At a special ceremony at The House of Lords on March 13, the Digital Skills Hub in was selected as a winner in the ‘Let’s Celebrate Towns’ awards for the work we are doing to benefit the community. The awards, run by Visa and supported by the British Retail Consortium, showcase and celebrate hundreds of towns across the UK that are helping businesses and communities to thrive.

The Digital Skills Hub was up against ten finalists in the ‘People & Skills’ category and were selected as overall category winners. This makes Boscombe just one of seven other towns nationwide selected as winners. The award includes £15,000 prize money that will be used to fund projects to further uplift and upskill the Boscombe community. 

Kaoutar Addi, Project Lead for the Digital Skills Hub (pictured right), said: “It’s thanks to our funding partners—Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council—that since our launch we have delivered a wide range of initiatives including ‘Community Connect Tuesdays’, digital skills workshops and specialist sessions for those whom English is not their first language. We are also working to help small local businesses through our free ‘Business Connect Monday’ sessions to help share advice and guidance. We plan to use the prize funding to bring together Boscombe’s people and businesses by re-investing it directly back into a series of community-led projects under the theme of ‘Digital Futures’.”

“Winning the ‘Visa – Let’s Celebrate Towns’ award will help shine a light on Boscombe and its diverse and creative community,” said Rebecca Davies, Head of Skills Strategy at Dorset LEP (pictured middle). “We are proud of the difference the Digital Skills Hub is making to Boscombe by actively enhancing digital literacy, boosting employability and helping people to confidently engage with the digital world in a safe and welcoming space.”