The GEVH, the Learndirect centre and the library, were all situated within the Acorn Centre on the main road through Grimethorpe’s village. There were a number of other regeneration projects and businesses situated alongside these amenities, all within the confines of the old British Coal Headquarters (albeit, now regenerated and refurbished and called the Acorn Centre). For example, the Acorn Centre is home to a number of other initiatives which come under the auspices of the Grimethorpe Regeneration Executive (GRE) which brings together key partners that influenced the regeneration processes within the village and surrounding area in phase 1 of the research48. There was also a car repair unit, a recycling unit, youth club, Grimethorpe Brass Band and a Connections Centre for young people.
48 The GRE comprises of Grimethorpe, Shafton & Brierley Community Partnership, Yorkshire
Forward/Renaissance South Yorkshire, Barnsley Council, BDA, Private Sector, UK Coal, Shevin Housing Group, Yorkshire Metropolitan Housing Association and Haslam Homes (GRE, 2006).
4.5.1 Grimethorpe Electronic Village Hall (GEVH)
Cited, even lauded, as a ‘Flagship Project’ by the Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) the GEVH has achieved critical acclaim for its innovative use of ICT (DTI, 1999). One of the first Electronic Village Hall’s (EVH) in the UK started out life in 1992 as a computer club organised by several computer enthusiasts:
‘It started off in my front room and the local pub. Five people who knew each other on a personal level through working for British Coal, who all had a really big interest in computers.’ [Gary Interviewee]
By 1992, with the help of Andy Kershaw49, the group had been given their own room in the Acorn Centre in which to meet once a week for one and a half hours. The group soon became well known within the local area and more and more people became interested in what they were doing with computers. By 1994 membership of the GEVH had passed fifty, they had moved into a permanent room and obtained an Internet connection (through donations and raffles and the kindness of Andy Kershaw). The GEVH arrived at the Acorn Centre in 1997 when members of the ‘committee’ applied for, and were granted, a National Lottery grant of £108,000 (alongside ERDF funding of £150,000). This created one of the first community owned and managed ICT facilities of its kind in the country and the model on which other initiatives have been based50. Funding initiatives continued and the GEVH was awarded an Objective 1 matched funding grant in 2000 to continue and expand on their work.
Because some of the original members had links with local community groups the GEVH started providing technical support to the voluntary sector on a non profit basis and soon had well-over 100 groups as clients. For several years
49 Andy Kershaw was originally a development worker at Grimethorpe who became the centre manager of the then newly redeveloped Acorn Centre, he has since moved on to present a radio show in Sheffield.
50 Interestingly enough, in 1997 the GEVH employed four full-time staff and had forty voluntary staff. However, when the researcher conducted the research in 2002 there were two voluntary and three full time members of staff.
they worked on linking these groups up electronically and also diversifying into wireless connectivity. A key goal of the GEVH was to create a sustainable enterprise, providing Internet connectivity and supplying IT support and hardware to community groups in Grimethorpe and the surrounding areas. The initial aim of the project was to bring the community together and to develop their IT skills, making them more attractive to employers. The GEVH saw its role as being able to provide a complete solution to the IT needs of community and voluntary sector groups locally. In their words, they provided ‘a common and easily accessible base for people and organisations connected with the community, to develop further social intercourse and offer specialist advice on how information and communication technology may be relevant to their business or organisation’ (DTI, 1999, p.178). On a more personal level the GEVH likes to think of itself as a place where anyone could drop in and learn.
There were a number of courses on offer to people from Grimethorpe, and the surrounding area, from basic computer courses to building your own computer and then maintaining it. They were open Monday to Friday between the hours of 10.30am and 4pm, with a Tuesday ‘drop-in’ session between 1 and 4pm and one on a Wednesday between 10 and 1pm for people to learn basic computer literacy.
4.5.2 Learndirect
Learndirect was developed by the University for Industry51 (UFI) with a remit from the Labour government to provide high quality post-16 learning which:
• reached those with few or no skills and qualifications who were unlikely to participate in traditional forms of learning;
• equipped people with the skills they need for employability, thereby strengthening the skills of the workforce and increasing productivity;
• was delivered innovatively through the use of new technologies.
Source: Ufl (2006)
51 In 2011, the UFI Charitable Trust (UCT) sold UFI Ltd and Learndirect to private equity house LDC, part of the Lloyds TSB Banking Group (Learndirect, 2012).
Like the GEVH, the Learndirect centre aimed to ‘inspire existing learners to develop their skills further, win over new and excluded learners and transform the accessibility of learning in everyday life and work’ (UFI, 2006). Operating a network of more than 750 online learning centres in England and Wales, Learndirect provides access to a range of e-learning opportunities. Flexible learning is available to individual adults wanting to improve existing skills or to learn new ones, and to employers looking for an innovative way to develop the skills of their workforce.
Learndirect offers more than 550 different courses covering a range of subjects, including management, IT, Skills for Life and languages, at all levels. Since its launch in 2000, 1.3 million learners have enrolled on almost three million courses. More than three quarters of the courses are available online allowing people to learn wherever they have access to the Internet - at home, at work or at a Learndirect centre (UFI, 2006).
Similar to the GEVH, Learndirect was set up to help in widening participation in learning and literacy in ICT and the Internet, which has an impact at both the social and economic level. According to the UFI (2006) ‘the network of Learndirect and UK online centres is proving successful in reaching out to new and excluded learners. Through Learndirect, UFI helps individuals develop both personally and professionally, gaining new skills, new qualifications and new confidence’ (UFI, 2006, p.1).
Learndirect centres can be found on high streets, in sports and community centres, libraries, churches and even at tourist attractions. They also proffer a wide range of facilities from creches, cafes, parking (although not necessarily free) and free internet access (as long as you were ‘signed up’ for a Learndirect course), often with weekend and evening opening hours. They are designed to help people fit learning into their lives and around their everyday work, family and social commitments. Courses too, like GEVH, are deliberately flexible, and e-learning often appeals to people because of the independence and autonomy it offers. In effect, you learn as much as you want when you want to learn it, at a pace which suits you. There are no fixed
classes, traditional classrooms or teachers, but online or centre-based support is always available should you need it (UFI, 2006).
The Learndirect centre is situated above the reception area of the Acorn Centre as you entered from the main road in Grimethorpe52. Up a flight of stairs, or in the lift if disabled, the three rooms are given over to two suites of computers and an office for the Learndirect tutor and volunteer workers. Unlike the GEVH, the teaching sessions are not fixed. The centre is open 9- 5pm, Monday to Friday and a member of staff (voluntary or employed by Learndirect) is always available to assist in any way necessary. In the three months the researcher participated he did not see more than four people in the Learndirect centre on any day he was present.
4.5.3 Library
Also situated within the Acorn Centre is Grimethorpe Library. To access this you can either enter via the rear of the Acorn Centre from the central car park or by the side of the reception area on the main street. During the first phase of the research the library received two computers that were connected to the Internet via broadband (several weeks into the research). These were provided as part of the Labour government’s sponsored initiative The People's
Network (funded through the New Opportunities Fund) that connected every
public library to the Internet by 2003.
The use of the PC’s was free, but there was a small charge for printouts (1 Op per A4 sheet). Sessions on the computers were available for a maximum of 2 hours per person per day with the last session ending 15 minutes before the library closed. As a precaution the library made it clear that it was advisable to book sessions in advance, especially at smaller branches like Grimethorpe (BMBC, 2006).
In contrast to the GEVH and the Learndirect Centre, the library did not have the staff to initiate any kind of training or teaching for using the computer or Internet, other than help with requests for information or searches. What is
52 See Appendix 4 for a plan of the Acorn Centre and location of the Learndirect centre.
more, the library only opened for two eight-hour days per week in 2002 but had expanded to five times a week by 2013, as Table 5 below demonstrates53: