It’s good to talk (digitally) — Amy, 15, trains silver surfers

A WHITEFIELD 15-year-old has spearheaded efforts by Manchester welfare charity The Fed to bring elderly clients into the digital age.

Eight pupils provided digital training to residents of The Fed’s Prestwich residential care home, Heathlands Village, through the initiative of Amy Barlow, who successfully applied for a grant from O2’s “Think Big” scheme, backing ventures which connect generations.

“There’s been a stream of negative press about teenagers over recent years but most of us are good kids, who genuinely care about the elderly,” Amy said. “Having lived with my grandma for 12 years, I really enjoy spending time with older people and I thought it would be great to teach Heathlands residents some new IT skills. Most of them had a limited digital knowledge.”

The one-to-one sessions were delivered at Heathlands Village in the teenagers’ spare time over a two-month period. The young instructors helped residents set up email accounts and taught them how to use Skype and tablet computers as a means to stay in contact with their families.

Daphne Levine, 64, said the course had “opened my eyes up to the abundance of opportunities technology provides. I used an iPad and the internet for the first time. I never realised how much information there is online. I haven’t quite mastered how to hack into the Pentagon just yet, but I’m working on it.”

Amy is continuing to volunteer at Heathlands and will be applying for another grant so that she can replicate the scheme in 2014.

‘It opened my eyes. I used an iPad and the internet’