 Residents asked for the internet cafe to be set up |
Pensioners at a home in Swansea are celebrating after their internet cafe picked up a special award. JJ's Cybernet caf� opened in March after the elderly surfers asked for help keeping in touch with their families.
The caf� in the council-run Tŷ Waunarlwydd home and day centre impressed competition organisers so much they set up a special award honouring it.
The judges of the Yahoo! Mail Internet Caf� Awards said JJ's "proves that age isn't a barrier to joining the www revolution."
Swansea council officially opened the caf� in March, and its two computers are now used by pensioners aged from 62 to 90 to keep in touch with family around the world and to surf the net.
 |  It's great that this age group is getting the chance to learn how to e-mail and keep in touch with their grandchildren.  |
The OAPs can even join in events like family parties and weddings via a web cam.
One resident, Eileen Griffiths, 89, now regularly uses the internet to email her daughters who live in South Africa and America.
Following the success, the council is looking at opening more caf�s in residential centres across the city.
"Mary Beniamous, the home's manager, said: "The caf� users are delighted to have won this special award.
"The residents feel that people of an older age are still able to learn about new technology and acquire new skills.
"We have had e-mails from as far afield as America and Singapore asking us about our unusual caf�.
"It is proving more popular and useful than we had ever expected."
 Eileen Griffiths talks to her daughter in South Africa via a web cam |
One of the competition judges Lyn Hughes, editor of Wanderlust magazine, said: "It's great that this age group is getting the chance to learn how to e-mail and keep in touch with their grandchildren.
"It really has changed the way these two generations communicate.
"This really is a very special cafe, which deserved a special commendation."
Yahoo!Mail received more than 1,000 nominations from around the world.
Among the other winners was a cyber caf� in a launderette in San Francisco which was voted the most unusual.
One on Moscow's Red Square was voted most stylish while another in Timbuktu, Mali was the most remote.
One-Minute World News 
News services
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
