A donation of 100 tablets will support Tameside people who don’t have access to the internet.

The tablets, worth up to £10,000 in total, have been donated from Greater Manchester Police (GMP), through the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) Tech Trust.

Tameside Council’s Employment & Skills team organised the donation as part of Get Online Week. The tablets will form part of a lending library to help people who are digitally excluded.

The tablets will also be used as part of the ‘Digital café’ group training sessions being launched by digital charity PCrefurb and held at venues in Tameside.

These sessions will be ideal for people who want to learn digital basics as well as enjoying some social time with others.  

Cllr Brenda Warrington, executive leader of Tameside Council, added: “The pandemic has shown that digital exclusion is a serious issue affecting people throughout our borough. We are responding to this serious challenge by addressing the three pillars of digital exclusion: lack of devices, lack of connectivity and lack of skills and confidence to go online."

Claire Webber, PCrefurb digital wellbeing project manager, said: “Being digitally connected is like living next door to all the people you know. On the other side there is a huge library, and across the road a free cinema and theatre.”

“Keeping in touch like this has been invaluable, especially during the lockdown, and all the more so since my hearing difficulty makes using the phone a bit of a struggle at times. Living on my own is not easy, but it has been made easier with the modern blessing of digital connection.”

To find out about the digital café or to donate digital devices contact PCrefurb at www.PCrefurb.org.uk.

Read more from the Tameside Reporter

Click here for more of the latest news

Click here to read the latest edition of the paper online

Click here to find out where you can pick up a copy of the paper