Community links past and present together on website

People of all ages have contributed to the Hunwick Digital Village website, which was launched to bring computer technology to the community.

Local groups, businesses and individuals gathered at Hunwick Primary School at the weekend to create their own pages to go on the site, as well as compiling a history.

The initiative has been put together by the school, and experts have been drafted in to help design the site.

Sue Smith, who helped co-ordinate efforts, said residents had been enthusiastic.

She said: "We have had different community groups come along and design their own page, including the village cricket club.

"Individuals have contributed and teachers from the school have created their own page for their classes.

"We launched the project about two months ago and have been running courses to show people how to put pictures and video images together, as well as other technical advice.

"We have got together a fantastic historical archive and there are interviews with older residents talking about what life used to be like."

Steve Thompson, community media co-ordinator at the University of Teesside, has designed the site, which includes virtual reality tours and pictures from more than 100 years ago.

He said: "This is something that the community have been able to participate in and it is something that years ago could only have been created by media corporations.

"Who would have thought people would be able to create their own video footage to go online using information technology in a school.

"The community is putting their own personalities in the web page."

He said the project will continue to grow and develop.

In future, the virtual tour will enable people to click on houses and see who lives there and what they have contributed to the project.

Mrs Smith said: "The thing about a website is that it is never finished and we hope that people will be adding on to it all of the time."

To see the website, go to www.hunwick.org.uk