Mickleton in Bloom

Working together for the future of our village

Background to the project.

Aim

Ø    To increase Internet access for local people and improve their life both in the village and outside.

By:

Ø    providing an Internet Learning Base and Internet Access Point for the Village.

Ø    providing a ‘Resource Bank’ of notebook PC’s

Ø    providing long term sustainability through a network of ‘trained supporters’

Ø    aiming for the project to be self sufficient

 Venues available:

Ø    Joseph Webb Hall or King George’s Hall, Mickleton

 Project Management:

Ø    Mickleton in Bloom, a Community Activities Working Party of Mickleton Parish Council.

Ø    Volunteers are CRB cleared and have the support of experienced ICT practitioners.

Ø    An IT company based in the village has offered support.

Progress to date:

Ø      Support of Gloucestershire Rural Community Council in planning the project.

Ø      35 adults expressed an interest and completed an initial questionnaire.

Ø      Approach made to Adult Education for support.

Ø      Six “in-house” taster sessions held in February.

Ø       4 x 2 hour sessions led by a tutor from Adult Education who loaned 8 laptop computers enabling 29 people to take part in the three sessions each day. (A total of 24 hours of tuition given to the village by Adult Education)

Ø      Additional 4hours per person available when we have an Internet connection.

Ø      Setting up of a monthly Computer Club.

The Current Situation

Venue:

Ø      King George’s Hall

–       telephone access already available

–       the project has the agreement and support of the Hall Management Committee

Hardware & Software to purchase:

Ø      Internet access PC and secure storage.

Ø      Hardware – printer, scanner, camera etc

Ø      Laptop computers and associated hardware, storage and software to support learning.

Ø      (See attached quotations)

 Running Costs:

Ø      A user access charge will be set to cover usage.

Ø      The Community Activities Working Party has acquired the funding to be able to underwrite these costs for three years.

 Access:

Ø      The Internet access will be available to all village clubs and societies to support the management and research for their activities.

Ø      Available for individuals to:

Ø    Allow them to communicate with grandchildren, other family members, friends, and other older people in different locations around the world - at little or no cost.

Ø    Provide an Internet access point to order repeat prescriptions and book appointments online following the closure of the Mickleton Surgery.

Ø    Provide lifelong learning opportunities in a wide variety of areas from gardening to pets and investments and increase confidence and competence in use of technology.

Ø    The opportunity to engage the Elderly in genealogy and local history projects

Ø    Allow them an opportunity to develop new skills which they apply as volunteers in their own communities

Ø    Set up inter-generational projects, which engage older and younger people to promote the skills of – Instant messaging, video messaging, Internet telephony, etc.

 Controls:

Ø      Access to the system will be through booking and issue of ID and password for specific times.

Ø      The system will be set with an appropriate Internet Security Program with access controls.

Ø      The system will be set to revert to basic when switched off and will not allow storage on the hard disk or change of settings.

 Management:

Ø      The recipient for any monies will be in the name of ‘Mickleton in Bloom’ the account holder.

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