Unite’s Bristol Office was packed with learners from all backgrounds in May as the region’s learning team held a Learning For Life day as part of Learning at Work Week.

Though officially starting at 10.30 many people arrived early to try out a vast array of different sessions and find out what was on offer from the union.

Particularly popular was the IT drop-in that ran all day and Deaf Awareness and Introduction to Sign Language – but all the tasters were busy. These included CV writing, creative bookmaking, prostate cancer awareness and careers advice appointments.

Organisers also brought in partners N-Gaged and Bristol City Council Online Services to update people and talk about support with learners and residents.

Unite ULR from Bristol City Council Juanita McKenzie was on hand to help with the IT drop in, and was kept busy all day.

Juanita said

These sessions were very popular, with a wide range of learners dropping in to improve their skills and find out about courses that Unite offers. People had lots of different learning needs ranging from social media to resizing photos, some had a lot of experience whilst others had never used a computer.

I helped one retired person in his 80s who had never used a computer, by the end of the session we had set him up with an email account that he now aims to use to keep in touch with the youth football team he runs."

The Deaf Awareness session run by Lynn Stewart-Taylor was very popular. Three colleagues who support pupils with special needs in the city were so taken with the introduction activities that they are looking to study a British Sign Language course.

Charlie Truman works at Briarwood School and said

This was a very good session and we are all keen to follow it up and explore the idea of evening classes. We work with children with special needs, including deaf and hard of hearing young people – this will really help us communicate with them, making them more comfortable and helping with their learning."

Unite's South West Chair and South West TUC Chair Kevin Terry attended the learning day and was impressed with the wide variety of sessions and support available.

Kevin said:

Steph Weston, Matt Gillett and Unite’s regional learning team have put on a great event which not only supported members, but also people in the local community who were keen to develop their skills and improve job prospects.

I attended one of the Deaf Awareness sessions and had a look at some of the latest online learning offer from the team and was impressed by the quality of training and resources available. Unions have a vital role to play supporting and promoting skills - and today's very popular event showed the benefits of a union led approach."

Also attending on the day was Ines Lage the South West TUC’s new PCSO (Policy and Campaigns Support Officer) who wanted to find out what unions are doing across the city to support skills.

Ines said:

The South West TUC is planning a new campaign that will promote high quality jobs in Bristol. High quality learning and skills support is essential to this, and the work being done at events like today help union members, their families and the wider community.

This can only be a good thing for the people of Bristol and I’m looking forward to working with the cities unions in the future."

The dust was just settling on the Learning for Life day and already organiser Matt Gillet was thinking about future plans to support learning with more events in the pipeline.

Matt said:

It was an excellent day all round. Thanks to the hard work of the Learning Reps, Learning Organisers, Unite staff and those who took the workshops we have been able to stage one of the most comprehensive offerings of Learning At Work week.

The feedback from those who attending has been really, really positive. It’s great to showcase the contribution unions make in supporting the community as a whole and helping giving them access to learning that is both useful and enjoyable."