Parramatta Computer Pals for Seniors

At the 2006 Seniors Week EXPO at the Parramatta Riverside Theatre, many local residents expressed an interest in forming a computer club in the Parramatta CBD. After months of planning by a small steering committee and Council assistance, a well attended public meeting was held on January 10, 2007.

Seven computers were made available with the assistance of ASCCA and Computer Pals for Seniors, The Hills. Within three weeks, the new club had 64 members and commenced four one hour classes for a total of 24 members. Training manuals were kindly offered by Computer Pals for Seniors - Holroyd.

The club is running classes in Basic Computing; Various word processing, including Graphics in Word; Internet & Email; Camera to Computer; PowerPoint; Genealogy; Excel and Digital Photo Stories in the Council Chambers Building. Other courses are offered, demand and trainer availability permitting. Monthly member meetings are held on the 3rd Friday of the month between 9.30 am and noon in the Gwen Logan Room, in the same building as our training courses. By February 2008 we had 130 financial members. We have been successful obtaining three grants, from Parramatta City Council, and from the Commonwealth Government's Volunteer Small Equipment Grants Program, and have replaced the original computers with state of the art dual boot computers, offering Windows XP and Vista.