IT plus Friendship: the winning combination
I've just been thinking about our upcoming Spring Online event on 23rd April, and how we can make the most of the wonderful opportunities it offers to bring new people in, share the skills we've all learnt over the past months, and encourage other older people to join in. We have so much fun, you see...
As I've learnt from week to week, there are fringe benefits to participating in an IT Club, and by that I don't just mean the chocolate biscuits! First of all, those of us who were there during the first couple of weeks got to spend more time together. Two hours every Tuesday morning, come rain or shine (mostly rain as it happens!), there we were, ensconced in our community room, tapping away, and chatting. Now when people chat several positive things tend to happen, particularly when those people have a lifetime of wisdom and experience behind them. You learn a lot from each other, trust grows, friendships blossom, and you begin to share concerns you have in a safe and non-judgemental environment. And of course, you begin to share solutions that work, and find new ways of tackling and solving those issues you were racking your brains over.
I've lost count of the number of people who have been helped over benefits and housing problems, where to find cheap, non-slip winter boots, where to find a local support group for a particular illness or disability, or a friend to go to a local event with or a lift home on an icy day. It begins with one person overheard offering a simple act of kindness to another. People are inspired by that kind of role model.
To use the chocolate biscuits example: when one person brings biscuits, the following week you find yourself with six packets left anonymously in the kitchen! The kindness of older people, all working from a common understanding of neighbourliness, touches my heart every time I sit in that room.
Our IT Club members come along and play skittles on a Saturday night, sign up for trips, come to parties, stay to do a bit of washing-up, stay till after dark because they're deep in discussion about life, the universe and everything and are having too much of a good time to want to go home just yet...
IT + Friendship = Happiness. If I could have just one wish it would be that all the over-50s in the UK could find that winning formula for themselves.
Janet's taster session at Brandwood House, Kings Heath is just one of hundreds of events being held as part of Spring Online 2013. To find your nearest Spring Online event check out our event finder here.