Actress Miriam Margolyes has urged the elderly to get online in a video in support of the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities’ Jewish Inter-Links project.

The project will see 10 volunteers, trained by Age UK in Edinburgh, visit elderly Jews in their homes or residential accommodation to promote use the internet as a means of maintaining contact with family and friends.

It addresses issues raised by SCoJeC’s Being Jewish in Scotland study, notably that many older members of the Scottish community are concerned about losing touch with grandchildren and great-grandchildren living elsewhere. SCoJeC will provide computers where needed.

Ms Margolyes — whose father was a Glasgow Jewish community member — says on the video that the elderly should “learn how to send emails, use Skype to talk to your grandchildren and just enjoy all the opportunities that this new technology is giving us ‘old folk’. Nothing I’ve done in my life except learning to drive has given me so much independence and opportunity to connect to people all over the world.”