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user feedback pages
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IT CLASSES AT ORDSALL COMMUNITY CAFE- BY SYLVIA SHARPLES
About 18 months ago a charity called MCIN provided funding to set up an IT base in our recently opened Community Café. I wanted to be able to use the internet, send e-mails and keep up to date with my family etc. and I found myself increasingly isolated because most of my friends talked in this strange cyber language. I Also wanted to write my own biography but needed the skills and the confidence to put pen to paper. The computer was the ideal medium to start my project.
I had a computer at home but apart from e-mailing I did not know and was afraid to go further on my own. I also felt I had a lot to contribute to our local community groups if I could report on local events. I used the machines at the café during the courses, and my own computer at home to consolidate what I had learned. About 7 months after enrolling on these drop in sessions I bought my own lap-top so that I could then take my work home with me and continued working.
I use the internet to source information for various projects, road maps, finding places to visit for our local community to organise trips for children, legal matters, allotment society, what's on at the theatre, reviews of books, finding past photographs from the archives of Ordsall. I also helped set up our Ordsall.on-line Blog spot so that articles could be posted and home made videos, with photostory, of local events to keep people informed of what was going on and discussion articles or food for thought. The e-mail side was very important for keeping in touch with the group.
I have found that a whole new world has opened up and having seen many of my articles in print in our newsletters and on line, it's hard to believe that I was so afraid to enter this world of cyber technology. Now wild horses wouldn't stop me. My creative side has been brought out which I didn't know existed. I can e-mail my family and keep in touch instead of the 'snail mail'
I have been able to encourage other older people and some younger ones to take the plunge and embrace the technology. What a wonderful world and I have been able to help other people if I saw them struggling. Any new information I find out I pass onto my friends and fellow learners so that we are all in the know.
I would say to them that the first step is the hardest but once you cross the line and find a café or IT group who start from the beginning, it is the most rewarding experience and although it seems very hard, because it's a long time since most of us were at school, persevere and don't give up after a couple of lessons. It takes us all different amounts of time to get to be comfortable using the computer. One of the most important things is having a tutor who can keep to your pace and help you to overcome your fear of making a mess of things and 'breaking the computer'. Once you realise 'you' are in control and not 'IT'
I now write articles for different groups in our community. I edit some of the articles which are posted on our blog. I have made many friends and it is like one big happy family. I have only just begun to realise my potential and it won't be long before I start my book.
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COMMUNITY DRAGONS DEN
Earlier this year, community groups and the BBC came together at the community café, to receive training in multi media and, to produce a video celebrating the work and achievements of several Salford based grass roots voluntary and community organizations. This was made possible as a result of a project known as “community Dragons Den” which developed from the community partnership that MCIN has established with the BBC over the last 3 years. Ordsall community café, in partnership with MCIN are also running a successful community reporter programme.
The Community Dragons Den project worked with Annabelle Waller from the BBC, Graeme Bates from MCIN and the community reporters at Ordsall community café. The project facilitated opportunities for voluntary sector groups to participate and learn how to showcase their work digitally, for presentation to their stakeholders and beneficiaries.
6 sessions took place over 6 weeks, resulting in a video entitled “This is our community: innit”. The video can be viewed on the community Dragons Den blog at:
http://dragonsden.mywebconnect.info/
Contributions from the following participating voluntary and community sector groups, featured in the video;
Ordsall Community Café
Desi sisters
First Step trust
Salford City radio
Salford Link Project
Salford Womens Centre
Sample Feedback from the trainees:
"The training has opened a lot of doors for me, which I would never have thought of asking for"
"I like projects like this, with training that produces an “end product” which can be seen, referred back to, and used"
"I enjoyed the training here at this friendly community centre, with wonderful facilities".
"My thoughts are I have been made very welcome here and have learnt some new skills which I can build on".
"Wonderful facilities for the community"
"Well done to all involved and many thanks to the BBC, the community café staff, and to MCIN for their support in making this possible"
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REPORT BY SYLVIA SHARPLES ON BEHALF OF THE COMMUNITY REPORTERS GROUP
I would like first of all to thank MCIN and their tutor Graeme Bates for the opportunities that have been made available for the people in our community, and of course the Community Café, with the setting up of this group together with all the equipment.
Many of us had little idea of how to use a computer, or access the wonderful world of media studies, including video editing, blogging, photography, the internet, etc. Those who had more knowledge than the novices were not backward in helping those who were struggling to get to grips with a whole new world.
These courses have helped the local community to highlight various issues which need to be brought out in the open, and hopefully, given people food for thought. It was especially rewarding for those who visited the Humphrey Booth day centre, when the residents were interviewed and their memories of the old Ordsall were recorded, and they were filmed. There was great excitement when they were able to see and hear the finished report. No doubt it was the topic of conversation for many weeks afterwards at the Centre. Too many times these people are forgotten about and their memories never recorded for posterity. After all they were ‘the community’ in the past.
The course has also brought many groups together and they now have a voice on our Ordsall.on-line@hotmail.co.uk. Site, be it telling us and the community of forthcoming events, which we have been able to send someone to cover, and report on our Reporters site, or people who have just moved to Ordsall and have been able to integrate and make new friends. It has also brought out hidden talents we did not know existed. Graeme has been of great inspiration at all levels of our abilities with infinite patience.
A special thanks to Alison Cordingley, Stacy Cass, all the permanent and voluntary staff at the café for their support of this group, and the lovely food served in the cafe. May our group go from strength to strength and who knows what’s in store for the future. Thank you once again on behalf of us all.
Sylvia Sharples
Community Reporter
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COMMUNITY WALK FROM ORDSALL COMMUNITY CAFÉ
By Sylvia Sharples, Community Reporter
For the past three weeks on a Wednesday a walk has been arranged, leaving the café at 10am and returning at 11 am. I missed the first week, when I am told quite a few people turned up, and everyone enjoyed a leisurely walk down to Salford Quays.
My husband and I turned up for the second walk where we were accompanied by Charlotte the Park Ranger. Leaving the café (giving extra time for more people to turn up) we walked down through some open space which I didn’t even know existed. Unfortunately it was strewn with rubbish and couldn’t believe that some local group hadn’t tried to clear it up. We then went through Ordsall Park, and the smell of new mown grass was overpowering. This area was very clean and well kept. We continued down towards the canal and the moment we reached the tow path the peace and quiet was unbelievable, it was another world. The water was like a mill pond and we saw quite a few pairs of mallard ducks busying themselves with their daily routine. We even saw a couple of coots. I imagined how busy the canal must have been in the past with shipping and barges up and down. The remains of the davits and mooring bollards, now sadly unused, was very poignant of peoples working lives in another age.
Our route continued past walls full of graffiti, very artistic, but in the wrong place. I remarked I had noticed it from the window of the tram, the previous week. How all this could have been painted with nobody complaining is hard to believe.
We then turned off the tow path and crossed the road near the Bricklayers Arms and noticed what a lovely building it was. We then made our way up by the Neighbourhood Office and back along Tatton Street to the café.
During our walk we got to know Charlotte, and exchanged views on all sorts of subjects. We also talked about our various backgrounds and things we had done in the past and our current interests, now that we are retired. All in all it was a great success and very therapeutic.
This last Wednesday I was the only one who turned up, which was disappointing. A new Park Ranger, Steve, whose area is Albert Park had come along to see Charlotte’s area. I was asked where I wanted to walk and suggested the same walk as described above. This time I took my camera and took a few photographs but nothing of any note.
The weather had been threatening to cancel the walk, but it remained dry for the duration. We walked back through the New Barracks Estate, and Regent Square Park which is another oasis, and hidden gem to those who have no occasion to walk through the estate. We returned to the café and I thanked the Rangers for accompanying me.
Without this opportunity I would never have gone down to the canal on my own as it is far too lonely. We only saw one person on the second trip, but would not feel comfortable going down their alone. Here’s to next week, weather permitting!
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REPORT BY JT
This time last year, life was in a rut! It was another year that tends to come along until you die, I tried that in a car accident, and being alive is so much better!
Then suddenly I was in the Ordsall Community Café, and I was nabbed for the Community Reporters Group. Graeme comes in every Tuesday at 10 am., to teach us about digital video. He also comes in on Wednesday afternoon to help people get to grips with computers! Everything today needs IT, so this is a vital leg up for people!
This morning I had had 13,600 views of my personal videos! So I think I got to grips with this digital video stuff! My video blog is edited video on You-Tube! And the world is watching.
So, I have got my ideas out there, being watched and commented on by the world, though Americans do have trouble with anything involving more than sitting in a chair watching videos!
Through my community reporters stuff, I got invited to an IT day by Alison who manages the OCC (Ordsall Community Café). The day was meant to be about linking people up, so it was a networking IT day.
One of the things I played with in Salford early on this year was community radio from the Angel on Regent Road.
This has now moved, but Salford Community Reporters Group has a presence on the internet so Steve and myself had a good chat on what community radio needed.
We agreed that they had hours to fill, and they should have a disability hour. This is my thing, due to my accident, but I want to help improve life for all people in Salford! He emailed me this morning, to say we would sort things out for the New Year, when I am not busy at the Ordsall Community Café.
Wishing you all the best for the new year, bring it on !!!
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WHAT 2007 IN ORDSALL MEANT TO ME BY SYLVIA SHARPLES
One of the most significant landmarks this year was the decision to keep the Ordsall Medical Centre somewhere near where it is now instead of a move to The Quays”!! This was a case of where common sense prevailed and the centre will remain at the heart of Ordsall. So all the cynics who said that the decision was all cut and dried and there was no point in having all the consultations, this was definitely “power to the people”.
Personally, it has been a fantastic year. I have learned to use the internet and many aspects of computers I didn’t know existed. What a wonderful world for the silver surfer! All the jargon of IT explained, a very patient tutor, a visit to the BBC to see North West Tonight go on air. All these things wouldn’t have been possible if I hadn’t “got out of my rocking chair” and made the effort to join in with events and opportunities in the area.
My hope and wish list of 2008 is more of the same, integration of lots of groups who can all benefit from each other and bring back the community spirit which was almost completely destroyed when houses were demolished and communities broken up. I would say that the communities are well on the way to recovery. The only thing missing is the interaction with the youth of today and the older generation. Let’s see if we can’t bridge this gap.
Let’s hope we all have a lovely Christmas and a peaceful New Year The world’s our oyster, there are lots of pearls to collect, but we all need to search for them.
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