Category : Silver Surfers Day
Glan Afan Comprehensive School in Port Talbot recently welcomed members of the community into the school for a taster session in computers and the internet. The sessions were held to celebrate Silver Surfers’ Day, a national campaign which gives older people a taste of the digital world.
The session was a great success, and thanks to the hard work of the pupils and past pupils of the school, the day was enjoyed by all who attended.
The senior citizens carried out research on the Plaza cinema, which has become a hot topic of conversation lately, thanks to an informative website set up by Sean Pursey, and a committee being established to obtain views of local residents on the future of the Plaza.
Luke Jenkins, who is Project Co-ordinator, and now a student at Neath Port Talbot College said: ‘We would like to thank everyone who took part in the event, which we take part in annually. We know that computers and the internet can be a little scary for many older people and they just need a little help to get them started. Thanks to Digital Unite who arrange this yearly event, we have helped pensioners conquer their fears of the computer and get online!’
Anyone who wishes to learn more about computers and the internet, and is aged over 50 is invited to attend Glan Afan’s Silver Surfer classes which take place every Wednesday at the school from 3.30pm – 5pm. Contact Luke Jenkins on 01639 618334 or Steve Turner on 01639 883964, or visit our website at
www.glanafansilversurfers.org.uk for more information on the group and its work!
Silver Surfers Day at Glan Afan Comprehensive School on Friday 20th May.
Local residents aged over 50 who would like to know more about computers and the internet are invited to a free digital taster event at Glan Afan Comprehensive School, Station Road, Port Talbot on Friday 20th May, starting at 9am. Workshops being held on the day include an introduction to computers, social networking, family history, Skype, shopping online and internet safety. Students from the school will be on hand to gently introduce those who aren’t yet online to the wonderful world of digital technology.
The taster sessions are being held to celebrate Spring Online with Silver Surfers’ Day (16-20 May), a national campaign which helps give older people and other less confident users a taste of the digital world. According to Ofcom, around a third of parents and grandparents have been taught or encouraged to surf the internet by a child aged 13-16 and Silver Surfers spend more time online than any other age group.
‘We know that computers and the internet can be a little scary for many older people and they just need a little help to get them started. We hope as many people as possible will come along to our event and give computers a go’ says Luke Jenkins, Project Co-ordinator.
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Notes for Editors
Glan Afan Comprehensive School in Port Talbot, has been providing free Silver Surfers sessions to senior citizens in the community since 2007, which have been a massive success, and the group have even won numerous awards for all their hard work!
The Silver Surfers project at the school encourages the young and older generations to interact and learn new skills – Students from the school give up their own time to volunteer with the group and teach new things to the senior citizens.
During the sessions, the ‘Silver Surfers’ are taught how to use the mouse and keyboard, how to write letters, create greetings cards, send e-mails, find old friends on Facebook, shop on the web, read the news, and gain confidence in using the computer alone. More recently, the group have started courses in Word Processing and Digital Photo Editing
Contact Details
For more information on Silver Surfers Day 2011 at Glan Afan Comprehensive School contact:
Luke Jenkins, Project Co-ordinator on (01639) 618334 or luke.jenkins@glanafansilversurfers.org.uk
For general enquiries, contact Luke Jenkins/Steve Turner on (01639) 618334, springonline@glanafansilversurfers.org.uk, or visit our website at www.glanafansilversurfers.org.uk
This year, Silver Surfers Day will take place on Friday 20th May, as part of Digital Unite’s Spring Online Week. Glan Afan Silver Surfers will be participating in this event, and more details will be available soon.
Don’t forget, you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter, by clicking on the relevant links!!
Check out our Spring Online page here!
COMPUTER-SAVVY youngsters in Port Talbot have been helping silver surfers call their nearest and dearest on the other side of the world.
As part of National Silver Surfer Day, students at Glan Afan Comprehensive School helped senior citizens use Skype to make international calls.
Leonard Turner, 84, from Port Talbot, was one of the people that took part.
He used Skype to video contact his grandson Steffan who is currently travelling around New Zealand.
“I don’t get to talk to him very often as it is so expensive to call New Zealand,” he said. “I really miss and him and want to hear about his adventures, so when one of the pupils at the school told me about Skype I was excited to learn more.”
Head of art at the school, Steve Turner, said the day was great success.
“It was excellent,” he said.
“Ten senior citizens came throughout the say. Not many had used Skype before.
“The pupils were mentoring them and showed them how to do it. It was fantastic,” he said.
Glan Afan Silver Surfers welcomed members of the community into the school today to take part in our Skype Day. It was a very successful day, and all who attended thoroughly enjoyed finding out about Skype, and linking up with other people all over the world. We would like to thank Arianna and the crew at Skype for providing us with Skype accounts to use today, and for answering our calls from the senior citizens. We would also like to thank Rick at Digital Unite for pointing us in the right direction to make our day so successful.
Below is a quote from Digital Unite’s Blog:
Skype employees from around the world are today volunteering to help new internet users get to grips with Skype in support of Silver Surfers’ Day in the UK. The virtual call centre is welcoming experimental surfers to the world of Skype and encouraging people to discover how the internet can get them connected.
One silver surfer eager to learn more about the internet is Leonard Turner aged 84 from Port Talbot in Wales. Leonard contacted the virtual call centre from the ‘Skype Day’ silver surfer event being hosted by pupils at the Glan Afan Comprehensive School in Port Talbot. He wanted to find out more about Skype so that he can stay in contact with his grandson who is currently travelling around New Zealand. “My grandson Steffan has been away from home for three months now and I don’t get to talk to him very often as it is so expensive to call New Zealand. I really miss him and want to hear about his adventures, so when one of the pupils at the school told me about Skype I was excited to learn more. Arianna at Skype told me how to get started and make a video call using a web cam. I can’t wait to give it a try.”
Once again, we wish to thank everyone involved, and here’s to Silver Surfers Day 2011!
Hello everyone, and thank you for visiting our website on Silver Surfers Day 2010. Today’s the big day, not only here at Glan Afan, but also across the UK.
There will be two sessions taking place today:
10:00 – 12:00 and 13:30 – 15:00
Please come along and join us during these sessions, where our main topic will be Skype.
There will be tutors available to provide workshops in Word Processing, Card Making, Facebook, Computer Basics, plus lots more!
Watch this space throughout the day for the latest news from Glan Afan Silver Surfers
