I’ve had a really exciting week helping out at Go ON Sheffield events for Get online week. I’ve met lots of interesting people that have taken the first step in giving the internet a go and those with internet experience who have been giving an hour to help others get online.

My week started off at Firstpoint in Sheffield, the one-stop shop for council services.  I spoke to lots of people about the benefits of being online and demonstrated how the internet could help them.  Lots of people were interested in the Plusnet offer of 50 free broadband packages for Sheffield residents and signed up whilst waiting to deal with their housing queries. You can find out more abot this here.

On Tuesday, I visited Castle Market where I met a really inspirational Digital Champion from Plusnet.  JoJo is Plusnet’s social media guru and was really keen to share her experience of the internet with others.  She spent her time wandering around the market, speaking to stall holders and the general public and discussing with them how the internet could help them.  Lots of people agreed to go along to our Go ON Sheffield events as a result.

I spent some time researching Vitamin B12 with 90-something Jeff who was keen to improve his diet after taking his doctor’s advice.  I showed him how to use the mouse and we use Google to find the information he needed.  Jeff thought he was too old to learn but we soon tackled that and he took one of our leaflets to encourage his friends from sequence dancing to give it a go too.  After our session I directed Jeff to the fishmongers stall so he could purchase some salmon (rich in vitamin B12) for tea!

Today I had the chance to help out at the flagship event at Sheffield Town Hall. I met Mr Gul who was an ex-serviceman for the Royal Air Force.  I loved listening to his stories about all the countries he’d travelled to – he’s certainly had an exciting life!  Mr Gul was keen to learn more about using the keyboard, and wanted to learn what all the buttons do and how he could increase his speed when typing.  We worked through the Online basics keyboard course and then did some practice typing.  Mr Gul is an active member of Sheffield pensioners’ group 50plus, and is keen to raise current issues across the city for his fellow pensioners.  He’s now going to set up an email account so he can keep in touch with his old colleagues and email his queries to the council!  He went away very happy with his session, wishing me a Merry Christmas! Arghhhh, a reminder that there isn’t long to go now until Christmas Day!