Laptops donation boots scheme to help Liskeard parents and children

The Local Liskeard based charity ECCABI is running a series of fun online cookery sessions for parents, focusing on preparing healthy meals, managing household budgets and helping parents gain new online skills which they can then use to support their children’s education.

Wildanet, which is based in Liskeard, and Gresham House have donated a number of laptops to the Liskeard Together Project’s Feed the Family Initiative which will enable families to log in and take part in the interactive demonstration sessions, which are filmed live at ECCABI’s base in Holman Road.

The six-part Feed the Family course involves a step-by-step guide to cooking a range of cheap, tasty and wholesome dishes using simple and widely available ingredients, including seasonal local vegetables. Those taking part receive all the ingredients needed for the recipe delivered to their door free of charge.

The scheme is part of the wider Liskeard Together Project part funded by the European Social Fund helping local people to re-engage with their community and gain life skills, training and move towards employment.

John Ede MBE, Project Manager of ECCABI, said: “There are still significant numbers of people in the Liskeard area without the equipment, connectivity and knowledge to use IT. This project is all about upskilling parents with IT, healthy cooking and budgeting so they can in turn support their children’s learning at school.

“It’s good to see local businesses and charities getting behind what we are trying to do, and we are incredibly grateful to Wildanet and Gresham House for their support in donating these laptops. It will make an immediate and tangible difference in allowing more families to take part in this project, interact with and make the most of the online sessions.”

Founded in 2017 to deliver ultrafast, reliable broadband to communities across Cornwall, Wildanet secured a £50m investment from Gresham House’s British Strategic Investment Fund strategy in December last year, to enable it to roll out its new gigabit-capable broadband network across the county, starting in Wildanet’s hometown of Liskeard and the surrounding rural areas within the PL14 postcode.

Ian Calvert, Founder and Deputy Chairman of Wildanet, said: “A key part of our mission at Wildanet is to help bridge the digital divide and ensure that all communities and businesses, however remote or rural across Cornwall, have access to the internet they need and deserve.

“However, it is not just about infrastructure, it’s about people. We don’t want anyone left behind digitally, which is why this project in Liskeard is so important and why we are delighted to have been able to support it.”

Peter Bachmann, Managing Director, Sustainable Infrastructure at Gresham House and Fund Manager of BSIF commented: “Digital inclusion for all, is a central focus within Gresham House’s sustainability thesis, and the locally impactful Feed the Family initiative is a cause we are delighted to get behind.” 

The Feed the Family initiative is being supported by the EU Funded Liskeard Together Project, Cornwall Housing, Cornwall Council’s Children, Schools and Families Team and Liskeard Town Council.

More information about the Feed the Family scheme is available on the ECCABI website: www.eccabi.org

For more information about Gresham House, visit: www.greshamhouse.com