A 95-YEAR-OLD great-grandmother has taken the top prize at the Silver Surfer of the Year awards, having mastered a computer she got from her family last Christmas.
Marguerite Faulkner from Cookstown, Co Tyrone, uses the computer to surf the internet, send e-mails and talk to her seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren via Skype.
She has also completed a digital photography course and, when not using her computer, likes to play brain-training games on her games console.
“When I was born in 1914 there wasn’t even radio, so I have lived through a lot,” Ms Faulkner said yesterday after receiving the award.
She taught herself how to use the computer, she said, through her own “sense of discovery”, and also took a class. The computer had made a world of difference to her life, she added.
Minister for Older People Áine Brady presented the award to Ms Faulkner yesterday at the Imagine It! conference in Croke Park.
The conference also incorporated an information-technology expo and was sponsored by O2.
Four other awards were presented at the event. Marie O’Gorman (75), Walkinstown, Dublin, took the award for most dedicated IT learner. She is a volunteer in a local school, teaching the children to knit and sew, and she downloads patterns from the internet and prints them off for her weekly classes.
Charlie Byrne, Donnybrook, Dublin, was named group communicator of the year. He runs a website and electronic newsletter for RTÉ pensioners.
The passionate hobbyist of the year was John O’Toole (86), originally from Santry, who has Parkinson’s disease, and uses a special keyboard to operate the computer.
Stella Connor, Drogheda, Co Louth, took the award for IT volunteer of the year.
The winners received prizes of IT products.
Up to 300 people attended the conference, organised by older people’s charity Age Action.
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