Computer Pals For Seniors Galston And District

It all began with a public meeting on May 17th 1999 when an enthusiastic group of seniors decided to form a branch of Computer Pals for Seniors for the Upper Hills district with the aim of introducing seniors to the computer age in a fun, non-threatening manner. Tuition was to be on a one to one basis no classrooms, no pressure each to learn at his/her own pace.

On June 21st a committee was formed, office bearers elected, and “Computer Pals for Seniors, Galston and District” was in business. First there had to be somewhere for it to all to happen, and very generously Galston Historical Society offered use of their Premises and computer at History Cottage in Galston and the Management at Rowland Retirement Village offered use of a comfortable recreation room there. A generous grant from Hornsby council and kind offers of ‘pre-loved’ computers and we were ready to begin. Word went out that volunteer tutors were needed and they came: word spread that computer help was now at hand and suddenly there was a waiting list!

We’ve managed to catch up with that now. We even have a number of 'graduate’ former pupils tutoring and some are able to teach in very specialized areas which means there is a constant financial challenge while we to try to keep the club computers as up to date as possible. Galston is a small club with small resources and no sponsors. Tutors will often travel to pupils’ homes to be able to teach them on their own personal familiar machines. There are no blackboards or group sessions just friendly support and encouragement as students learn at their own speed just what they want from the computer; and have mastered the skills of word processing, surfing the web and playing games of their choice.