Big Lottery Fund to provide computer training in Essex

16:30 27th May 2009

The Big Lottery Fund is to provide nearly £430,000 for computer training facilities catering for pensioners in Essex.

Computer resources and internet access will be provided to local communities through the organisation Essex UnITe, with IT training on offer for older people in sheltered accommodation and to other pensioners through community workshops.

Over 8,000 people are expected to benefit, while virtual village halls and social networking sites will be used to help people keep in touch more easily and attend community events.

Richard Huckett, director of MillRace IT, a social firm that forms part of Essex UnITe, said: "I am delighted that MillRace IT will be one of the project partners working to enhance the health and wellbeing of older people in Essex and to help reduce the sense of isolation that many of them feel."

He added that the scale of the investment reveals the importance that the Big Lottery Fund places on making computer and internet facilities more widely available.

In related news, west London's Lyric Hammersmith is to offer computer training facilities with a new £15 million building scheduled to open in 2011, according to thestage.co.uk.