A series of events across Caerphilly County Borough are being held next week to help people get online.
Billed as Caerphilly’s Big Click, the events are to be held on Friday May 20 to coincide with the ‘Digital Day’ of Adult Learners’ Week.
Held at six community venues across the Caerphilly area – Rhymney, New Tredegar, Markham, Ystrad Mynach, Crosskeys and Caerphilly town centre – the day will teach people new digital skills and help them get online.
On the same day, there will also be IT taster sessions at up to nineteen local libraries, as part of the ongoing BBC ‘First Click’ campaign, which is helping older people to get online.
Activities for the day are being planned by a partnership that consists of Caerphilly Communities First and Non-Communities First Partnerships, schools, Care and Repair Caerphilly, Menter Iaith Sir Caerffili, Charter Housing, United Welsh Housing Association, GAVO, BT and Caerphilly Library Service.
The partnership is being co-ordinated by Communities 2.0, the Welsh Assembly Government’s digital inclusion programme.
Caerphilly’s Big Click will enable people to find out how they can save money on shopping and household bills by going online, keep in touch with friends and family, access jobs websites as well as navigating Facebook and Twitter.
Matthew Lloyd, the Communities 2.0 representative for Caerphilly, said: “We’re already working with numerous community groups, voluntary organisations and social enterprises across the Caerphilly area, to help more people realise the benefits of getting online and make more use of digital technologies.
“Such activities are helping to re-engage people with their communities, making people more employable and enterprises more sustainable. The digital inclusion agenda is also becoming increasingly relevant to local authorities, as more services are made available online. In time, it is possible that many public services will be exclusively available on the internet, which means people, without the necessary skills to engage with them, run the risk of exclusion.”
Pat Jones is a director for Care and Repair Caerphilly, a not-for-profit organisation which gives advice to the elderly and disabled on home repairs.
She said: “By using new technology older people no longer need to feel lonely or isolated, they can make new friends, keep in touch with relatives, shop online, keep up to date with what is happening in their local areas and most importantly be independent.”
For more information on Caerphilly’s Big Click, call 0845 474 8282, or 01443 820913 to make enquiries in Welsh, or visit www.caerphillysbigclick.org.uk.
More information about Adult Learners’ Week can be found at www.yourfuturechoiceaction.org.uk and by calling 0800 100 900.
More information about Communities 2.0 can be found at www.clickconnectdiscover.org
Events will be held at these venues between 10am and 3pm, apart from Markham.