The Earl of Southampton Trust, a Titchfield charity that runs and looks after 19 almshouses in the village, has come to the aid of Henry Cort Community College students after a request from one of our teachers.

The government has said that they are providing portable devices for those with no digital devices in their household or with a single device in their household that’s being shared with more than one other family member.  Unfortunately in many cases these objectives are not being reached even though they have promised to supply one million devices. 

The Trust Chairman, Frances Knight, said, “During these trying times for all of us we wanted to show support for those who through no fault of their own are finding it more difficult than usual to cope.”

Frances held liaison talks with Mr. Parker, who said, “We have been unable to provide multiple laptops to some our disadvantaged families that have two or more students in the household.  Families are having to share one device, which significantly diminishes the amount of virtual education they can access. This of course only widens the education gap that many of these families already have.”

The Trust have today, Tuesday 26 January, delivered 10 laptops at a cost of over £4,000 to help those children and we are extremely grateful for their support.

These laptops will be distributed to those in need, this is in addition to over 150 laptops or tablets we have already provided to support students with their online learning. We have also provided 4G USB internet and webcams. A massive thank you for all those have donated spare machines; we are putting them to good use.  You are all our lockdown heroes!

Frances added, “We may be a charity with a past going back 500 years but in this instance it’s the residents of the future we are aiming at.”

#aspire #support