Doreen Thew, a 92-year-old nursing home resident from Maynooth, Co Kildare, has been named overall winner of the 2017 open eir Silver Surfer Awards.
Originally from London, Doreen and was a wireless operator during World War II before working as an accounts clerk. She has two sons, Derek and Peter. In 2013, Doreen moved to Ireland to be near Peter, her five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren following the death of her husband two years earlier.
Doreen received a record number of nominations from staff and residents at the TLC nursing home where she lives, as well as family and friends across Britain and Ireland. She keeps in touch with her family using Skype and Snapchat while also shopping online and Googling pictures of birds to identify visitors to the garden of TLC Nursing Home, where she lives.
Four other awards were presented during the ceremony: The new to IT award went to Brendan Crean from Kilbarrack, Dublin, who regularly blogs and uses social media to lobby his local councillors and TDs on behalf of people with disabilities.
The hobbies on the Net award went to Betty Smith from Bandon, Co Cork, whose Poitin Marmalade that is now available in 35 stores across the south of Ireland.
Frank Brady from Malahide in Dublin won the IT tutor of the year award, which recognises the efforts of the hundreds of people across Ireland who volunteer with Age Action’s computer training programme, Getting Started. Since 2012 he has delivered 200 training courses to older people across the capital.
Finally, the Golden IT Award winner went to retired Wexford garda John Hayes who uses Skype and Facebook to keep in touch with family around the world and plays bridge online with friends and strangers alike.
Eamon Timmins, CEO, Age Action, said: “Doreen is an amazing woman, inspiring all of us to know that age is no barrier to taking advantage of the thrilling opportunities presented by the internet and new technology. The majority of older people in Ireland have never been online. We hope Doreen and all of our Silver Surfers encourage anyone with a computer sitting unused in the kitchen, or a tablet still in its wrapping paper, to get online and open up new worlds of information and entertainment”.
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