THE generation gap has been bridged at a North Yorkshire pub which has joined a scheme taking computers to the community.

At the Ship Inn, Bondgate, Ripon, youngsters are helping grandparents learn keyboard skills.

Operating a drop-in centre with free access to the Internet at The Ship, in a family-style lounge with two computers, has helped the pub become more family orientated, said Mrs Sue I'Anson who runs the Ripon Virtual College.

Mrs I'Anson said: "So often, generations are divided, but here the computers are bridging the generation gap with young successfully helping the old." Since the virtual college started a year ago, it has introduced hundreds of people to computers in places ranging from Safeway's supermarket in Ripon to the city's library and the Crown Inn at Grewelthorpe, which has a separate room for the scheme.

The virtual project is led by Ripon College Community Education and delivered through a range of partners.

One development has been the mobile unit.

A car towing a trailer takes computers to village halls in the Ripon area, teaching skills to a range of users who were previously strangers to the world of information technology.