Seventy-year-old Trudy Nealon from Laois has been named overall winner of 2014 Google Silver Surfer Awards with Age Action.
In addition to doing all her banking, shopping, travel arrangements and correspondence online, Nealon is also treasurer of the Portlaoise Active Retirement Association and manages the administration of the club, including its finances and membership database on a PC. She also puts together presentations of proposed holidays for the local group to choose from and even produces CD ROM collections of holiday photos for members who take part in the group tours. This year the club celebrated its 10 year anniversary and to commemorate the occasion Nealon produced a DVD of the club’s history, complete with titles, credits and soundtrack.
Stuart McLaughlin, head of GooglersGive EMEA, said: “The entries this year were truly amazing, with such a high quality amongst all of the nominations. The stories of both the winners and their fellow nominees were so varied, showing the diverse reasons and ways of how and why people are getting online. From connecting with family, to pursuing hobbies, to running local associations like Trudy, these Silver Surfers prove that it’s never too late to learn.”
Robin Webster, chief executive of Age Action, said: “In today’s world everything from ordering the weekly shopping to paying the electricity bill can now be done online. While this may be convenient for many, there are some for whom the new digital age can be quite intimidating. That’s why it’s important that we encourage the use of new technologies amongst all ages, particularly the older generation. They have a considerable amount of knowledge to contribute our digital society and can also benefit too, as today’s winners have shown. We hope that the inspirational stories of today’s winners will encourage many more older people to sign up for a class and get online.”
Other winners included volunteers from Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals, Dunderrow, Co Cork and Louise Daly, Dublin, for IT Tutor of the Year; John Flynn (63) of Waterford City for New to IT; Sean Radley of Millstreet, Co Cork, for Hobbies on the Net; and Paddy Crean (85) from Wicklow scooped the Golden IT award.
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