West Cheshire College Help Sydney Jones Get Into Computers

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Sydney Alfred Jones may be 90 years of age, but this has not stopped him from passing a “Clueless About Computers” course at West Cheshire College.

At an age where many enjoy their retirement, Sydney from Curzon Park, Chester went back to college to complete the course at West Cheshire College’s Learning in the Community Centre (Linc). For his dedication and hard work, the pensioner has been rewarded with a special certificate to celebrate his achievements as the most senior adult learner on the 15 week course.

“There is so much publicity around now that includes websites so I wanted to know what it was all about and I thoroughly enjoyed the course. I was terribly nervous to begin with but the tutor was very good and patient with me and I had a lot of help.” said Mr Jones.

Back After 76 Years

Sydney was just 14 when he left school without any formal academic qualifications and became involved in the insurance industry before joining the army. He later left the military and set up his own insurance firm, North West Securities, which is now, part of the Bank of Scotland. He retired in 1978.

Fascinated by the new computer age, Sydney initially enrolled on the “Clueless about Computers” course to broaden his knowledge and now uses the internet on a regular basis to keep in touch with family as well as shop and bank online.

He continued, “I”ve found that being able to buy our groceries online has been the most useful thing I”ve learnt because it means that even when we are ill and housebound, we still don”t have to depend on others, which isn”t easy. The things I”ve learnt on the course have been an enormous help to my wife and I.”

An Example for Others

Lache Lifelong Learning Facilitator Anne Greenshields looks upon Sydney’s success as a positive example to everyone wishing to continue learning at 90 years of age.”Sydney started slowly but he was very determined to complete the course and he bought a computer to practice at home. We started with one to one sessions as an introduction to build up his confidence to move into the classroom”, she said.

Lache is all about helping people to progress until they”re ready to continue on qualification courses. Sydney is an excellent role model and shows what Lifelong Learning can achieve.

Kavita Trivedi

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