Issued: 8 May 2008
Angus Gold Shares Triumph At National Awards
Age Concern’s Digital Inclusion Network, of which Angus Gold is member, beat three other finalists to win the prize for Reaching the Digitally Excluded at the National eWell-Being Awards 2008 held in London recently.
The nationwide network of technology tutoring for people in later life was developed by Age Concern to support organisations like Angus Gold which are delivering projects that engage older people with new technologies.
The Awards, supported by BT and Brother, are designed to promote the tangible benefits that information and communication technologies can bring to society, the economy and to the environment.
Angus Council’s Angus Gold 50+ initiative promotes interests and activities with the 50 plus population in Angus. Older people in several sheltered housing complexes in Angus are able to email far-flung relatives or surf the internet for information on their favourite interests, thanks to a joint initiative between Angus Council and BT.
Training is delivered in a variety of venues which are chosen to suit the participants and make it as accessible as possible. So far, more than 400 Angus residents have taken advantage of this project and 90 of them have progressed to further computer training at Angus College.
Angus Gold co-ordinator, Ann Craig, said: “This has proved an excellent scheme and supports the older person’s ability to continue practising and using a computer in their own environment. The success of this project has opened up the digital world for them.”
Nancy Johnston, Technology & Communications Development Manager at Age Concern, said: “The Digital Inclusion Network shows how local community and grassroots projects can collectively make a tremendous impact on the lives of thousands of older people.”
Angus Gold is just one of the 137 community organisations that have joined the Digital Inclusion Network since it was set up in April 2007. In just one year 60,000 older people across the UK have engaged in one or more activities throughout the network, which aims to reach 1.85 million older people during the next five years.
Statistics reveal that only 26% of 60-69 year olds use the internet while a mere 8% of those aged 70 and over use the internet (Age Concern Research Services‘ LifeForce survey).
Since their launch in 2002 by SustainIT, an initiative of the UK Centre for Economic Development (UK CEED), the Awards have attracted over 600 high quality entries from a diverse range of organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors.