Helper posts

Posts by volunteers, staff and session workers

Return of the Laptop Café

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New laptops in the Community Room

Escape from the IT Room

We are finally out of the tiny IT Room that has space for only 8 people. We have expanded into the much larger Community Room with 9 new laptops, and space for you, your laptop, and 20 other people.

So on Wednesday mornings, the Community Room is the 50+ Laptop Café (the name we used at The Lawns computer centre and Piccadilly Community Centre). That’s in addition to the large Meeting Room that we have been using for about 2 years. Now we can accommodate about 40 people in two large spaces. connected by the garden and the kitchen.

The new laptops are all Chromebooks — very fast, very safe and very easy — giving us instant access to the Internet — and exactly what we need to resume workshops and short courses (or at least prove to potential funders that we can do it).

Laptop Workshop in the Laptop Café (Wed 22 August)

Posted on by Editor

How to use the Internet safely at the drop-in

This is easy to explain. We have stopped using the tiny IT Room at Whitmore Community Centre, and started using the large Community Room instead. It has space for at least 20 people, and on Wednesday mornings it becomes the 50+ Laptop Café, because that is where we set up our new laptops, and where you can bring yours.

We think next Wednesday morning (22 August) would be a good time to offer a workshop about how to use our classy new Chromebook laptops. They are actually easy to use, and very safe, but we know that most people feel more relaxed about something new if they have had a guide.

Who should come: anybody who uses drop-in computers on Wednesday morning, and anyone else who would like some hands-on practice with a Chromebook.

We can take eight people on this first workshop. If you would like to be one of them, please tell us as soon as you can.

When and where

Did you come to this country on a boat?

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Hello Hackney podcast,
Tuesday 21 August, 2 to 4 pm

Did you come on a boat (any boat)? What can you remember about the journey? We have heard some great stories about the actual ocean journey from the Caribbean, and the ports you might have visited on the way. Tell us what happened on the boat, what you did, where the boat went, about friendships formed, lives changed — whatever has stuck in your mind.

We are inviting people who can still remember anything about that trip to share their story at our next podcast session in St Mary’s Secret Garden, Hoxton. The presenter will be Newton Dunbar, who has his own extensive story repertoire.

Although the garden is large, seating for the podcast session is limited and we have space only for people with boat stories — but if you come with a boat story, we will find a place for you.

The session will start at 2 pm.

  • St Mary’s Secret Garden,
    50 Pearson Street, E2 8EL
  • On the corner of Pearson St and Appleby St (5 minute walk from Whitmore Community Centre)
  • Bus stops: Pearson St or Geffrye Museum
  • Train station: Hoxton
  • Map: https://goo.gl/maps/16sVqeJpNpw

If you would like more information first, please email to podcast@hellohackney.net

The new Hello Hackney podcast project

Posted on by Editor

The Friday podcast series has ended

The next podcast project has begun.

The new podcast base is St Mary’s Secret Garden – usually on Tuesday afternoons. It is a new project, not the same project in a different location

  • The podcast sessions will be pop-ups, not drop-in events – so they won’t necessarily happen every week.
  • The smaller, more intimate, space in the Secret Garden will match our need for more contemplative conversations.
  • Some of the tightly-focussed sessions might be invitation only, and not publicised in advance.

If you would like to propose a topic in which you have a special interest or knowledge, please tell Rick or Sallie about it (or email to podcast@hellohackney.net )

To keep in touch with the podcast project and its social inclusion purpose, please make sure we have your email address, mobile phone number (for text messages) or landline number. Email address is best if you check it at least once each week.

Where is St Mary’s Secret Garden?

  • 50 Pearson Street, E2 8EL
  • On the corner of Pearson St and Appleby St (5 minute walk from Whitmore Community Centre)
  • Bus stops: Pearson St or Geffrye Museum
  • Train station: Hoxton
  • Map: https://goo.gl/maps/16sVqeJpNpw

50+ Pop-Up Internet Café

Posted on by Editor

Our Wednesday morning program for August and September is the ‘50+ Pop-Up Internet Café’ — the same as before but with more space and more people.

The Friday afternoon podcast series has ended. The next podcast series will be Tuesday afternoon pop-ups, not drop-in events – so they won’t necessarily happen every week. The new podcast venue will be St Mary’s Secret Garden (50 Pearson St, Hoxton E2 8EL — not far from Whitmore Community Centre).

Meet Miss Alison Kakande, again

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Hello Hackney podcast,
Friday 27 July, 2 to 4 pm

Fabulous Miss Alison Kakande returns for one more talk show. In her own words …

The majority of the people you encounter on a day to day basis, out and about, at work or on your commute, have a story. Some might wish to share it and some might decide to listen. Miss Kakande is tired of Hollywood endings, contrived storylines, and morality lessons, aren’t you?

Voices of… is a series of events and one to one conversations with the local community starting in the heart of Hackney. This all began as a talk show project in 2015. It has since evolved into Voices Of…

Voices Of… was born from the listening and sharing of the untold stories in their rawest form.”

But we are just as interested in what you have to say. That’s what the podcast is for – older people talking about what they know.

Please bring your voice to Whitmore Community Centre on Friday afternoon.

Update

We are editing this episode now.

Your old technology stories

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An old-style hob kettleHello Hackney podcast,
Friday 20 July, 2 to 4 pm

Our VIP guest will be Belén Barros, who is interested in your stories about old and new technology.

She wants to hear about your radios, your washing machines, your vacuum cleaners, your cameras, your computers, your phones and any other gadgets you’ve ever had, bought or built.

So we could have a conversation about familiar technology that is considered obsolete even though it works, and replacement technology that requires adaptation to an unfamiliar and unsettling way of life (eg- smartphones instead of landline phones).

Or perhaps you could bring a gadget to make your point (I’m still using a kitchen blender that I bought more than 40 years ago; it looks odd, but it works perfectly).

Follow this Google search link for more ideas: old technology

Please bring your voice to Whitmore Community Centre on Friday afternoon.

Update

We are editing this episode now.

Meet Miss Alison Kakande, Voices Of …

Posted on by Editor

Hello Hackney podcast,
Friday 29 June, 2 to 4 pm

Postponed from 8 June — our VIP guest will be Miss Alison Kakande — founder of Voices Of, and the organiser of the very impressive Trowbridge Silver Surfers (Trowbridge Estate). Miss Kakande has been active in Hackney for many years and is looking forward to meeting you.

This is how she describes Voices Of …

The majority of the people you encounter on a day to day basis, out and about, at work or on your commute, have a story. Some might wish to share it and some might decide to listen. Miss Kakande is tired of Hollywood endings, contrived storylines, and morality lessons, aren’t you?

The Voices of… is a series of events and one to one conversations with the local community starting in the heart of Hackney. This all began as a talk show project in 2015. It has since evolved into the Voices Of…

The Voices Of… was born from the listening and sharing of the untold stories in their rawest form.

And here’s a video of her saying it …

But we are just as interested in what you have to say. That’s what the podcast is for – older people talking about what they know.

Please bring your voice to Whitmore Community Centre on Friday afternoon.

Update

Published at https://blog.hellohackney.net/2018/meet-miss-kakande/