery of the drop in sessions.

I think the community as a whole would lose out if it was to change the emphasis to one of an academic nature. Many people still do not have a computer at home and going to places like the library etc. are a bit daunting, with nobody to ask if you press a wrong key.

Please keep it similar to what it is now and no doubt more people, both young and old, through word of mouth, will attend the sessions. You only have to look at the impact and interest shown by the senior citizens from Humphrey Booth. It gives people a purpose in life and if they have kids and grandkids who are on the ‘net’, they can keep in touch.

I hope it’s not going to be one more of those schemes where the success will be judged on paper qualifications and getting a job. It is impossible to measure the success of this scheme in personal attainment because it is an individual thing, for which no, measurement device has been invented.

Please keep it as a community based service, which is within the reach of everyone no matter what their age or ability. The sponsors should be able to judge it as putting something back into the area from which so much was taken by many organisations in the past. I would imagine most of the funding is tax-deductable anyway. Sylvia Sharples

Community Reporter