Celebrating with Quartet Community Foundation

Quartet Community Foundation aims to change people's lives for the better across the West of England. They do this by enabling a wide variety of donors to fund projects that make a difference where people live and work.

Each year they hold an Annual Celebration where they invite a number of community groups to showcase a sample of the work that has been done as a result of the generosity of our donors.

So on 16th October 2012, North Bristol Advice Centre (NBAC) took advantage of their invitation to this year’s annual celebration to showcase their services and latest initiatives to over 140 guests.

Naturally, the Connect <> Lockleaze project was highlighted as one of their most exciting new initiatives. Hopefully, the project’s co-operative nature will help to inspire individuals and organisations interested in supporting the wellbeing of their local communities.

Earlier in the day, NBAC attended ‘The Power of Partnership’, a free event held by Business in the Community and Bristol ProHelp to encourage businesses and community groups to meet and forge working partnerships.

Once again, Connect <> Lockleaze was mentioned (a perfect example of that the event was designed to encourage!) and the HR Manager at Rolls Royce (a Lockleaze boy himself!) suggested we contact their Head of Education to see if there were any opportunities that could be explored. We will!

Our First Radio Spot...

Tune in to Bristol Community FM on Friday morning to hear our very own, Jo Earl talking about Connect <> Lockleaze.

She has been invited to talk about the project on the Silver Sound program between 11am and midday. Although this show is aimed at the over 60's, Connect <> Lockleaze is open to everyone in the North Bristol area.

Jo will be encouraging as many people as possible to join us for ITea and Cake at the Cameron Centre, Gainsborough Square in the afternoon between 2pm and 4pm so we can find out what everyone wants to do with our free wifi and computers!

So, listen to her on BCfm at 93.2FM on your radio
or
online at http://bcfm.org.uk/wp-content/themes/atahualpa353/player.php

Volunteer Roles Defined

At our recruitment launch event yesterday in UWE’s Department of Computer Science and Creative Technologies we were able to tell students about the variety of roles available:

Connect<>Lockleaze Project

>Connect Lockleaze is about working with people who are digitally excluded. >UWE and HP have collaborated to support local people to access and use computers and the internet and get FREE help to improve their IT skills. >In an increasingly digital age, there is a huge need to help people take their first steps and discover the uses of computers and the internet! >Volunteers will be based at one of 3 community centres in Lockleaze, right next to Frenchay Campus. There are lots of ways to get involved!

Basic IT Skills Tutor

• Role Description - Volunteers will be helping people 1:1 to get more confidence using computers. You will help local people to find their way around a computer, use the internet and learn other basics like creating simple documents. There is a huge demand for 1:1 tutoring to encourage people to take their first steps using computers and the internet.
• Skills - If you would like to see people learn and grow in confidence, this is the role for you! If you have a particular interest like digital photos, social media, skype or online shopping, then you can help to lead a short session on a topic! Basic IT Skills are necessary. 
• Time commitment - Sessions will run on Wednesdays, 13:30-15:30 during term time. Generally you would be expected to attend every week. 

Community Hub Leaders

• Role Description - Assist local people to use open access, free computer facilities in the community. You will be responsible for welcoming visitors to one of the centres, showing first time users how to log on and get started and provide basic help and troubleshooting.
• Skills - You need to enjoy working with people, and be willing to help them get the most out of the facilities. You will need a good knowledge of IT though you do not need any particular expertise. You need to feel confident about helping with things like printing problems, basic formatting of Word documents and internet searches. Crucially you will be a friendly and welcoming face encouraging people to have a go. You will need to adapt to the different ages, abilities and needs of users.
• Time commitment - As you will be responsible for setting up the facilities and assisting users at open access drop in sessions, it is very important that you commit to the sessions you volunteer for. You would volunteer once a week for a maximum of 3 hours.  

Technical Support Team

• Role Description - As part of the tech support team, you would be responsible for providing regular maintenance of the PCs and laptops. This might include software updates, managing user accounts, adding and removing software programmes, deleting out of date files, adding devices to the network and providing troubleshooting support.
• Skills - You must be familiar with Windows 7, and familiar with the administrator functions. As part of the support team you will be required to work as a group to determine the best IT solutions to meet the needs of the 3 IT hubs and their users. A knowledge of internet security is also of value and a willingness to research and work together to solve problems.
• Time commitment - This is a flexible role though you will be expected to undertake the role on the 3 sites in Lockleaze, planning your time around the centre opening hours and preparing to volunteer in advance of courses and events to ensure the IT is set up in advance. Regular maintenance sessions will be planned with you. These would be scheduled once a month during term time, but other sessions will be required particularly around special events, and you will have the option of being on-call to help solve problems as they arise!

Web Designer/Web Master

• Role Description - Initially you will help to set up something with free hosting, like a google site. This is an opportunity to develop a web structure to accommodate a variety of content, including course listings, news, case studies and images. You will be working alongside the coordinators of the "Connect<>Lockleaze" project to develop and maintain a website as a useful resource for local people that could encourage people to get involved in community learning. We have bought our domain name so we are ready to get started! We need a few volunteers who can help to write copy for the site as well as design and build it! Depending on your strongest skills we can find a role for you in maintaining the site.
• Skills - You need to be confident in either your web design skills, including CSS and web standards, or in your ability to plan a structure or general writing skills. You'll also need to have good time management skills to meet relevant deadlines.
• Time commitment - This role is very flexible. We will arrange regular meetings/communication with you, and you can volunteer remotely too. You will need to prioritise your workload, particularly when adding/updating information that might be time/date specific. We expect you to volunteer for at least one term.

How to get involved

Contact Jo, the Volunteer Co-ordinator for the Project: e-mail jo.earl@uwe.ac.uk, phone 0117 328 2513 or drop into the Octagon on Frenchay Campus.

Volunteer Recruitment Starts

Earlier today, North Bristol Advice Centre and Boing! visited the Frenchay campus to present the Connect <> Lockleaze Project to students at UWE.

In a world where IT knowledge is increasing an essential skill, there is a huge need to help people take their first steps and show them how computers and the internet can be of real benefit to them. Connect <> Lockleaze has the venue and the equipment and now needs volunteers to help us put it all into practice.

Volunteers will be based at one of 3 community centres in Lockleaze, near to Frenchay Campus and there are lots of ways to get involved – in fact you can even volunteer remotely!

If you are interested in finding out more about the different ways you can get involved, email us at connectlockleaze@gmail.com

If you are a student at UWE, contact volunteering@uwe.ac.uk

Lockleaze looking for entrepreneurs

Working with Outset Bristol, Connect <> Lockleaze is putting on an 8-week program of workshops entitled 'Introduction to Enterprise'.

Designed to show what self-employment is all about, the workshops allow you to develop personal and business skills. They are great way to increase confidence and knowledge in a supported and friendly environment.

When:  Friday 5th October from 11am-1pm, and for the following 4 weeks
Where: Cameron Centre, Gainsborough Square, Lockleaze, BS7 9XB
Contact Person: Lydia Samuel

Tel: 0800 032 2903 E: Lydia.samuel@outsetbristol.co.uk

Birthday Celebrations for Boing!

An open day at Boing! Soft Play Centre on Saturday 22nd September to celebrate their 1st Birthday provided Connect <> Lockleaze with the perfect opportunity to meet local parents.

Jo Earl with two student volunteers, Jeannette and Joanna, were there to talk about Boing!’s new IT facilities, find out how familiar everyone was with computers and ask what activities they would find of interest.

In keeping with the party mood, Jo had organised T-Shirt printing and this proved incredibly popular – a wonderfully demonstrable example of what technology can do!

Boing! have been a keen advocate of Connect <> Lockleaze to date – full of enthusiasm and ideas with a tight knit group of supporters keen to spread the word.

We look forward to developing a great set of courses and sessions with them.

A bit about Boing!

Having taken on the lease of the Blake Centre, Lockleaze Primary School & Early Years Centre (LPSEYC) has transformed it into ‘Boing!’ - a community multi-activity and soft play venue for 0-5 year olds and their families.

Boing! consists of a multi-activity play room, containing various sections of ‘messy play’, ‘building’, ‘home corner’ and ‘soft/baby’; a soft play room complete with custom built structure and a cafe area, which will serave refreshments, and where parents can sit and relax whilst their children play within view. Our Stay & Play Groups have relocated to Boing! along with our Childminders Support Group, and local mums have even started a breastfeeding group, the HoneySuckle Cafe. 

For further information about Boing!, please contact Georgie Batt on 0117 377 2840 or gblockleazep@bristol.gov.uk

Getting Connected!

It's an exciting time to be in Lockleaze at the moment. There is so much happening and so much more to look forward to...

As well as the new Gainsborough Square Development (14 flats, 12 houses, 2 business units and a purpose built community building), a group of local partners have been working with HP and UWE to get volunteers, computer skills and greater access to the internet into Lockleaze.

This will mean: 

• advice workers using IT & the internet with clients.
• computer classes on three sites around the area.
• UWE students and HP staff supporting IT classes
• group sessions to help fill in forms or apply for jobs online
• support for families and older people to get online and have fun

...and much more!

Naturally, we are keen to announce this project, which we are calling Connect <> Lockleaze to the world!

For this reason we are planning a launch event at the Cameron Centre - we want to have a chat to about what activities you fancy trying as well as finding out how confident you feel about using computers.

We are looking for ideas and suggestions while we share a nice cup of tea and a piece of cake.

Don’t worry if you have never used a computer before, we have already planned some basic IT and internet courses to get you started.

So…join us on Friday 12th October 2012 from 2pm and be inspired!