Farmers from around Warwickshire have been attending a tailored one-day training course run by ruralnet|uk.

The farmers, all members of Warwickshire Rural Hub, were selected specifically as they had limited experience of working with computers and the internet. The team at ruralnet|uk worked closely with Warwickshire Rural Hub to create a package of training which empowered each of them with the knowledge and tools to go online and manage their email, bookmarks and calendar effectively and with confidence.  The development of the course was part of Capacity Builders ‘Improving Reach‘ project, run by ruralnet|uk. The package provides the trainees with a way of keeping the information they need all together, where they can access it quickly, in a format they can use easily; saving them time and money.

Rob Mannion, Manager at ruralnet|uk said ‘The group can now receive timely and relevant information from the worldwide web delivered straight to their desktop. They have effectively ‘leap-frogged’ from having very little experience and knowledge of the internet to benefiting from the latest Web 2.0 features, such as RSS and networked calendars.” Rob went on to say “There is a vast amount of information out there on the internet, which can make looking for precisely what you want and need a daunting task and very time-consuming. The tools and training provided on this course offers a ‘one-stop shop’ tailored specifically for these busy people; from being kept up to date with latest alerts from Defra to being able to use email effectively”.

An indication of the success of this course has been is that within 4 hours of the first course having finished, over 60% of participants had logged in to their new tailored home page from their own homes. Indeed, feedback from the trainees has been very positive, with many of them saying what a good starting point it was and how the training had taken the fear away from using the internet. Other feedback included how relaxed the learning environment was at ruralnet|uk’s head office at Stoneleigh Park.
Notes for editors

1. ruralnet|uk is a registered charity, number 1089238

2. The training package has been developed by Rob Mannion and Angela Brankley at ruralnet|uk - for more information about the course please call either of them on 0845 1300 411.

3. Established in October 2003, the Warwickshire Rural Hub is a farmer and rural business-led group which organises meeting and event, supports development of rural business-led initaitives and shares experiences with other rural hubs.

4. Capacitybuilders is a non-departmental government body (NDPB)
set up in 2006 to take over the management of the ChangeUp programme and to work with other funders to build capacity of the Third Sector. They exist to create a more effective third sector and they do this by improving support for third sector organisations.