Weldon's Digital Inclusion Project

06 January 2026

Weldon Congregational Church in Northamptonshire have used 2025 to start a Digital Inclusion Project that they hope will give IT confidence to older people in their village and will also raise the profile of their Church.

The Members initiated the link up with The Good Things Foundation following a conversation between Russell Workman, who works for Good Things in Wales, and John Cartwright at a CIPT Training weekend. The Church has a Membership that is predominantly of older people and decided to use contacts to offer support to a demographically similar local population, as well as to others that needed help with digital access. The Church has registered with The Good Things Foundation and they have been of invaluable help.

A number one priority was to access WiFi for their Church to run a weekly meeting. So a portable WiFi hotspot was bought and connected to a very reasonably priced data plan. This enabled them to run the group offering digital support and instruction based upon The Good Things Foundation materials and format.

John Cartwright comments:

"My advice to any interested group would be to contact the Good Things Foundation to register and then to use their resources. Device availability has been a bit of an issue for us, but the whole 'muck in and have a laugh' ethos has been pleasing.

"This has been a month long pilot and we have advertised a full re-start after the Christmas hiatus. The local magazine is now supporting us for the next run. We plan another couple of months and then review again. It looks as if there will be some who are essentially socialising, some who are in great need of support and one or two with some experience in particular areas. We also have a retired systems engineer keen to support the project.

"The big boost is that it has changed the attitude of some Members who are now more optimistic about the church. What I really need, is some new Members who are half my age and have some time.........don't we all?"