Posties reunited

OLD pals . . . Geoffrey Dixon (left) and Peter Jackson celebrate their competition win

TWO former postmen have been reunited —thanks to a silver-surfers internet course.

Geoffrey Dixon (63), of Clarksfield, and Peter Jackson (76), from Oldham, took part in a day-long course aimed at getting the over-50s online organised by Highway to Opportunities (H2O).

Both men, who last worked together 11-years ago, were winners of a free prize draw with Geoffrey taking home a digital camera and Peter an iPod shuffle.

Geoffrey said: “I saw an advert in the newspaper about getting online and wanted to find out more about computers. I’d never used a computer before and was surprised about how easy it was.

“I’ve booked on to a course now to help me learn more, and eventually I’d like to be able to download music and surf the internet.”

Peter added: “My wife has a laptop and I’d like to be able to use it to e-mail our family that don’t live in Oldham any more and send photos. When we were working at the post office we never had computers so this is totally new to my generation, but it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.

“I’d urge anyone that wants to use the internet or computers to do one of these courses, it opens up so many doors and is a lot easier than you think.”

Louise Day, Learndirect co-ordinator for H2O, said: “This is a lovely story and proof that attending something like this opens so many doors.

“As well as gaining new skills you also meet new friends or get reunited with people you haven’t seen for a long time. There are many different courses in Oldham for people that haven’t used computers before, and most of these are free.

“Nowadays the benefits far outweigh the negatives, you can use e-mail, pay your bills on line, as well as use social networking and music sites.”

To find out more about the courses contact H2O on 0161-621 9200.