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Keith’s Story

By SuffolkSilver Jun 12, 2012

Keith Paterson worked in the Careers Advisory Industry for 40 years as a Careers Advisor,  however,  in the last five years, before retiring, introduced computing to all the Careers Offices in the County of Cambridgeshire.

He subsequently ran a computer business called SOS Computing (Support on Site) until the age of 70.  In the late 1990s saw a gap in the market to help people over 50 to become familiar with technology, PCs and the Internet. He started his website up Silverhairs.co.uk and it has been helping people now for over a decade. There are many links designed to assist users and Keith helps by answering questions to those requiring guidance, in person. A simple email to him and he will assist; a really personal service! An example of the assistance silverhairs.co.uk gives is at the bottom of the homepage is some information for those with poor vision on how to change the font size on their PC with some simple keyboard steps.

There is also a wealth of links and  adverts for offers and discounts on many products and services ranging from computers to utilities. Keith is an approved volunteer for the British Computer Society and Ability net IT Can Help program which offers free computer help in the home to people with disabilities. He has also recently been awarded the Age UK Internet Champion for 2012 by Martha Lane-Fox, The UK Governments Digital Champion. This is in recognition for all his work in helping people over 50 and those who are disabled get online and ensure they enjoy the wealth of information and opportunities the internet presents  At the 7th National Digital Conference in May 2012  http://www.nd2012.co.uk/  he was awarded another honour as a Digital Leader.  Pretty impressive to receive such an honor regarded by Digital leaders when you are in your eighties!

 

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SuffolkSilver

I am 81 years old and am passionate about computers, technology and the Internet and was the original founder of Silverhairs. I was Age UK's joint Internet Champion in 2012, and have spent the last 15 years, helping others to get up and running on computers. I was pleased, this year, to have been awarded an MBE for my voluntary work in this respect. I am profoundly deaf these days but get by with a cochlear implant. But computing puts me on a level playing field and keeping up with the technology is an excellent way to exercise the grey matter !

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Ida
18th Mar 2013
0
Thanks for voting!
Hello.Iv just recently joined Siverhairs,but i never see anyone on to chat to,and thats what i was expecting.Like you can chat on Friends Reunited,sorry,use to, before they chamged it all.Facebook you can write back n forth to people.Msn/Skype etc.Im not wanting to video with people,just to chat about everything and anything,thats all,to pass some time.If this is not available then i will just leave Silverhairs as its just not for me which is sad!!!I was so looking forward to chatting to a few different people.Hope you dont mind me saying all this. Ida
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Silverhairs
18th Mar 2013
0
Thanks for voting!
@Ida
Hello Ida .. it would seem that all the lively daily conversations are happening on our facebook site ... http://www.facebook.com/silverhairs We have nearly 30,000 followers there ... do you use facebook? Also there are various conversations happening in our forum section too .. http://www.silversurfers.com/forum/ Have you visited that part of the website yet?
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socrates
14th Jul 2012
0
Thanks for voting!
Yes, Keith Paterson is indeed a remarkable man and is an inspiration to all of us, more so to those of us who are in the older age bracket. Not surprising then that he was selected as Age UK's Internet Champion for 2012.
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bud
14th Jul 2012
0
Thanks for voting!
What an amazing achievement, this demonstrates that the internet is accessible to oldies and can open up huge horizons.
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