Below is a summary of some digital services available to Salford residents, all available at no cost, that you may find useful. Please follow the links for more information. And if you’d like to speak to me first, feel free to contact me at it@salfordu3a.com.
Computer Training
If you have no or little experience…
Would you be interested in becoming more confident in using computers and tablets? If that applies to you (or anyone you know), you may be interested in a Salford-based charity, Inspiring Communities Together, who run Tech and Tea courses at a variety of libraries and community centres across the city.
The cost is a £30 deposit up-front for which you are given a 10″ tablet (you cannot take your own). You will have the tablet for the 5 weeks (ie you take it home with you and practice at your leisure), at the end of which you may give the tablet back and your £30 is returned. Net cost to you is zero (the charity’s costs are met by Salford CCG).
The courses are aimed at beginners with little or no existing skills and run for 1 hour per week, for 5 weeks. There will be a maximum of 8 people at a time. The only requirements are that you must live in Salford and be 50+.
Dates for the next courses:
- Irlam Library: every Wednesday 12-1:30, 24th May to 21st June
- Clifton Neighbourhood Centre, Manchester Road: 10.30-12, 5th June to 3rd July
- Clifton Library, 6 Wynne Avenue: 1-2:30, 5th June to 3rd July
- St. James & All Souls RC Parish, Pendleton Way, Salford: 1:30-3 7th June to 5th July
- Eccles Gateway: 1-2:30 30th June to 28th July
For more information, call Jo on 07375 924424 or email AFS@inspiringcommunitiestogether.co.uk or see their website.
Alternatively, if you can’t make it to any of these venues, or maybe as a follow-on to a 5-week course, you may be interested in Tech and Tea Online. These sessions are accessible from the comfort of your own home via Zoom for which you require a computer and a broadband line. They run every Thursday from 11-12.
For more information about Tech and Tea at community sites or online you can also contact Age Friendly Salford at AFS@inspiringcommunitiestogether.co.uk
If you have some limited IT skills…
Again at no cost to you, Corinth Training have a programme of several different courses that each run for 8 weeks. Their Spring 2023 curriculum starts in January and is available here. The First Steps IT course would be ideal as a follow-on to Tech and Tea. If you are interested, contact details are on their webpage.
Some interesting UK stats
| 50-64yo | 65-74yo | 75+yo | |
| % using the internet every day | 88% | 75% | 46% |
| % of non-internet users who would like to use it if they could | 22% | 19% | 15% |
The most common reason for not using the internet more is lack of digital skills.
Handy links
Threats exist in the online world just as they do in the real world, but with sensible straightforward precautions you can safeguard yourself and your family.
In November 2022, Dave Carlos gave us a lot of useful information about IT security when he was the guest speaker at the monthly social. Here are a selection of handy links that support the guidance Dave gave us:
- A number of sites provide good general advice about how to stay safe online:
- the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)
- Take Five
- Get Safe Online
- Scam emails involving financial services may be reported here. This service is operated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
- If you receive any other email which you are suspicious of and think may be a scam or phishing attempt, forward the email (or a screenshot of the email) to report@phishing.gov.uk. More information on this service is available here.
- Scam texts and mobile calls should be reported (by text) to 7726. This is a service provided by Ofcom and more information is available here.
- If you think you may have been the victim of fraud or cybercrime and incurred a financial loss or have been hacked as a result of responding to a phishing message, you should report this to Action Fraud. Help is also available through Victim Support.
- If your computer has been locked out by ransomware, access useful information here from another device.
Social Media
Salford u3a is now live on both Twitter and Facebook. Click on the social media icons (bottom of the page if you’re on a smartphone) to access and follow our accounts.
Disposal of old mobile phones
How many old phones do you have gathering dust at the back of a drawer? If you’re like me, quite a few. Why not free up space and put them to good use? If they’re less than 8 years old, one option is to donate them at any Salford Gateway so that they can be refurbished and given to others who would benefit in Salford. Please see this guide from Salford’s Digital Inclusion team.
You may also be interested in:
Age UK have produced a number of useful step-by-step guides to making the most of the internet.
Maybe you own a computer but would like to use it more fully or gain more skills and grow your confidence. Or maybe you’ve been on a Tech and Tea course and want to move to the next level.
Salford u3a 