Ormlie Community Enjoy ‘Surfing’ in the North

Summary

Everybody Online Caithness ran a 6 week course ‘Internet for Beginners’ at Ormlie Community Centre. The course was so successful, a new weekly drop in session has been introduced to the centre. The drop in sessions will provide residents with regular access to the internet and allow users to develop their new skills.

What Happened

Ormlie Community Association (OCA) is a regeneration organisation, set up to address the social, economic and environmental issues on Ormlie estate in Thurso. The estate had years of under investment and a bad reputation. Together with the community OCA worked hard to improve the estate and meet the needs of the community.

Over the years many initiatives have been created in the area to benefit the residents. More recently the OCA Manger has introduced basic computing classes, which run once a week from the community centre. The demand for the classes has been high, with many users taking a specific interest in developing their internet skills.

Everybody Online Project Officer, Shona Macdonald, met with OCA Manager, Lorna Simpson, to discuss the needs of the residents and what the options were to help. Shona then put together a 6 week ‘Internet for Beginners’ course. The course was run from Ormlie Community Centre once a week, all the participants gained new skills on the net and they now each have their own email addresses. As well as learning to surf the net the participants also learnt the basics of digital photography and how to shop safely online.

The course has been such a success a new drop in session for adults to ‘surf the net’ has been introduced at the centre. The sessions are supported by the Everybody Online Project Officer and it is hoped it will soon become self sustainable via volunteers at the centre.

Lorna Simpson, centre manger said: ‘The people taking part have found it very beneficial and the response has been very positive. The new drop in session will make a big difference to the residents, this means they can have regular access to the internet.’

Key Achievements

• Residents have been introduced to the net and new skills have been learnt.

• A new partnership has been created between Everybody Online and Ormlie Community Association

• New sessions have been created to meet the needs of residents.