Grandma's Guide cover

Grandma's Guide

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Grandma

'Cyber gran' sparks book

by Tony Gardner

Wakefield Express, 8th September 2000

CYBER gran Joan Bell has a new-found confidence when surfing the information super-highway - thanks to a new book for which she provided the inspiration.

Mrs Bell, 82, joined the growing ranks of 'silver surfers' when her daughter wrote her a jargon-busting guide for beginners.

It proved so effective in helping her over her technophobia, that daughter Linda Ingham decided to team up with her brother, Wakefield illustrator Richard Bell, to get the work published.

The 36-page book - Grandma's Guide to the Internet - hits the shops this weekend and it is hoped will be hit with computer novices keen to log on.

Mrs Bell said: 'My daughter's idea came when she wanted to give me her old computer but I said I wouldn't be able to understand it.

'My son-in-law came and set it up but I couldn't make head nor tail of all the jargon that went with it. But when Linda wrote the guide, which explains things in words of not more than two syllables, it really took the terror away.'

'I am getting more and more use out of my computer, and the Internet is helping me to trace my family tree at the moment.

'I am not able to e-mail many of my friends as they don't have computers, but I'm hoping the book will change things.'

Linda, who now lives near Edinburgh, said: 'Since writing the book I have been able to keep in better contact with my mum through e-mail rather than just our twice-weekly telephone conversations.'

The Internet is ceasing to be the domain of the young with more and more elderly people taking advantage of the new media.

Money from charities such as Help the Aged has seen the growth in luncheon clubs in recent months, providing introductory courses on the Internet.

Grandma's Guide to the Internet, published by Willow Island Editions, is priced £2.95 and is available from Ottakars in Wakefield and Ossett Books.



(To order, e-mail richard@willowisland.co.uk, or enquire at your local book shop)

Willow Island Editions
ISBN 1-902467-07-8

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