Tech team tackle digital exclusion from town hall base
By Rebecca Maer
Bright pink and green plastic-topped tables are not the obvious choice of furniture style for a wood-panelled former council committee room with a stone Victorian fireplace and decoratively glazed windows.
The tables are pushed together in a block in a room near the grand foyer of the Renaissance-style former Eastbourne Town Hall, an imposing Grade-II listed building which opened in 1886.
But the building now has a very different use, parcelled up into rented spaces for organisations and businesses.
Eastbourne Borough Council (EBC) has moved into offices behind the library further along Grove Road: registrar services remain at the town hall along with council meetings. The council has branded the town hall as a cultural and creative hub.
Where once council staff ran the town from grand, high-ceilinged rooms, there are now diverse organisations.
That is where the pink and green tables come in – they are a deliberate choice to make vulnerable people feel comfortable at TechResort’s digital drop-in sessions which are run in this former municipal building.
The sessions are run twice a week by the non-profit community interest company which helps people get online safely and refurbishes donated devices for people who have no internet access.
TechResort in numbers
4,600 – the number of ‘encounters’ since 2022 when the drop-ins started. One person might have several visits.
100 – number of people a month helped at drop-ins
£180,000 – annual running costs, mostly salaries, some ‘fair rent’ payment to EBC
£35 – approximate cost of hardware parts to refurbish a laptop
Two / three hours – the time required to refurbish a laptop, often carried out by a volunteer
As I met the team, a young woman called by to pick up a refurbished laptop which will allow her to complete a medical training course: she swung out the door with a beaming smile and profuse thanks. People with referrals from other agencies are helped in this way.
TechResort is renting several ground-floor rooms and part of the basement having moved from Cavendish Place in the heart of Devonshire ward.
The organisation, now in its 13th year, has refurbished hundreds of smartphones, laptops and tablets in the last few years alone.
TechResort was started in 2013 by digital manager Will Callaghan, who is also a director of Eastbourne Reporter, and former financial services project manager Liz Crew, initially focusing on young people.
When Covid lockdowns prompted online working and communication, the digital divide became more apparent as not everyone had the device or network to access the internet.
Liz, the volunteer chief operating officer, explains that many of the people who come to TechResort are vulnerable so a familiar environment helps them, hence the table choice.
"It’s beautiful here – we love it! We thought we would need to run parallel drop-ins between the two sites for quite a while but people changed over within two weeks to come to the town hall,” she said.
Fiona Davison-Trickett, 32, who studied for a digital media design degree from Brighton University via East Sussex College, has been at TechResort for ten years. She is the delivery co-ordinator and manages day-to-day operations.
She is no doubt the impact that TechResort has on people’s lives: she points out that although being online can be bad for mental health, being excluded from everyday life without online access can have the same effect.
Fiona recalls one man she helped to set up emails to apply for jobs and to be able to stay in contact with family. “He finished the course he needed and said he was now at work on building sites, making friends and going out socially: I can see the impact it has had on people,” she said.
She also points out that people can use the drop-ins as a safe space, which they may not have if in temporary accommodation. Some of the regulars have become friends and meet separately.
Sam Best, 22, started five years ago at TechResort on a work experience placement while studying games development and programming at East Sussex College in Lewes. He’s now studying cyber security part-time with the Open University alongside his job.
His motivation is using his skills to help others. “There have been people who come back in and say they have managed to get a job or housing because of what we have done. It is really helping people, that’s what I enjoy,” he said.
Sam came across one man who had previously used the Foodbank who returned to say thank you for the help – and that he was now donating food himself to help others.
Luke Brierley, also 22, first came to TechResort to learn coding in the children’s sessions: these are currently on hold until funding is available.
He is halfway through a six-year part-time computing and IT degree course with the Open University.
Luke works much of the time at drop-in sessions at Hastings Heart (Hastings Emergency Response Action Team) which co-ordinates volunteer activity and has an information hub.
He is ever-alert to protecting vulnerable people against potential online scams: he and Sam discussed one case they had come across and how best to protect and advise the individual.
Aside from the former wood-panelled committee room used for drop-ins, TechResort has smaller offices behind the scenes and use of a large basement area with tiled walls. This elves’ workshop-style area, with workbenches and carefully labelled shelves, is where the vital work of repurposing devices takes place.
The effectiveness of TechResort is not in doubt: the team recently heard that a former client had become a job coach, helping others find work.
Sharon Berry, 80, called by for help with her smartphone. She loved the drop-in element because some IT help services require an appointment.
“I get stuck, press the wrong button and get nervous. But I feel very comfortable coming here to see these guys – I try not to wear them out!”
Liz said of the young staff at TechResort: “Their depth of wisdom in how they approach people is astounding: they are outstanding humans.”
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