The interest in coding and programming among some children in West Cork has never waned, and Skibbereen  CoderDojo continues to provide a vital free computer club for boys and girls, writes Kieran O’Mahony.

‘They are not just playing the games, they are in fact making the games and having fun while doing it.’

Those are the words of mentor and volunteer Rory Jackson of Skibbereen CoderDojo Club and he perfectly sums up the ethos of this free computer club for youngsters in the wider Skibbereen area.

Rory and his fellow mentors are taking the learning out of the classroom and have created a space where children can discover the art of coding, programming, building websites and, more importantly, making friends in a relaxed informal setting.

It was a revolution of sorts 14 years ago when James Whelton with the help of Kinsale-based entrepreneur Bill Liao co-founded the first CoderDojo club in Cork, which brought the joys of coding and programming to curious young minds.

Since then, the movement expanded globally and clubs were set up all over the country and in West Cork and more importantly in Skibbereen, which is still providing weekly classes for youngsters, with some attendees travelling from Reenascreena or Rosscarbery for their weekly fix of tech.

Skibbereen Coder Dojo Club members with Ola Budak, PRO and Liam Reeves, Mentor at the Family Resource Centre in Skibbereen. Photo; Anne Minihane.

While it has had a few homes since CoderDojo was first set up in 2012, their home now is at the welcoming Skibbereen Family Resource Centre on North Street where youngsters aged from seven to 17 along with mentors gather on Wednesday evenings for free classes on programming, building websites and robotics.

Rory Jackson has been a mentor and volunteer with the club since its inception and is keen to stress that they are always looking for other mentors to help out at the club too.

Other mentors at the club include Brendan O’Connor, Tracey Harrington, Liam Reeves, Ola Budak, Pat Leonard (robotics) and Darren Nichols.

The club relies on sponsorship, and this includes the donation of used computers and laptops.

And there’s nothing like neighbours helping each other as Cyraya, which is located next door to the resource centre, have donated second hand laptops, while E-PC just up the road also helps them with any needed repairs.

‘Myself, Brendan and Ger O’Shea of Granite set up the club and as far as we know we are the only operating club this side of Cork city. There were plenty of clubs in West Cork before but many have dropped but we have kept going, even during Covid when we went online for a period,’ said Rory.

‘We actually didn’t know whether we would survive after Covid but it has worked out very well. Our numbers vary really when we would have had 60 attending classes in the early days of 2013 and 2014.’

As a volunteer-run free club they rely solely on funding and sponsorship from local companies and businesses and recently put out a funding call across the town.

‘In previous years we relied on ETB funding but we lost out on it last year as we didn’t have a 70% demographic of teenagers from 12 to 18 and we only had 61%. We will apply again next year,’ added an optimistic Rory.

A typical evening at the club would see the boys and girls being given coding tools to make games, cartoons, robotics and website skills.

Some of the club members have gone on to enter different coding competitions with great success and it’s testament that the club is delivering tech talent.

Rory hopes he can get them to create a new website for the club in the new year.

‘The main application they start off is Scratch which covers cartoons and animation and they can enter competitions too for that too which is very encouraging for them.’

Parent Lucia Skerra, whose 10-year-old son Jayden attends weekly, said that the children would be lost without Skibbereen CoderDojo.

‘He loves coming here and has learned so much and it’s also a social evening too as they meet kids from all different schools and areas.’

Ger McCarthy, also a parent, has high praise for the club and said his 10-year-old son Ewan has been attending the club for the past three years.

‘He loves coming here and it’s such a great club for the youngsters.’

As it’s a club, Rory is keen to emphasise that it’s flexible, doesn’t involve roll calls and children can come when and if they have the time.

‘The ethos of CoderDojo was always to take it out of a school environment but give good instructions when it comes to computers. The joy of this club too is seeing the different levels too that children are at. You might get an eight-year-old showing a 12-year-old something. They are not just playing games, they are making the games too which is hugely significant.’

For a small club they are pretty active and are already getting projects ready for the 2026 National Scratch Competition.

But like every club they would love new mentors to come on board as resources are everything when it comes to encouraging and nurturing the next generation of techies.

‘For a small club we are very active too in promoting trips to Microsoft, Dell and the former BTYSTE (now StripeYSTE) in Dublin which we organise with the parents and the children get really inspired by these trips,’ added Rory.

Skibbereen CoderDojo meet every Wednesday at the Skibbereen Family Resource Centre on North Street and caters for boys and girls between the ages of 7 and 17.

For more details contact Rory Jackson on 083-4066021.