Press release

Silver Surfer event makes waves

Retirement tenants in South Northants are now ‘Silver Surfers’ – thanks to Roade School Sports College and social housing provider South Northants Homes.
On 15 May, 26 year nine student volunteers from Roade School Sports College welcomed 46 retirement tenants from South Northants Homes and some members of the community, for an informal introduction to using the Internet. The event coincided with National Silver Surfers Day, a national initiative to get the older generation using the internet.
During the day the young people helped the silver surfers get to grips with internet skills such as shopping, emailing and online map systems. At the end of each session many of the newly enthused Silver Surfers signed up for a further four week programme aimed at teaching them even more IT skills. These sessions will be hosted by Roade School Sports College or one of the primary schools in the local area of Salcey.
Speaking at the event, Becky Pavey, Community Development Manager at South Northants Homes said:

“Silver Surfers Day at Roade School was absolutely fantastic! It was so lovely to see our tenants fully engaged with the students and being introduced to the wonderful world of the Internet. This is just the beginning of our ‘Golden Oldies Go Surfing project’ and we aim to get as many of our older tenants online as possible, so they can use the computers we’ve installed in our retirement schemes. In return, some of our tenants have volunteered to help the pupils learn to read in one of the primary schools.”

Karen Roberts, Extended Services Co-ordinator, Salcey Cluster of Schools also commented:

“It is fantastic to see the students engaging with the older community in such a positive way, hopefully this will inspire them to work towards one of Northamptonshire Voluntary Youth Action’s accreditation schemes. The Silver Surfer event has been a very worthwhile experience, one which we hope will signify the beginning of a wider Intergeneration Project involving all of the schools within the Cluster and tenants from the housing schemes managed by South Northants Homes. The outline idea is for the younger generation to help the older generation develop their IT skills and the older generation to reciprocate and help the younger generation with their reading skills.”

END

Editors notes:
National Silver Surfers’ Day
National Silver Surfers’ Day is a national day set aside to focus on helping the over 50s to have a taste of what the Internet offers and to help them gain essential ICT skills.8 out of 10 older people in the UK still can’t access online services as they are not media literate.
Media literacy, in today’s digital age, is more important than ever. It can facilitate a more convenient, cheaper, community-rich lifestyle. Older people, who have so much to gain from the online world, are still largely missing out. Silver Surfers’ Day reaches many thousands of older people in hundreds of locations around the UK and does something very tangible about redressing that imbalance.

South Northants Homes
South Northants Homes is a leading provider of affordable housing and related services in the South Northamptonshire area, managing 3,000 properties.
South Northants Homes is part of Grand Union Housing Group, together with two other partner organisations: Aragon Housing Association, which is the largest affordable housing provider in mid Bedfordshire and MacIntyre Housing Association, which provides specialist accommodation and support to people with learning disabilities.

South Northants Homes employs over 90 staff and has an annual turnover of £18 million.

For more information please contact:
Dawn Mimnagh, PR and Marketing Co-ordinator
Grand Union Housing Group
Tel: 01767 685847
Fax: 01767 685801
Email: dawn.mimnagh@grandunionhousing.co.uk
www.southnorthantshomes.co.uk  

Salcey Cluster of Schools
The Salcey Cluster of Schools comprises eight Primary schools (Ashton, Blisworth, Collingtree, Hackleton, Hartwell, Hardingstone, Roade and Stoke Bruerne) and Roade School Sports College. Each of the schools strives to provide a range of services and activities (known as 'extended services'), often beyond the school day, to help meet the needs of children, their families and the wider community by acting as hubs for community services. In doing so, they also aim to improve the quality of life for everyone associated with them.

For further information about the Salcey Cluster of Schools please contact:
Karen Roberts, Extended Services Co-ordinator - Salcey Cluster (working Monday and Tuesday). 
Roade School Sports College
Stratford Road, Roade
Northamptonshire NN7 2LP
Email: robertsk@roadeschool.northants.sch.uk
Mobile: 07919 400838

Digital Unite (DU)
Digital Unite (DU) is managing the annual Silver Surfers’ Day Campaign. Devised in 2002 by DU, SSD is the biggest annual media literacy campaign aimed at older people. (http://digitalunite.com ) 
DU, media literacy experts for older people, have managed and run Silver Surfers’ Day for the past five years and offer free resources for Event Holders, large or small, on http://silversurfers.digitalunite.com

For further information about DU contact:
Email: du@digitalunite.net 
Telephone: Freephone 0800 822 3951
Website: http://digitalunite.com