WHEN website problems left the charity Get2gether, which organises social activities in a safe environment for disabled people living in Edinburgh and the Lothians, unable to communicate with its 900 members, they turned to the Scottish Tech Army (STA) for help.

The charity’s events co-ordinator, Mojca Becaj, was amazed at the response. “Wow,” she said, “I am so impressed. This is such a great initiative. Aidan from the Scottish Tech Army is a magician. He fixed our website overnight and offered to help with any other tech problems we might have.”

Aidan Bree, the STA’s “magician”, played down his “relatively straightforward” role. He said: “The initial problem with the website was down to it being hosted in the USA where it was built.

“Everything online was very slow, but it was relatively straightforward to migrate Get2gether’s website to Scotland, where the charity is based. This has resolved many of their issues but I’m also working with them on improving their digital marketing to tie in with their events.”

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For Get2gether, it now means that many of people they work with, who don’t have access to a tablet or smartphone, will be able to keep in touch with the charity.

“We’re so grateful to Aidan and the Scottish Tech Army for fixing the website so quickly.

“It’s a small thing but it’s made a big difference to us and the hundreds of people we would usually meet up with, who are now looking for information and able to get in touch with us through our website.”

Before the coronavirus hit and lockdown changed all our lives, Aidan was working with Baillie Gifford in development and operations as a cloud architect, dealing with the components needed for cloud computing.

“I spotted via LinkedIn that the Scottish Tech Army was starting up and thought it was an ideal way to give something back. I always like to keep myself busy,” he said.

If you’re a charity or organisation with a tech problem you want sorted, the Scottish Tech Army is here to help. Just go to our website to tell us more about your project: www.scottishtecharmy.org/take-action