Award-winning Burgess Hill IT group for older people ‘in desperate need’ of new volunteers

The group at The Spire Café at St John’s Church runs every Thursday from 10am to 1pm for free, and is funded by small voluntary donations. People can find out more about the service at spirecomputerhelp.co.uk.

But now Linda and Brian Dove, who set up the community service almost a decade ago with Mid Sussex Older People's Council (MSOPC), are stepping down from their roles.

Volunteer Liam Dasey, who lives in Burgess Hill, said: “We have advertised through MSVA (Mid Sussex Voluntary Action) and a group called Digital Unite who we are associated with, but so far we haven’t found anyone.”

He continued: “We are all Digital Champions, associated with Digital Unite and the Digital Champion Network. We actually send in weekly stats to DU, just to tell them how many people we have helped that month.”

Liam said that The Spire Café group has helped hundreds of Mid Sussex residents with their IT issues and held more than 1,600 one-to-one sessions.

He said: “We help people with any ‘computer’ problem, usually to do with a laptop, tablet or smartphone, but sometimes it can be more to do with email, connectivity or just advice on buying a new device. I think we operate best with four or five volunteers. There aren’t many times when five of us have been there, but it gives scope for people taking holidays or other commitments.”

Liam said the group is looking for volunteers that can help on either a weekly or monthly basis.

He said: “I get a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction from helping people. The problem to me may be trivial, but to the people looking for help, in many cases the problem has blocked them using their device, so it means everything. If people are interested, they can get in touch with me directly by phone (07771 833837) or using our email address [email protected].”

He added that The Spire Café itself is ‘a great community meeting space’ that offers tea, coffee and sandwiches on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. The Spire Café IT group was joint winner of Mid Sussex District Council's Strong Communities Award 2019.