The Voice of Experience Forum, a charity in North Lanarkshire that helps older people’s voices to be heard, awarded Bield-run Broomfield Gardens £1,400 which they used to purchase four iPads for the tenants.

Yvonne McQueen, development manager at Broomfield Gardens, said: “I applied for the grant because the tenants wanted to learn new skills by getting online.

“For their generation, using computers and the internet is still relatively new to many – although they all realised how much value it can bring to enrich their lives.

“The tenants use the iPads to Skype and FaceTime in particular to contact loved ones which is hugely beneficial, especially for the tenants whose family cannot visit very often.”

After receiving the iPads many of the tenants embarked on a six week training course in order to learn more about the internet and the technology.

May Close, a tenant at Broomfield Gardens, said: “I had never used a computer before, the nearest I got to technology was using the remote control for my television.

“I have a daughter in Portugal that I have never been able to visit but the training classes have taught me how to use Skype so I am able to Skype my daughter and her husband Charles using the iPad.

“The first time we Skyped I couldn’t believe it was happening. I was able to see my daughter Anne’s house for the first time.

“She took me on a tour and I showed the other tenants it. We were all talking to Anne during the training class. I absolutely loved it.”

May added: “During week two of our training the staff did everything for me, but by week three I was able to work the iPad completely by myself and have been doing so ever since.”

The successful iPad project typifies Bield’s ‘Free to Be’ philosophy, which lets people make their own choices about how they live their lives while being there to support them when they need it.

@BieldScotland