Gorton Online is Part Funded by the European Union

Forum Diary - Updates, Rumours and General Comment

It has been a quiet time at Gorton Online for the last few weeks, although it is holiday season, which brings about its own share of problems - increases in vandalism and anti-social behaviour being particularly notable, as those people who used to benefit from the use of the Community Centre's Minibus or the big lump of plywood next to our front door might testify, the minibus having been thoroughly trashed recently by vandals. Sadly, it is unlikely that this will be replaced.

Regular visitors might have noticed some new logos appearing on this page, It is only right that we acknowledge those bodies who fund our efforts, although it seems to have upset one respondent who, by some stunning feat of intellectual magic, managed to bypass his spellchecker in order to demand that we justify what we do to him, rather than to those who pay our bills, and having prejudged us as lacking, to demand that we hand the money back. Dream on mister.
If there is anybody out there who is genuinely curious as to what we are about, we are always happy to talk to people, so pop in and see us (see below for details of how to contact us)

On a more positive note, the latest Newsletter is out , and it is a much more download friendly 900k in Acrobat Format. Take a look, it's packed with News and articles of interest, by Gortonians for Gortonians ..

A final note for now, the Gorton online centres are open for business all over the summer holidays, for drop-in users, Learndirect courses and the usual ECDL and CLAIT. You don't have to wait until September, come along, enjoy some flexible learning, surf the Net, have a chat and a cuppa in a pleasant environment. Throughout August we are offering advice on Computer viruses and their removal and we will soon be starting courses in 3d modelling and web design using state of the art software (Bryce, Dreamweaver, Photoshop and Illustrator). For further details, or to make an appointment to see one of our advisers, call us on 223 9262 (Gorton South) or 231 7870 (Gorton North, e-mail admin@gorton.info, or just drop in.. the first 25 people to sign up in August will receive a free [yourname]@gorton.info e-mail address and subscription to the Gorton Users message boards. Please note that Gorton UK Online centres cannot, at present, extend our facilities to anybody under the age of 18 years

Friday 23rd April 2004

Well, it seems that we have been having the odd hiccup with the old updates this week, so for the third time this week ..

The latest issue of Gorton News has hit the streets. It must be a good one as they seem to have all gone.. So as usual we are posting it Here in Acrobat format. This is a big(ish) file at 1Mb, so if anybody has serious difficulty in accessing this, let us know and we'll see what we can do.

There have been a couple of big stories for Gorton this week, the first regarding the District Centre development the press release for which can be found here

The second is regarding the long awaited start to the restoration of the Monastery, which now has the money to proceed. Congratulations are well in order for Elaine and the team, they have travelled a long and arduous path to arrive here. The official statement is here

Finally, a quick word about the UK Online centres: Despite Gorton North being robbed again at Christmas, we have been able to continue to offer a full service to our users thanks to all those people and organisations who donated their old and unwanted kit. We cannot thank you enough. The centres go from strength to strength and we are looking to offer more and varied services as the year progresses. If you would like further details ring Robin on 223 9262 for Gorton South or Margaret on 231 7870 for Gorton North. Incidentally, we have spoken to a number of people over the last few months who have bought second hand computers and found them somewhat lacking. We can offer free and impartial advice to prospective buyers, give us a call.

Oh yes I almost forgot the Gortoneye.... Last Friday saw the launch of Gorton's own web portal Gortoneye.net
Over 160 people attended the launch at Gorton Library, including the Rt. Hon. Gerald Kaufman M.P. and Cllr. James Ashley. We should have some pictures posted early next week, so watch this space.

Well, that's all for now .. hope this one works :)

If you get really bored and want to know what we've been up to over the past 3 years or so, you can access the Archive pages from here The Complete Forum Diaries

If you have any comments, criticisms articles to submit or ideas for the site or the printed Newsletter let us know

Wednesday 23rd November 2004

It seems that we've been lax in updating the website again (whenever haven't we been?), but nevertheless we still have a lot of people dropping in and are getting quite a few e-mails as well.Thanks to those of you who keep popping in to have a look. There will be a Newsletter in a couple of weeks time with a new, more up to date look which echoes this site (such is progress), I've seen it shaping up and it's going to be better than ever. As always if you have suggestions for things which you would like to see included in the Newsletter or indeed, this site, or would like to contribute to either or both, then drop us a line The events page is now back and running on this site , if you have any events you wish to post, let us know As far as we know there is not much happening with the redevelopment of Gorton Centre at the moment, although if rumours about the redevelopment at Portwood are anything to go by they will be building in an extra 20% free...:) Our little corner of Gorton is quiet at the moment, whether it's the weather, or the latest flu bug we don't know, but it seems that people are staying in at the mo, mind you with the recent spate of attacks on women, it has been a quiet few months really. I think we're all glad that the Police have arrested somebody in connection. You might have noticed that the Forum has moved from Old Hall Drive where they have been based for the last ten years. The move was as a result of the unsuitability of the building for compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act. They are currently based at Highmead Street within the UK Online centre prior to moving to a new permanent home in December. This will allow the Forum to greatly expand core activities to the benefit of all. Should you want to contact Gorton Community Forum, you can still ring the same number, 0161 220 7362 or e-mail. Please note that the Forum AGM is Tomorrow (Wednesday 24th November). The meeting will take place at Gorton North Neighbourhood Office and will kick off at 7.00PM. The UK Online centres are still going strong, Gorton South is doing particularly well at the moment. We are intending to offer courses in Photoshop and Illustrator, plus Dreamweaver in the new year, so if you are interested in any of those, give us a ring on 223 9262 (South) and 231 7870(North) and we'll sign you up. We still have places for Clait and ECDL at both centres, again give us a shout if you're interested. Please note that Gorton UK Online centres cannot, at present, extend our facilities to anybody under the age of 18 years