Free ‘Which’ download.
Race Online 2012 have provided a free download of the Which publication ‘Make the most of the Internet’ in PDF format. The document file size is not small (nearly 2 Mb) — so the download may be slow, but is worth waiting for.
Here is the download link: Make the most of the Internet.
Contents include: Getting Connected, Surfing the web, Communication, Shopping, Online banking, Media.
It looks most useful for people at home using a computer with the MS Vista operating system.
Are you looking to get back into employment and want to develop your work skills?
- Are you unemployed and looking for work?
- Would you like to update your skills and gain a Level 1 qualification?
- Would you like to have a chance to volunteer during the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012?
Come and join Age Concern Hackney’s Personal Best Programme — a 12 week course (Mondays and Wednesdays) starting soon.
What’s it all about?
The training involves classroom learning, visits to community projects and a volunteer placement where you can put your new skills to practice. All of which can be added to your CV and help in your search for employment.
The course covers …
- Understanding effective customer relations.
- Understanding equality and diversity.
- Developing team and interpersonal skills.
- Emergency and basic fire awareness.
- Public safety awareness.
- Conflict resolution in a public setting.
- Volunteering and the Olympics.
- Preparing for, and reflecting on a volunteer placement.
Be part of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
70,000 volunteers will be involved in the organising of the Games in 2012. All participants that complete the Personal Best program will be guaranteed an interview to become a volunteer at the Games. Be the envy of your friends and family — get a head start at your chance of being part of London’s 2012 Olympic Games!
Dates and times.
- The course began Monday 1 February 2010.
- Then every Monday and Wednesday for 12 weeks.
- Times: Monday 10.30 am – 1.30 pm, Wednesday 10.30 am – 3.30 pm.
What to do next.
For more information about future Personal Best courses, contact Sadia: 0207 241 5902 or by email: sadiahussain@ageconcernhackney.org.uk.
Meet Meg Hillier MP, Friday 22 January 2010.
Meg Hillier (MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch) will visit us at The Lawns, Friday 22 January, from 12 noon.
She will be here to help publicise our recruitment campaign ‘A computer is not just for Christmas’ — aimed at the thousands of older people who have been given computers, and are now not sure what to do with them.
On the day of the visit, we will be running an open workshop around the theme ‘How to use the Internet to enhance your social life’ — the main attraction of the Internet for most older people. So we will be explaining and demonstrating email, Skype, chat, web forums, instant messaging, social networks — and how digital photography and video have become mainstream skills which even new learners can pick up quickly.
We are not sure yet how long Meg can stay — but last time she visited, she spent several hours in our chat room. We hope we will get her online again for this next visit, so that people who cannot come to The Lawns can still join in.
Now here is the main point — you are probably using the Internet socially, in a way you probably did not imagine not so long ago! Would you like to show Meg, and the new learners what you do? We know that many Hackney Silver Surfers use Facebook and other social networking sites extensively — we would like to hear from you — and we are also hoping to find a few volunteers willing to demonstrate everyday Internet activity, for example, photographs you have sent or received from your family abroad.
If you think you could help in this way, please send an email to workshops@lawns.org.uk, or mention it to Sadia, Michael or Rick.
On Monday afternoon, 18 January 2010, ITV are going to bring Martha Lane Fox, chairman of the Digital Inclusion Task Force, to the Agewell Computer Club session at The Lawns.
ITV want to interview her about her role in an appropriate effervescent setting — so the feature will be about ‘digital inclusion’, not us — but of course, they will all be interested to see how we manage to be so successful, despite our tiny budget.
The weather forecast for the next two weeks is dismal, but it’s always sunny inside The Lawns — so we hope for, and expect, a good turnout for the event.
Agewell Computer Club regulars (and others who are not so regular) will be able to reserve places. We will announce how that is going to work soon.
A message from Emma Kerr, East London Dance …
Would you like to be in a dance film? Are you aged 50 or over?
East London Dance is making a short dance film about the heritage and people of Dalston and we are looking for dancers aged 50 or over.
We are running a workshop at The Sharp End (11 Richmond Road, Dalston, E8 3HY) on Monday 25 January 2010, 12.15 – 1.45 pm.
You will meet artistic director for the project Colin Poole, and film maker Dean Stewart and try out some ideas.
To be involved you must available during the week of Monday 8 February when filming will take place. All filming will be done on sites around Dalston during that one week.
See you there!
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact Emma Kerr, Creative Projects Manager on emma@eastlondondance.org or 020 8279 1052.
Workshop: Friday 8 January 2010 (2.30 – 4.30 pm).
Socialising online can mean many things, but for most of our learners it means social networking sites (eg: Facebook), chat rooms, and forums — online places where you can ‘talk’ to other people — family, friends, or people you are never going to meet in person.
What will we do?
We will focus mainly on security and privacy issues — often confusing even to quite experienced web users. We will use Facebook as an example. Facebook is the most popular social networking site used by our members, so we know there is a ready audience for this workshop. We will show you how to sign up, give you a few ideas on how to use it to stay in touch with your family and friends — and most of all, we want to make sure you understand the security and privacy controls built in to Facebook and other social networks.
Please bring your own questions to the workshop.
Workshop: Friday 18 December 2009 (2.30 – 4.30 pm).
This workshop is for anyone who uses the Internet — so that includes all of us — not just those who have computers at home.
Are you worried about computer viruses, spam, phishing, identity theft, trojans, malware, scams?
You may have heard that there can be certain risks for Internet users. They are sometimes difficult to understand, so it is not surprising that some people can get caught out occasionally. What can you do to make sure you are not one of them?
Fortunately, there are many ways to protect yourself. You can set up your computer to make yourself more secure, and there are some simple rules which you can follow to minimise risk. That is what we will be talking about at the workshop.
Some topics.
- How to safeguard your privacy and the privacy of your friends.
- Understanding security software.
- Using email safely.
- Using the World Wide Web safely.
- Common scams and tricks to watch out for.
Please bring your own questions to the workshop.
Workshop: Friday 11 December 2009 (2.30 – 4.30 pm).
We will focus almost entirely on how to buy a computer — everything you need to know, understand or think about before coughing up your cash. For example …
- Do I really need a computer at home?
- Second-hand or new?
- Desktop or laptop?
- Online or high street retailer?
- What is the meaning of all the jargon?
- How much should I spend?
What will we not do?
- We can’t recommend particular brands or retailers (the final choice must be yours, not ours).
- We won’t have time to guide individual people who want to order a computer online at the workshop (too time-consuming).
- We probably won’t have time to discuss problems with computers that you already have at home (we can do that in future workshops).
A free course for older people.
Be involved in writing and performing comedy sketches for an internet radio show to be recorded at City Hall on the South Bank. A special course presented by the Capital Age Festival and Silver Comedy for anyone aged 50+.
The course is made up of 8 daytime afternoon sessions where you will learn everything you need to know about writing and performing comedy sketches for the radio, and how to put a show together.
There will then be a live recording session at City Hall as part of a special Capital Age Festival event, followed by a final follow-up session with an introduction to editing. The finished work will be put on the internet as a short series of podcasts and CDs or MP3s will be produced for everyone involved.
Workshops will be held every Monday afternoon (1 to 4 pm) at Oval House Theatre (tube: Oval, Northern Line) from 11 January 2010.
For more information or to enrol, call Capital Age Festival on 01895 675 389 or email chris.head@yahoo.co.uk .
Workshop: Friday 4 December 2009 (2.30 – 4.30 pm).
We will show you how to find and use information published on Directgov — the huge official government website http://direct.gov.uk/.
The list below is just a sample of the range of topics which might interest you or affect you …
- Education and learning,
- Employment,
- Money, tax and benefits,
- Home and community,
- Disabled people,
- Travel and transport,
- Pensions and retirement planning,
- Caring for someone,
- Crime and justice,
- Environment and greener living,
- Health and well-being,
- Government, citizens and rights,
- Britons living abroad.
Try searching the directgov site using the keywords ‘over 50’ (this is the search link). The first 2 pages give us these results …
- Job programmes for over 50s,
- New Deal 50 plus,
- Guide to health issues for over 50s,
- Changes to age discrimination law for over 50s,
- Tax credits information for the over 50s,
- Guide to leisure pursuits for over 50s,
- Becoming self-employed if you are over 50,
- Over 50s retirement contacts,
- Guide to greener living for over 50s,
- Over 50s learning and technology contacts,
- Guide to health and fitness for over 50s,
- Guide to volunteering for over 50s,
- Free prescriptions and sight tests for over 50s,
- Guide to concessions and other help,
- Over 50s work and career contacts,
- Qualifications and courses for over 50s,
- Internet use and computer training for over 50s,
- Older women’s health,
- Improving your CV after 50,
- Staying physically active,
- Breast screening,
- Flu jabs and immunisation,
- Keeping mobile and preventing falls,
- Healthy eating for over 50s.
That’s only the beginning. There are more than 500 other search results.
Come to our workshop to find out how to search for information on DirectGov, and understand it when you have found it.
You can reserve a workshop place by sending an email to workshops@lawns.org.uk, or by asking us directly.
Make your own short documentary film.
When you look at old photos from a hundred years ago, do you want to know more? Why are they dressed like that? What were they doing before the picture was taken?
‘What’s Your Story’ is a way for older people to pass on their stories. Professional filmmakers will teach you how to use a video camera and make a short film about your story or someone else’s. The course will take place January to March 2010.
DFG (The Documentary Filmmakers Group), the leading training provider for professional documentary filmmakers in the UK, is supported by the Transformation Fund to offer training on this special pilot project. Similar DFG courses cost £1000.
Sessions will run for four hours a week on a Monday morning in Dalston. Fifteen participants will be chosen to learn filmmaking skills and to produce a video art work.
To find out more about how to apply, come and meet us at:
- Made In Hackney,
Screening of New Short Documentary Films.
- Saturday 28 November 2009, 1 – 3.30 pm.
- Hackney Museum (Ground Floor),
1 Reading Lane,
E8 1GQ .
- Light refreshments will be served.
This is the first public screening of the best of DFG graduates’ short documentary films about Dalston people including:
- Anthony – Street Cleaner and Philosopher.
- The Grave Digger’s Story.
- And several films about Ridley Road market stall holders.
To find out more details about this event and book your place, please email amber@dfgdocs.com , or phone Amber on 020 7249 6600.
A message from Cheryl Bowen, Hackney Museum …
Hackney Routes is a family history project with the aim to support local people to record and document their ancestors and descendants from Africa and the Caribbean by exploring the inter-connection between Hackney and the international dimension which have shaped family history and cultural identity locally.
The project will work with individuals and family members who live or have strong family connections with the borough. Participants must be willing to develop a case study based on interviews and research of an aspect of their family history which can be shared with others in the borough.
We are looking for people who will have an interest in family history, commitment to write or be interviewed as part of the case study and to attend sessions.
There will be sessions on using archives/records, preserving documents and photographs, creative writing, interviewing and the importance of DNA. The end product will be case studies on the Hackney Route blog/website. Future plans could be the development of a family history network, potential future exhibition and publication.
Participants will have a chose of choosing one or more areas to focus on their family history and the connections with Hackney:
Being in Hackney.
- When our family first came to Hackney.
- Spirituality/Places of worship.
- Night clubbing, raving and house parties.
- Our front room.
- Living in Hackney (any period from the 1940s to the 1990s).
Travels.
- The ones who were left behind.
- Travelling for the first time to my parents’/grandparents’ homeland.
- Ancestors from different parts of the world.
- Achievements and success of individuals/family members.
Memories.
- Herbs/medicine and spices.
- Soul Food/Recipes from back in the day.
- We Are Family (three generations that are still connected).
- What my Mama used to say (folk stories/tales from the past).
The course is free of charge and the workshops will take place in Hackney Museum, Hackney Archives and other community venues in the borough. Due to nature of the workshops and activities we can only have a limited number of participants.
Course orientation: Thursday 26 November 2009, 6 pm at Hackney Museum, Reading Lane, E8 1GQ.
The sessions will be facilitated by Every Generation.
To register for the course please contact Cheryl Bowen on 020 8356 3500, or email cheryl.bowen@hackney.gov.uk .
A new Monday morning Hackney Zoomers course.
The course is for people who are
- unemployed,
- or working part time up to 15 hours each week,
- or retired.
The main aim of the course is to provide practical help to people who are either actively looking for work now, or who think they might do so in the future (including people who are considering self employment).
- Course title: ‘Internet for job seekers over 50’.
- Date & times: 5 Monday mornings, 16 November to 14 December 2009, 10 am – 1 pm.
Job seekers with little or no Internet knowledge are seriously disadvantaged. They are often expected to do things they have never been shown how to do, for example …
- Find websites of which they have only partial knowledge or understanding.
- Use a web search engine.
- Navigate a complex website.
- Register with an email address and password.
- Fill in a sequential web form.
- Edit personal statements.
- Download documents they do not know how to open.
- Attach documents of their own to a job application.
If you are in that situation, we would like to hear from you. In 5 sessions we can’t make you an Internet expert – but we might be able to help you get closer to the job you want.
As with all Hackney Silver Surfers activities, there is no charge for this course.
Places on the course are limited so if you are interested, please contact us to book a place as soon as possible …
- by writing to Hackney Zoomers (52 The Lawns, Matthias Road, N16 8QB)
- or by email to workshops@lawns.org.uk
- or by phoning 020 7254 2183 .
By the way — you do not have to be a Hackney resident to join this course. Residents of other London boroughs are welcome.
A message from Dorota Juszczyk, Health Behaviour Research Centre, University College London …
We are currently developing a questionnaire on bowel cancer. We are looking to recruit 30 people aged over 50 years who are willing to fill an online questionnaire on two occasions.
The completion of the questionnaire takes between 10 and 15 minutes. As a reimbursement for their time, we can offer 5 pounds that will be paid on completion of both questionnaires.
Dorota Juszczyk,
Cancer Research UK,
Health Behaviour Research Centre,
Epidemiology & Public Health, UCL.
2-16 Torrington Place
London WC1E 6BT.
Email: d.juszczyk@public-health.ucl.ac.uk .
The best way to contact Dorota is by email.
This event will start Tuesday 22 September 2009 (2.30 pm), meeting at The Lawns.
Have you ever wondered how to use the video functions on your mobile phone or digital camera?
This will be a really good way to learn how — artist Larisa Blazic and Emma Jones from Hackney Co-operative Developments will lead the group around the most interesting places nearby — and help you make short (typically 1 to 2 minutes) videos of what you see.
After the walk, your videos can be added to Larisa’s unique project that records and documents the ways in which people see the world around them. Larisa has been working with local community groups to capture images of Dalston and share them through a new website that acts as a collaborative, living archive curated by local residents like yourself. Later this year the videos will be displayed on a huge screen in Gillett Square.
Back at The Lawns, we will show you how to transfer your videos to a computer, and then upload them to a website.
You don’t need to book for this event — just come to The Lawns on Tuesday a little before 2.30 pm — and please remember to bring your phone or camera.
Workshop: Wednesday 23 September 2009 (10 am – 1.15 pm).
We will help you sign up to, and understand, any of the sites listed on our social networking page, but we will focus mainly on the sites which we see most of our members using …
- Saga Zone — friendly, amusing and safe.
- Facebook — the biggest one, very popular with older people.
As part of the workshop, we will be looking at issues of privacy and security related to social networking.
Level: participants should be able to use a web browser, and should have a working email address.
Booking a place is essential. You can do it by sending an email to workshops@lawns.org.uk, asking for a place on the Social Networking workshop.
