Based at Deane and Derby Cricket Club in Bolton, The Sunnyside Club is a voluntary organisation whose aim is to promote educational opportunities for all within the Bolton area. The club is run by qualified teachers and lecturers and they are also tutors who can speak in Urdu and Gujarati.

The club’s free adult computer sessions have been a huge success as it specifically teaches people how to use a computer and the internet to help them in their day-to-day life. Attendees learn how to pay their bills online, use price comparison websites to save money, and use social media and networking sites to keep in touch with friends and family.

One 49-year-old attendee said: “I couldn’t use computers at all before attending The Sunnyside Club. The club gave me the opportunity to learn the basics, but better still I was able to meet new friends and socialise at the same time. It has had such a positive impact on my life.”

Inspired by the benefits of the social interactions that the computer sessions had given to people attending, The Sunnyside Club began to arrange other activities outside of the classroom for people to get involved with.

In 2015 they organised an over 40s and over 50s football competition. As well as asking people who attend the computer courses to take part in the football, they made a huge effort to invite people who are isolated in their own homes.

The football competition not only gave people the opportunity to take part in physical activity, it also brought people from the local community together to enjoy a shared passion.

As a result some of the people who took part in the football now attend the computer classes and many new friendships have been formed.