Programme connects retirees | Manawatu-Wanganui News | Local News in Manawatu-Wanganui

Before he retired, Bill Signal travelled countless miles on the roads in and around Wanganui as a bus driver.

Now, coming up 74, he's travelling down a different highway, and this one's digital.

Mr Signal is one of several residents living in the Wanganui District Council's's Eugene Crotty retirement village in Gonville who have connected to the internet, and while he acknowledges his skill base is very much at the low end, he enjoys the technology.

The computers the residents fire up are all recycled and about 4 years old, but are enough for their needs.

Two of the machines have cameras letting some of the more "advanced" residents use Skype and keep in contact with family and friends.

Alistair Fraser, who works with the Computers in Homes (CIH) programme, said getting the five computers into the residents' community room was a small extension of the work the organisation did with the families and school children, getting them access to computers.

Mr Fraser said CIH had linked up 322 families with the programme in Wanganui over the past four years and said the council had been a lead partner in getting the residents in the Eugene Crotty flats involved.

"We're really pleased to be associated with this effort," he said.

There was now a solid core of about a dozen residents who were using the computers and Mr Fraser said computer access had been "life-changing" for some of the locals.

Mr Signal said since the computers were installed last year, user numbers had waned a bit, but some had since bought their own PCs.

"I know how to switch them on and off and I do the sports quiz online every morning as well as check the news headlines."

While Mr Signal did not do much else on the computers, he said a friend was a dab hand at Trade Me. "He's bought four pairs of shoes already."

He said some of the regular users were into Facebook, although he was not.

"I'm not that interested in that stuff really," Mr Signal said.

However, he said the residents thought the computers were great.

"It's better than sitting back in your unit twiddling your thumbs.

"There's usually about half a dozen of us here using them for a while then we'll sit back, have a cup of tea and some bikkies."