The Infostore - www.olderpeopleleeds.info - has been developed by Leeds City Council, working in partnership with Leeds Older People's Forum and Leeds Primary Care Trust.

The site is for older people themselves, their relatives and carers, and for professionals.

It contains details of hundreds of organisations and services and access to a huge range of leaflets, guides and other useful documents.

Armley Helping Hands, and many of its members, have been closely involved in the development process.

Infostore Development Manager Rob Cook, from the Leeds Council Communication Unit (Social Care) led the workshop with 15 older people from the local area, and taught them how to navigate the site.

The group will now be joining the Entry IT course at the centre where they will be able to practise their IT skills and access the new website.

Dawn Newsome from Armley Helping Hands said: "We had been working together already with Link Age Plus on gateways for older people and through this consultation process, the idea of a website was suggested. There was no point in creating the site without a programme of training in place, and this is where Park Lane College Leeds offered their support.

"We have therefore been able to provide training for older local people via the College but also have a new 20" widescreen laptop with broadband which we will be taking out to homes and coffee mornings to encourage learning."

Christine Eddison, Park Lane College Leeds, said: "This new website and the associated training is about providing useful information for the community but also encouraging life-long learning. We hope through the workshops we can alleviate any fears about the internet and open up new methods of getting information via accessible computers at libraries, public areas, or even at home.

"We are really pleased to be involved in the project and develop further links with the community to open up opportunities for learning."

It is hoped that the pilot project in Armley and Wortley will be rolled out across the West of Leeds including Pudsey, Stanningley and Bramley, using Park Lane College Leeds adult and community learning centres for training workshop sessions.

The project is run in partnership with Park Lane College Leeds, Armley Helping Hands, Leeds City Council, Leeds Adult Services, The Department for Work and Pensions (partly funded as a result of the Government's Education for the Third Age initiative), Older People Forums, and Leeds Primary Care Trust.