First things first.

Outside<br /> The Lawns 30 Sept 2009.

What we do.

We are Hackney Silver Surfers and The Lawns is our main centre. We provide free computer training and free Internet access to everybody over 50 in Hackney. We are open Tuesday to Friday, 10 am to 4.30 pm (and also on Mondays for special projects). Everything we do is free, informal and very friendly. All you have to do is come along and ring the door bell. Our address is 52 The Lawns, Matthias Road, London, N16 8QD. Our phone number is 020 7254 2183.

More information.

Please look at the About us page. Our contact details (with links to maps) are on the Contact us page. Information about what we do is on the Program page.

How to use this website.

It’s all explained in our post entitled How to use this website. But if you are not 100% sure — please ask a helper!

By the way.

  • Most of this page is underneath this post. Please scroll down to read everything. If you are not sure how to do that — please ask a helper!
  • We add new posts to the home page every week — sometimes every day. Keep scrolling down to make sure you have not missed anything!
  • If you see a link saying « Older posts at the bottom of the page, click on it — it will take you to a second page of posts that are older but possibly still relevant.

Digital inclusion stories.

Click on the ‘PLAY’ button to start the video.

There are more stories like this at Race Online 2012’s ‘inspired by’ pages.

Do you remember the Four Aces in the 1960s?

Entrance to the Four Aces Club.

Entrance to the Four Aces Club.

Some of your fellow Hackney Silver Surfers are learning documentary film techniques at the Documentary Filmmakers Group in Shacklewell Lane.

We have four small teams, each responsible for making a five-minute video.

One of the teams is making a video about memories of the music brought from Jamaica to Dalston in the 1950s and 1960s.

If you remember those days, if that music was important to you then, or if you remember the Four Aces Club in Dalston Lane back in the 1960s and 1970s — we would like to hear from you.

If you can help (or if you know anyone who can), please send an email to Rick at acc@lawns.org.uk .

‘BBC iPlayer & TV online’ workshop, 22 March.

Agewell in Hackney logo.

Agewell in Hackney logo.

Agewell Computer Club, 22 March, 2.30 - 5 pm.

We will show you how to install and use BBC iPlayer, which allow you to download and watch most BBC TV programs on your own computer for up to 30 days, without a TV licence.

We will also look at some of the other Web TV services which provide Internet streaming access to TV progams and films, for example:

Cartoon frog holds laptop computer showing BBC iPlayer logo.

Cartoon frog holds laptop computer showing BBC iPlayer logo.

Please bring your own questions to the workshop.

ACC members can reserve places at this workshop by sending an email to acc@lawns.org.uk (if you don’t trust your own email skills, please ask for help).

Other Agewell workshops.

There is more information about future workshops on our Agewell Computer Club workshops page.

See our main Agewell Computer Club page for more information about our Monday afternoon activities.

Website of the Week 8 March 2010.

Screen shot of Carers Direct website.

Screen shot of Carers Direct website.

Carers Direct.

Part of the NHS Choices site: information, advice and support for carers.

Sections on: Your wellbeing, Carers’ lives, Guide to caring, Work and study, Money and legal.

URL: http://www.nhs.uk/Carersdirect/ .

‘Public services online’ workshop, 19 March.

directgov logo.

directgov logo.

Friday afternoon workshop, 2 - 4.30 pm.

At the workshop, you will learn how to find, understand and use information published on Directgov — the huge official government website http://direct.gov.uk/.

The list below is just a sample of the range of topics which might interest you or affect you …

  • Education and learning.
  • Employment.
  • Money, tax and benefits.
  • Home and community.
  • Disabled people.
  • Travel and transport.
  • Pensions and retirement planning.
  • Caring for someone.
  • Crime and justice.
  • Environment and greener living.
  • Health and well-being.
  • Government, citizens and rights.
  • Britons living abroad.

Please bring your questions to the workshop.

Reserve your workshop place.

Reserving a workshop place is essential.

The best way to reserve is by asking Sadia, Michael or Rick — because that way, you get immediate confirmation.

Alternatively, you can send your request by email to hss@lawns.org.uk — we will reply to you as soon as we can.

Internet - My Life.

Screenshot of the ITV Player website, showing a close-up of the Hackney Silver Surfers website.

Screenshot of the ITV Player website, showing a close-up of the Hackney Silver Surfers website.

Hackney Silver Surfers who wish they had not missed ‘Internet - My Life’ (possibly featuring you) can relax. The program was shown on ‘Tonight’, Thursday 4 March — but is available on ITV Player until the beginning of April.

Here is the link to watch the episode online: http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=125611 .

And here is the Tonight blurb to introduce it …

Jonathan Maitland investigates the importance of the Internet, and looks at what some of the 10 million Britons who have never been online might be missing.

Free screenings of ‘Home’ for over-60s.

Rio Cinema logo.

Rio Cinema logo.

A message from Jemma Buckley, Rio Cinema

Hackney Home Movies.

An opportunity to see this special programme of films from the Hackney Archive, which also includes new footage collected during the Rio’s recent ‘Home Movies’ project. The original screening of this programme took place in January to a packed house. Now the Rio is offering three opportunities for the over-60s to see this material for free!

Part of a series of events to mark the Rio’s landmark 100th anniversary, this screening features footage of Hackney landmarks throughout the last century, enabling us all to relive the borough’s rich and vibrant history on the big screen.

Plus – free tea and biscuits!

Screening Dates.

  • Wednesday 17 March: 11 am.
  • Wednesday 24 March: 11 am.
  • Wednesday 5 May: 11 am.

Doors open at 10.15 am.

For more information please call Jemma on 020 7241 9419 or email jemma@riocinema.org.uk .

Website of the Week 1 March 2010.

Screen shot of Radio2 Get Connected website.

Screen shot of Radio2 Get Connected website.

Radio2 Get Connected.

In their own words:

Radio 2’s Get Connected campaign launches on Monday 1 March. The aim of the campaign is to help more of our listeners get online and understand digital technology better. The campaign will run across the network for the entire month, with many shows involved including Weekend Wogan, The Chris Evans Breakfast Show, The Jeremy Vine Show, Steve Wright in the Afternoon, Simon Mayo’s Drivetime, Ken Bruce, Alex Lester, and Aled Jones’ Good Morning Sunday.

URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/events/get-connected/ .

Helping you back into work: employment workshops for over-50s.

'Applying for a job' clip art.

'Applying for a job' clip art.

Are you an unemployed older person trying to get back into work?

We have arranged another series of workshops – starting Wednesday 10 March – for older people (50+) who are either

  • Currently unemployed, and actively looking (or at least hoping) for work or training opportunities.
  • In employment, but worried about your prospects in the near future.

The tutor will be Crystal Butler from the Hackney Learning Trust. The venue will be 52 The Lawns. Here are the workshop dates, times and topics …

  • Wednesday 10 March, 3 to 5 pm. Making your CV employer-friendly.
  • Thursday 18 March, 10.30 am to 12.30 pm. Online applications.
  • Tuesday 23 March, 3 to 5 pm. Online course and education information.

For more information, or to apply for a workshop place, please contact Sadia Hussain …

  • Phone: 020 7254 2183 .
  • Email: SadiaHussain@ageconcernhackney.org.uk .

Bookbite mags at The Lawns.

Bookbite logo.

Bookbite logo.

About Bookbite.

Bookbite is a new project from Booktrust for people over 60. The  website encourages people over 60 to discover new authors and genres, to try a range of creative writing activities and to interact with others online to share stories and book reviews.

Bookbite mags.

Amongst the many online and printed resources produced by Bookbite is a free glossy magazine packed with useful information about reading and writing activities — and details of short story competitions, which any 60+ Hackney Silver Surfer could enter and win.

At Hackney Silver Surfers, we have a huge pile of the Bookbite mags to give away. Come and get yours as soon as you can.

Bookbite links.

Hackney and the Blitz.

Timeline logo.

Timeline logo.

A message from Camilla Loewe, TimeLine

Remember the Blitz?

When The Blitz got going in Hackney on the night of September 7th 1940, people just did not know what was going to hit them. Do you remember when high explosives were smashing into houses across Hackney, everywhere from Mare Street, to the Lower Clapton Road, and Well Street, Kenninghall Road, London Fields, Hackney Police Station, Lauriston Road, King Edwards Road and all those other places? Or the next night, when over seventy bombs crashed down across Shoreditch, Hackney and Stoke Newington.

Asking the Experts.

Well, it is nearly seventy years since The Blitz began, but there are still lots of people now who remember Hackney way back then. The air raids and the Anderson shelters, the blackouts, the fires and the smoke; remember being evacuated or staying and sleeping in Tube stations, seeing London blown to pieces in front of your eyes — and gradually rebuilt into the Hackney we can recognise today?

Plus there are plenty more people who were only little during World War Two, but grew up hearing loads of stories from their families about their life during the Blitz; and there are others who know what it was like when someone in their family travelled from the Caribbean to England to help with the war effort.

So, lots of people are still looking after so many memories: if you are one of them, we think that makes you an expert. Children and young people have questions about the Blitz that you might know the answer to: what it was like to be sitting in your classroom one minute, and then rushing down into the shelter when the air raid siren went: or listening out for doodlebugs. And how different did Hackney look before the war and during the Blitz compared to now? What were the cool places for kids to hang out way back then?

If you are one of these experts, maybe you could help children and young people with some of their questions about Hackney during and after the Blitz. You could do it by writing down some of your memories and stories; or answering some childrens’ questions by e-mail, or even coming to one of the Question & Answer session we are organising for Local History Month in May.

If you would like to get involved and share some of your memories, please send an e-mail to us at ebones@blueyonder.co.uk (or write to POB 44684, London N16 0XY) to let us know you would like to hear more about this.

And if you have memories or stories that you would like us to include in a Hackney and The Blitz ebook planned for this website, don’t be shy! Just write them down and send them over to us at ebones@blueyonder.co.uk — and let us do the rest.

Please visit the TimeLine ‘Remember the Blitz’ page for much more information about this project.

Raising awareness of prostate cancer in African Caribbean men in Hackney.

Prostate Cancer Charity logo.

Prostate Cancer Charity logo.

A message from Sarah Toule, Prostate Cancer Charity

We are calling on African Caribbean men and women across Hackney who have been touched by prostate cancer to help raise awareness of the disease and the fact that African Caribbean men are three times more likely to develop prostate cancer than white men.

We are currently looking for volunteers in Hackney to train as ‘Community Champions’ to give awareness raising talks to the local community or help distribute our information.

We need your help in overcoming the cultural myths and the resistance to talking about prostate cancer in the community and we need men who have already experienced the disease to stand up and say to others that this is nothing to hide from.

For more information please contact Sarah Toule on 020 8222 7149, email olderandwiser@prostate-cancer.org.uk, or visit our Older and Wiser page .

Tuesday and Wednesday mornings are busy.

Our level 1 course occupies most of our space on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.

When the course finishes (1.30 pm on Tuesday, 2.30 pm Wednesday), the whole of the teaching area is available for drop-in — so if you want to come here on Tuesday or Wednesday, come in the afternoon if you can.

Agewell Computer Club, February-March 2010.

Agewell in Hackney logo.

Agewell in Hackney logo.

About the Agewell Computer Club.

The Agewell Computer Club is for Hackney residents who are between 50 and 65 and have little or no experience of computers or the Internet, but want to find out more. We also welcome other mid-lifers who have had a little experience, but who have been too busy to do much with it.

There is much more information on our main Agewell Computer Club page.

Our current program.

There is more information on our Agewell Workshops page.

Every Monday afternoon.

The Agewell Computer Club meets at The Lawns every Monday afternoon (2.30 - 5  pm). Mid-lifers (people in the 50-65 age range) are welcome to come to any sessions they have time for. As always, the front section of The Lawns is available for general drop-in by agewellers who prefer to do their own thing.