A weekly tech clinic for your residents

A table in a communal space residents already walk through (a restaurant, lounge or coffee area works far better than a meeting room), a power socket, and a regular slot in the diary. That’s genuinely it. I bring everything else.

At Wadswick Green it settles at between six and twelve residents on a typical Friday, plus more who catch me afterwards or ring during the week. It builds gradually: the first few weeks are quiet while word gets round, then busy patches follow anything that changes: a broadband switch, a software update, a new television in someone’s home.

No, and I’d be no use to you if it were. I don’t sell residents hardware, I don’t take commission, and I don’t push anyone towards a paid visit. If a resident asks me to come to their home for something bigger, that’s arranged privately with them, but nobody is ever steered towards it.

I have worked unsupervised with residents at a Rangeford village every Friday for nine years, and Rangeford will confirm that. It is the strongest thing I can point you at.

Whatever your compliance team needs before a first session, I will complete it. If that is a basic DBS, an enhanced check with the adult barred list, your own induction, or particular cover in place, tell me what you require rather than wondering whether to ask. I would far rather meet your standard than ask you to make an exception to it.

Ring me and I will tell you plainly what I hold today and what I would need to put in place for you.

I’m based between Corsham in Wiltshire and Burnham in Berkshire, so the whole corridor from Bath and Bristol through to Slough, Windsor and West London is comfortable. I travel a good deal further than that for a regular weekly booking, just ask.

You will know the week before, and we move the session rather than skip it. In nine years at Wadswick Green I have missed very few Fridays, and never without warning.

I am one person, so I would rather say that plainly than pretend otherwise. What I can promise is that the slot is either kept or rearranged in advance, never simply dropped. Residents plan their week around it, and a clinic nobody can rely on is worse than none.

I tell your duty manager the same day.

Sitting one to one with someone about their technology means I sometimes see things a passing conversation would not: a fraudulent payment already gone out, someone being pressured on the telephone, or a resident who is noticeably more confused than they were a month ago.

I am not there to assess anybody and I would not try to. But I will not keep it to myself either. You will hear it from me before you hear it from anyone else, and I will follow whatever safeguarding process you already have.

I’d encourage it. Let me run one session so you can see the turnout and the reaction for yourself. There’s no contract at any stage, so you can stop whenever you like.